They worked hard, repairing pews, plastering walls, painting, and so on. On December 18th they were ahead of schedule and just about finished. On December 19th 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 heat sunk when he saw that the roof had leaked, causing a large area of plaster about 6 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, hand-made, ivory colored, crochet table cloth 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, and so forth 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 as white as a sheet. "Pastor" she asked, "Where did you get that tablecloth?" The Pastor explained where he had found the tablecloth.
The woman asked him to check the lower right corner to see if the initials, E.B.G. were crochet into that corner. They were there. These were the initials of the woman standing before him. She had made the tablecloth thirty-five years ago when she lived in Austria. The woman could hardly believe it as the pastor told her how he had just gotten the tablecloth.
The woman explained that before the war she and her husband were well-do-do people in Austria. When the Nazis came, she was forced to leave. Her husband was going to follow her the next week. While trying to escape, she was captured and sent to prison. She never saw her husband or her home again.
The Pastor wanted to give her the tablecloth...but she made him keep it for the church. The Pastor insisted on driving her home. He told her that was the least he could do. She lived on the other side of Staten Island and had only in Brooklyn for the day. She had been there to do a housecleaning job she had gotten. That was how she supported herself.
What a wonderful service they had on Christmas Eve! The church was almost full! The music and the spirit were wonderful! At the end of the service... the Pastor and his wife greeted everyone at the door and many said that they woud return. One older man...whom the Pastor recognized from the neighborhood...continued to sit in one of the pews and stare.
He looked up at the Pastor and asked him where he had gotten the tablecloth...because it was identical to one that his wife had made years ago when they lived in Austria before the war. He told the Pastor how the Nazis had come and how he had forced his wife to flee for her safety. He was supposed to follow her...but was arrested and put in a concentration camp. He never saw his wife or his home again.
The Pastor smiled at him...and asked 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 old man climb the three flights of stairs to the woman's apartment and knocked on the door. When the woman opened the door...The Pastor wittnessed the most wonderful reunion that anyone could ever imagine.
Submitted by Pastor Rob Reid
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