Claudia Wall, a 2PC member who also spends a significant amount of time with family in Minneapolis, dropped our humble blog a line to recommend the work of Joe Davis, a poet in residence at Westminster Presbyterian in Minneapolis. Here is a video of Joe performing his poem  Show Up , which starts: “We are called to this place and this season. You may not yet know the time and reason. You may not feel, think or believe in the same things that I believe in, But we’ve been asked to   Show up.” You might also like to take a look at Joe Davis’s websites – his professional website and an older blog that includes some of his other poems – as well that the homepage for Westminster Presbyterian and its video channel. http://joedavispoetry.com/ https://joedavispoetry.wordpress.com/poetry/ https://www.westminstermpls.org/ https://vimeo.com/showcase/5294715 Thank you for alerting us to Joe's work, Claudia.

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!

Tim Woodcock writes: At the weekend we attended a (virtual) Bat Mitzvah for our niece. One of the many fascinating parts of the service was when the rabbi addressed the congregation as “God wrestlers.” What an intriguing phrase! It sent me down a rabbit hole of research that I’m not going to recount here. But wouldn’t it be interesting if Christian congregations started using that phrase, too?

  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...

A Blessing for the New School Year ( a collage of lines written by 7th grade students) May you wake up to your alarm clock on time And may your laptop be charged and ready to go. May you be organized and prepared for class. May all your school days be productive.   May your mask be comfy. May your friends wash their hands properly. May you remember your locker combination And may your wifi not crash.   May you be able to have sports this fall term, And may the sun come out and scare away All the clouds on a rainy day.   May you understand your true potential And never underestimate yourself. May you find lifelong friends here And hold onto these memories for the rest of your life.   May you learn to appreciate and respect the campus. May the virus never touch school grounds.   May your friends and family be safe May your elders stay safe. May you comfort the sick. May you find peace in the situation.   M...

During a recent Sunday morning Bible study on the book of Ephesians, the conversation turned to the sustenance the people drew from the church's stained glass windows. Below is an expanded version of Don Cochran's thoughtful contribution to the conversation. Don Cochran writes: When I first started worshipping at Second, I was puzzled by the military figure in the circular window in the west transept. Who was he?   Why was he put in the window?   What meaning did he have for those who contracted Tiffany to create the window?   And what meaning does he have for us today? I soon leaned that this is a memorial window to remember the life of a young man from our congregation whose life was tragically taken from him in London during the 1918 pandemic. He died not on a battlefield in France during the war but in a London hospital unsuspectedly.   As I view the figure now, I cannot help but wonder what goals he had for his life, who he would have become had...