Photos contributed by Mike Willock. (Good eye, Mike!)

With an eye out for signs of beauty and hope, these two photos were taken next to church in the past week. Thank you, Mike Willock. 

It’s just an old dog dish. Our dogs are long gone. We leave it on the patio as a rain gauge and for birds and squirrels to drink. But this morning the overnight snowfall and the warming day combined for a moment to create a joyful work of art, one that could not be sculpted by human hands. God left us a greeting card this morning. It will soon be gone. Beauty is all around us if we take the time to look. God is good. All the time.  - photo and text by Mike Willock

  (photo and caption by Mike Willock)

  Photo by Mike Willock

  Photo contributed by Mike Willock

 An offering of beauty to the 2PC parking lot from our next door neighbors (photo by Mike Willock)

Mike Willock writes: Several weeks ago I was sitting in the hospitality room waiting for Barbara to finish a meeting when my eye was caught by the reflection of the window in the glass covering the table. That’s when I took this picture. The top three panes show the view looking through the window. What looks like three more panes at the bottom of the picture are actually the reflection of the window panes on the glass table top. Notice that you can see things in the reflection that are not visible in the direct view. The reflection actually shows what is above the direct view – the intense blue of the sky and more of the tree than can be seen looking directly through the window. That led me to think about our understanding of God. When we look in the faces of those around us and come to understand and appreciate their life journeys and their experiences of God, we learn things about God we cannot know from our own direct experience. That then raises the question: ...

As winter is slowly edged out by spring, here are two timely photos taken by Mike Willock in the church grounds recently, along his amusing captions. Thanks for the contribution, Mike. "Even the downspouts are saying what they think about winter" "I’m trying to get ready for spring."

 A collection of images from our first fully in-person service at Second Pres. in 14 months. (Photos by Don Cochran and Bruce Lowrie).

  Photo by Mike Willock

And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind.”  (Genesis 9:12-15) Photo taken from our front yard yesterday afternoon after a day of heavy rain (Tim Woodcock)

Mike Willock writes: I was struck by the opening lines of the October 18 worship service. "It was when I was happiest that I longed most...The sweetest thing in all my life has been the longing...to find the place where all the beauty came from.” - C. S. Lewis At the end of the Forest Park prayer service on October 11, my eye was caught by flashes of magenta in the grass at my feet, lit by the setting sun. I bent down and took this picture. You can see that each tiny bloom on its little stem is smaller than your little finger, and you have to look closely to see its structure and the delicate shading of its color. It reminded me of a spirituality class exercise taught years ago at Todd Hall by Rev. Belden Lane. Belden is an honorably retired PC(USA) pastor who usually sits in the front row of the east transept at Second. After lunch, the class was asked to walk outside and spend about 30 minutes looking for signs of God. My first sighting was a flower blooming in the decaying cen...

A photo snapped by Mike Willock in front of the church this weekend:  And some lines from the poem "The Last Rose of Summer" by Thomas Moore (1779-1852) 'Tis the last rose of Summer,    Left blooming alone; All her lovely companions    Are faded and gone; No flower of her kindred,    No rose-bud is nigh, To reflect back her blushes   Or give sigh for sigh!

  On a recent Sunday, with near perfect fall weather,  2PC held three simultaneous outdoor church services at various locations, including this one in Forest Park (pictured above) and Tower Grove Park (below). This Sunday - Sept. 27 at 5 p.m. - there will be another evening prayer service but with a single location. Folks will gather at the top of Shakespeare Glen, near the Art Museum, and continue to do each Sunday evening for as long as the weather allows. Seating is socially distant and a combination of Forest Park's picnic tables and lawn chairs that people brought from home. Hope to see you there. And let's pray this beautiful fall weather continues for a few more weeks...

Photo by Mike Willock

Even the sparrow has found a home,     and the swallow a nest for herself,     where she may have her young— a place near your altar,     Lord Almighty, my King and my God.  (Psalm 84:3) Well, this is a mourning dove rather than a sparrow or a swallow. The birds were spotted and photographed by both Mike Willock and Nathan Schroeder during recent visits to church, tucked up safely by the east side of the main front doors to the sanctuary!

If you were wondering what the entrance to 2nd Pres. looks like right now, here is your answer. (Thank you to Mike Willock for the photo)

A photo contributed by Mike Willock taken in his son's front yard.   “Now the day is over. Signed, God”

From the Willocks' front yard