THE TABLECLOTH By Valmiki Faleiro
In this season of sharing and caring, permit me to share an old internet Christmas story. A true story recorded by Pastor Rob Reid. Have a great season like he did! The brand new pastor, just assigned to his first ministry, to reopen a church in suburban Brooklyn, arrived in early October excited about the opportunity. When he saw the church, it was quite run down and needed much work. He set a goal to have everything done in time to have the first service on Christmas Eve. He worked hard, repairing pews, plastering walls, painting, etc, and, by December 18, was 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. He stepped in. One of the items was a beautiful, handmade, ivory coloured, crocheted tablecloth with an exquisite cross embroidered right in the centre. It was about the right size to cover the ugly patch 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 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 hang 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 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 in Brooklyn for the day on a housecleaning job. What a wonderful service the pastor had that Christmas Eve. The church was packed. The music and the spirit were great. At the end of the service, most 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 was not leaving. The man asked the pastor where he got the tablecloth on the front wall from, 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 to safety, how he was supposed to follow her, but was instead arrested and imprisoned. 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 before. He helped the man climb the three flights of stairs to the woman's apartment, knocked on the door, and saw the greatest Christmas reunion he could ever imagine. (ENDS) The Valmiki Faleiro weekly column at: http://www.goanet.org/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=330 ====================================================================== The above article appeared in the December 23, 2007 edition of the Herald, Goa --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Spread the Christmas Cheer, even when you're not here! Send classic greetings to your loved ones in Goa. EXPRESSIONS - 2007 Christmas Hamper Visit http://www.goa-world.com/expressions/xmas/ Or e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
