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THE TABLECLOTH
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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 he lower
right corner to see if the initials, EBG were crocheted into it here. 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 where he 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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