By Staff
Although the porch is "closed for the season," the traditions and spirit of the porch live year round. Storytelling is a staple activity for porch sitting (inside or outside).
A new acquaintance, Dottie, recently stopped by my office and shared the following Christmas story.
Years ago, in October, a young pastor and his bride arrived at their first church appointment in Brooklyn, N.Y., with the specific assignment to reopen the church.
The building was very run down and needed a lot of work; however, they worked diligently cleaning, repairing the pews, plastering the walls and giving the place a fresh coat of paint, with a goal of completing the work in time for Christmas Eve.
On Dec. 18 they were pleased to note that they were ahead of schedule and nearly finished.
The next day a terrible rainstorm, lasting two days, hit the area.
When the pastor went to the church after the storm, he was shaken to see that the roof had leaked and a large area of plaster had fallen from the front wall of the sanctuary.
Not knowing what else to do, the discouraged pastor cleaned up the mess on the floor and decided to cancel the Christmas Eve service.
On his way home he noticed that a local business was having a flea market sale for charity and he stopped. One of the items for sale was a beautiful, ivory handmade tablecloth. A cross was embroidered in the middle. Thinking that it was the right size, he bought the cloth and returned to the church to cover the hole in the wall.
As snow started falling, he noticed an elderly woman running to catch the bus. She missed it. The pastor invited her to wait in the warmth of the church for the next bus.
Sitting in a pew, she paid no attention to the pastor as he climbed a ladder to hang the cloth over the hole in the plaster.
As he finished and stood back to admire it, the woman walked down the aisle, her face white with shock. "Pastor," she asked, "where did you get that tablecloth?" The pastor told his story.
Then the woman asked him to check the lower right corner to see if the initials EBG were crocheted into it. The letters were there.
The woman explained that she made this cloth 35 years ago in Austria. She and her husband were wealthy before the war.
The Nazis came, forced them to leave and her husband was put into prison. She never saw him again.
The pastor offered to give her the tablecloth, but she asked him to keep it for the church.
To express his gratitude, the pastor insisted on driving her to her home on the other side of Staten Island.
The service on Christmas Eve was wonderful. The church was nearly full, the music was beautiful and the spirit was great.
At the end of the service the pastor noticed an elderly man still sitting in the pew, staring at the tablecloth.
With tears in his eyes, he explained how his wife had made a tablecloth, identical to it, 35 years ago when they lived in Austria. He told how the Nazis came and put him in prison. He never saw his wife again.
The pastor asked the man if he would go for a ride with him.
They drove to Staten Island.
He helped the man climb three flights of stairs to the woman's apartment, knocked on the door and witnessed the greatest Christmas reunion he could ever imagine.