The Power Of A Tablecloth

A few years ago, Bob an I met a lovely couple from Glasgow Scotland. We were on a Trans Atlantic cruise and they were our dinner partners. We communicate with one another through email. Ian often sends me items of interest, either funny or profound. I want to share this one. Not sure but said to be true…either way it is a touching story.

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 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 the hole in the front 
wall. He bought it and headed back to the church.

source

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 she 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 in all the 35 years 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.

T rue story - submitted by Pastor Rob Reid I
who says God does work in mysterious ways.
I asked the Lord to bless you as I prayed for 
you today, to guide you and protect you as you go
along your way. His love is always with you. His 
promises are true, and when we give Him all our
cares we know He will see us through.

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I pray that you may have experienced such a miracle during this Holy Season. I look around and see small miracles everywhere.
Thank you to Molly and Ian for sharing this story with us.
Have a healthy and happy New Year!

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