The
Tablecloth
The
brand new pastor and his wife, newly assigned to their
first ministry, to reopen a church in suburban Brooklyn,
arrived in early October excited about their opportunities.
When they saw their church,it was very run down and needed
much work. They set a goal to have everything done in
time to have their first service on Christmas Eve. They
worked hard, repairing pews, plastering walls, painting,
etc. and on Dec 18 were ahead of schedule and just about
finished. On Dec 19 a terrible tempest - a driving rainstorm
hit the area and lasted for two days. On the 21st, the
pastor went over to the church. His heart sank when he
saw that the roof had leaked, causing a large area of
plaster about 20 feet by 8 feet to fall off the front
wall of the sanctuary just behind the pulpit, beginning
about head high. The pastor cleaned up the mess on the
floor, and not knowing what else to do but postpone the
Christmas Eve service, headed home. On the way he noticed
that a local business was having a flea market type sale
for charity so he stopped in. One of the items was a beautiful,
handmade, ivory colored, crocheted tablecloth with exquisite
work, fine colors and a Cross embroidered right in the
center. It was just the right size to cover up the hole
in the front wall. He bought it and headed back to the
church. By this time it had started to snow. An older
woman running from the opposite direction was trying to
catch the bus. She missed it.The pastor invited her to
wait in the warm church for the next bus 45 minutes later.
She sat in a pew and paid no attention to the pastor while
he got a ladder, hangers, etc., to put up the tablecloth
as a wall tapestry. The pastor could hardly believe how
beautiful it looked and it covered up the entire problem
area. Then he noticed the woman walking down the center
aisle. Her face was like a sheet. "Pastor," she asked,
"where did you get that tablecloth?" The pastor explained.
The woman asked him to check the lower right corner to
see if the initials, EBG were crocheted into it there.
They were. These were the initials of the woman, and she
had made this tablecloth 35 years before, in Austria.
The woman could hardly believe it as the pastor told how
he had just gotten the Tablecloth. The woman explained
that before the war she and her husband were well-to-do
people in Austria. When the Nazis came, she was forced
to leave. Her husband was going to follow her the next
week. She was captured, sent to prison and never saw her
husband or her home again. The pastor wanted to give her
the tablecloth; but she made the pastor keep it for the
church. The pastor insisted on driving her home, that
was the least he could do. She lived on the other side
of Staten Island and was only in Brooklyn for the day
for a housecleaning job.
What a wonderful
service they had on Christmas Eve. The church was almost
full. The music and the spirit were great. At the end
of the service, the pastor and his wife greeted everyone
at the door and many said that they would return. One
older man, whom the pastor recognized from the neighborhood,
continued to sit in one of the pews and stare, and the
pastor wondered why he wasn't leaving. The man asked him
where he got the tablecloth on the front wall because
it was identical to one that his wife had made years ago
when they lived in Austria before the war and how could
there be two tablecloths so much alike? He told the pastor
how the Nazis came, how he forced his wife to flee for
her safety, and he was supposed to follow her, but he
was arrested and put in a prison. He never saw his wife
or his home again all the 35 years in between.
The pastor
asked him if he would allow him to take him for little
ride. They drove to Staten Island and to the same house
where the pastor had taken the woman three days earlier.
He helped the man climb the three flights of stairs to
the woman's apartment, knocked on the door and he saw
the greatest Christmas reunion he could ever imagine.
Story
- submitted by Pastor Rob Reid
Merry
Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!!
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