The brand new
pastor and his wife, were newly assigned to their first ministry.
They were supposed to reopen a church in suburban Brooklyn. They
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, postponed the Christmas Eve service and 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.
Then 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 she never saw her
husband or their 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, doing 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 prison..
He never saw his wife or his home again in all these 35 years.
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.
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.
