MANITOUWADGE — It was the first community Christmas event held since 2019, and the lights, food, music, and show made for a welcome and spiritually enlightening evening.
Bethany Pentecostal church is well known in Manitouwadge for their creative Christmas themed events, presenting pageants, cantatas, and the popular outdoor interpretation of ‘A Night in Bethlehem,’ but this year, they chose to keep the show indoors, and provide a dinner and a show.
The sanctuary was filled with trees, pine cones, candles and wooden props and artefacts, lending a natural, earthy feel to the event. Even the disposable plates were made of bamboo, and the cutlery was wrapped in unbleached napkins and tied with burlap string.
After a short prayer by interim pastor, Gary Burt, folks made their way to the buffet tables, which were overflowing with delicious turkey, ham, potatoes, gravy, meatballs, vegetables and all the other trimmings one would dream of at a Christmas dinner. Pies, cakes, and fruit, along with coffee, tea, and of course egg nogg, finished off the perfect meal.
Following the dinner, Pastors Rueben and Elizabeth Bierworth and their musical family entertained the audience, and invited everyone to sing along as they played a short selection of Christmas carol favourites. The lights then dimmed, the stars overhead lit up as if it were the night sky, and the main presentation of the evening began.
The short play focused on a young girl entertaining a visiting guest whilst they waited for her father to come downstairs. The young girl, portrayed by Cheryl Herrick, told her version of the Christmas story to the visitor, played by Sandra Lynn Lesar. As the story progressed, other actors appeared from behind the trees. Angels, shepherds, wise men and of course, Mary and Joseph, gathered in the manger to witness the birth of Jesus. The actors remained in place as the play ended, and Pastor Gary added some words of faith and hope for the season and for the year to come, and ended the show with a clip from ‘A Charlie Brown Christmas.’
The evening was a beautiful, optimistic reminder of inspiration, hope, and confidence that the world can be a peaceful, loving place to live, in every season.
