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A dramatic tale of
how it brought
'lost'husband to
wife after 35 years
NEW YORK - The new pastor and
his wife, newly assigned to their first ministry, to re-open a
church in urban Brooklyn, arrived in early October 1999, 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. On Dec 18, they were ahead of schedule
and just about finished.
On Dec 19, a 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.
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 sale for charity, so he stopped by. One of the items was
a beautiful, hand-made, ivory coloured, crocheted tablecloth with
exquisite work, fine 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 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 and hangers 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 centre 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 got the tablecloth.
The woman said 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. She 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,
and said 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 house-cleaning 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 recognised from the neighbourhood, continued to sit
in one of the pews and stare, and the pastor wondered why he was
not 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 concentration camp. He never saw
his wife or his home again for 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.
Editor: This is a true story as told by Pastor Rob Reid. It
was sent to me via email.