~ 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 he 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. 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 - submitted by Pastor Rob Reid

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