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 December 18 were ahead of schedule and just about finished.
On December 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. He 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 - submitted by Pastor Rob Reid
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