This story happened to a Pastor who was very young. His Church was very old.
Once long ago it had flourished. Famous men had preached from it's pulpit, prayed before it's altar. Rich and poor alike had worshipped there.
Now the good days had passed from the section of
town where it stood.
But the Pastor and his young wife believed in their run-down Church. They felt that with new paint, a hammer, and Faith they could get it into shape. Together they worked hard to improve it's look.
But in late December a severe storm whipped through the valley, and the worst blow fell on the little Church. A huge chunk of rain soaked plaster fell out of the inside wall just behind the altar.
Sorrowfully the Pastor and his wife swept away the mess, but they couldn't hide the ragged hole.
The Pastor looked at it and had to remind himself quickly "Thy Will Be Done" but his wife wept that " Christmas is only two days away"
That afternoon the dispirited couple attended an auction being held for the benefit of a local youth group. The auctioneer opened a box and shook out of it a lovely gold and ivory lace tablecloth.
Iwas a beautiful item, nearly 15 feet long, and dated from a long vanished era. Who today had any use for such a thing ?
There were a few half hearted bids. Then the Pastor was seized with what he thought was a great idea. He made a bid of $6.50 for it.
He carried the cloth back to the Church and tacked it up on the wall behind the altar.....it completely hid the gaping hole, and the the extraordinary beauty of it's handwork cast a fine holiday glow over the
area. It was a great triumph, and he happily went back to preparing his Christmas sermon.
Just before noon on the day of Christmas Eve, as the Pastor was opening the Church, he noticed a woman standing in the cold at the bus stop. "The bus won't be here for about 40 minutes" he called to her and invited her into the Church to keep warm.
She told him that she had come from the city that morning to be interviewed for a job as governess to the children of one of the wealthy families in town but she had been turned down for the job. As a war refugee her English was not good enough.
The woman sat down in a pew and rubbed her cold hands and rested.
After awhile she dropped her head and prayed. She looked up as the Pastor began to adjust the great gold and ivory cloth across the hole behind the altar.
She rose suddenly and walked towards the altar. She looked at the cloth.
The Pastor smiled and began to tell her about the storm damage, but she didn't seem to be listening. She took up a fold of the cloth and rubbed it between her fingers.
"It's mine" she said "It's my banquet cloth"
She lifted up a corner of the cloth and showed it to the surprised Pastor. There were initials monogrammed on it.
"My husband had the cloth made especially for me in Brussels !
"There could not be another like it"
The woman and the Pastor talked excitedly together. She explained that she was from Vienna, that she and her husband had opposed the Nazis and decided to leave the country. They were advised to go separately. Her husband put her on a train for Switzerland and they planned that he would join her as soon as he could arrange to ship their houshold goods across the border.
She never saw him again. Later she heard that he had died in a Nazi concentration camp.
"I always felt that it was my fault, to leave without him" she said
"perhaps these years of wandering have been my punishment"
The Pastor tried to comfort her and urged her to take the cloth with her.
She refused to do so, and then she went away.
As the Church began to fill on Christmas Eve it was clear that the cloth was going to be a great success. It had been skillfully designed to look it's best in candlelight.
After the service the Pastor stood at the doorway. Many people told him that the Church looked beautiful.
One gentle faced middle aged man - he was the local clock and watch repair man- looked rather puzzled.
"It's strange" he said in his soft accent... "Many years ago my wife, God rest her soul, and I owned such a cloth. In our home in Vienna, my wife put it on the table" and here he smiled - "only when the Bishop came to dinner"
The Pastor suddenly became very excited. He told the man about the woman who had been in Church earlier that day. The man clutched the Pastor's arm..."Can it be ? Does she live ?
Together the two got in touch with the family who had interviewed the woman. Then in the Pastor's car they started for the city.
And as Christmas Day was born, this man and his wife, who had been separated through so many saddened Christmases, were reunited.
The joyful purpose of the storm that had knocked a hole in the wall of the Church was now quite clear.........Of course people said it was a miracle, it was certainly the season for one !
