On Dec. 19, 1999 a major rain storm hit Brooklyn, New York. When the newly-assigned pastor went to check on the church, his heart sank. After months of hard work getting the church ready to reopen, he saw that the roof had leaked, causing an area of plaster (about 10 feet by 8 feet) to fall off the front wall of the sanctuary. Not knowing what else to do but postpone the Christmas Eve service, he headed home.
On the way, he passed by a flea market and stopped in. One of the items for sale was a beautiful, hand-crocheted tablecloth with a Cross. It was just the right size to cover up the hole. He bought it and headed back to the church.
By this time it had started to snow. An older woman, trying to catch a bus, missed it. The pastor noticed her dilemma and invited her to wait for the next bus in the warm church. She gladly accepted and sat in a pew as he began to put up the tablecloth as a wall tapestry.
While finishing the task, he noticed the woman walking down the aisle. Her face was white as a sheet. “Pastor,” she asked, “where did you get that tablecloth?” He told her. She then asked him to check the lower right corner to see if the initials “EBC” happened to be crocheted into it. They were. The lady was stunned!…she had made this tablecloth over a half century ago in Austria! The lady went on to explain…she and her husband had been well-to-do people in Austria. When the Nazi’s came, she was forced to leave. Her husband was going to follow her the next week to America…but he was captured, sent to prison and she never saw him again.
The pastor offered to give her the tablecloth. She refused saying it should stay in the church. He did however, insist on driving her home. That was the least he could do.
A few days later…what a wonderful service on Christmas Eve. The service was full and as they left, many said they would return on Sunday. An older man, whom the pastor recognized from the neighborhood, continued to sit in one of the pews, gazing at the front of the church. He then approached the pastor and asked about the tablecloth… it was identical to one his wife made years ago in Austria. He then told the pastor a familiar story, how he was to follow his wife to America but… ….chills went up the pastor’s back!
He then asked the old gent if he would like to take a little ride…he would explain later. “ Yes, that would be fine.” They drove to Staten Island and to the same house that the pastor had taken the woman a few days earlier. He helped the man climb the flights of stairs to the woman’s appartment, still not explaining anything. They knocked on the door and as it slowly opened, the pastor just stood back and smiled… as he witnessed the greatest reunion and Christmas miracle anyone could have ever imagined!
Submitted as a true story by Rob Reid