The Crocheted Tablecloth
beautiful story..... makes you
understand that things happen for a reason ..
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
Who says God does not work in mysterious ways....