It is -- as they say -- "a survivor."

It is framed and proudly displayed now, but it has seen hard times.

I remember when it was just an old left-over, probably from the 50's, when St. Matthew and Eastern Hills were Ash Crescent Methodist, over on Ash Crescent Street. (Before that, they were Glenwood Methodist on Vickery, organized in 1896.)

The old cloth no longer served a purpose. It hadn't hung on a pulpit in over 40 years. It was moth-eaten, dirty, useless. It got shuffled around the church, turning up in a drawer here, a closet there.

I think the only reason it wasn't thrown away is because it had the Greek letters for "Jesus" -- on it.

I had left it around, too -- but I'm a packrat. I keep everything.

If you looked in my desk right now, you would find old newspapers, antique Twinkie wrappers, and a phone bill from 1972.

I just find it hard to throw stuff away.

But in one of my efforts to reform, I went through the church throwing away useless stuff. We are can't store junk.

I came to the pulpit cloth, stuck in a box of old books. I said to myself -- "Let it go! Let it go!" And I did.

I put it in the garbage can, put the lid on it, and that was it.

Until a couple of weeks later.

I picked up a bundle of papers on a table in the church library -- and there it was -- stuck in with the papers.

The pulpit scarf was back!  -- dirtier  than ever! It had escaped again!

But I now saw something I had not seen before -- if was beautiful! The Greek monogram was embroidered in Gothic letters of rich gold. The meaning of the symbol took hold of me.

Instead of throwing it away again, I carefully cleaned it, cut away the moth-eaten edges, and took it to be framed.

I paid $65 to frame this thing that I had so recently discarded.

It now hangs in a place of honor in the church entrance foyer. When I consider its history, it becomes a powerful reminder of our Lord himself.

He, too was "despised, rejected."

He, too, was cast out, discarded.

He is King of Glory now.

And he can give us new life, too. Don't give up on yourself. Be in worship somewhere this Sunday.