...a heartwarming true tale
The brand new minister and his wife, newly assigned to their first ministry, which was to reopen a church in suburban Brooklyn, arrived in early October excited about their opportunities. When they saw the 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 18th were ahead of schedule and almost finished. On December 19th a terrible tempest - a driving rainstorm - hit the area and lasted for two days. On the 21st, the minister 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 about head height. The minister 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, crocheted tablecloth with exquisite work, beautiful colours and a Cross embroidered right in the centre. 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 a bus. She missed it. The minister 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 minister while he got a ladder, hangers, etc. to put up the tablecloth as a wall tapestry. He could hardly believe how beautiful it looked and it covered up the entire problem area. Then he noticed the woman walking down the centre aisle. Her face was like a sheet. "Pastor", she asked, "Where did you get that tablecloth?" The minister explained. The woman asked him to check the lower right corner to see if the initials E.B.G. were crocheted there. They were. These were the initials of the woman ...she had made this tablecloth 35 years before in Austria.
The woman could hardly believe it as the minister told her how he had just acquired the tablecloth. The woman explained that before the war she and her husband were well-to-do people in Austria. When the Nazis invaded, she was forced to leave. Her husband was to follow her the next week. She was captured, sent to prison and never saw her husband or her home again.
The minister wanted to give her the tablecloth but she insisted he keep it for the church. He insisted on driving her home feeling it was the least he could do. She lived on the other side of Staten Island and was only in Brooklyn for the day to do 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 he and his wife greeted everyone at the door and many said they would return.
One older man, whom the minister recognized from the neighbourhood, continued to sit in one of the pews and stare. The minister wondered why he didn't leave. The man asked him where he had obtained the tablecloth on the front wall because it was identical to one that his wife had made years ago when they were living in Austria before the war, and, how could there be two tablecloths so much alike. He told the minister how the Nazis came, how he forced his wife to flee for her safety and how he was supposed to follow her... but was unable to do so as he had been arrested and put in prison. He never saw his wife or his home again during the ensuing 35 years.
The minister asked
the man if he would allow the minister to take him for a little ride
in the car. They drove to Staten Island to the same house where the minister
had taken the woman three days earlier. He helped the man climb the three
flights of stairs to her apartment, knocked on the door, and witnessed
the greatest Christmas reunion he could ever have imagined.
Submitted by Pastor Rob Reid.
Who says God does not work in mysterious ways?