An Old 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 a 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.
True Story - by Pastor Rob Reid, New York, NY
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