Editors note: This stewardship season, we’re sharing the thoughts of St. Paul members and how this community of faith shapes their lives. Meet Stephen and Kelly Hamborg, and their kids, Abby and Maddie. We recently joined St. Paul after moving to the…
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Last night, St. Paul middle schoolers observed the season of Advent. All of it. In less than two hours. But, please, don’t try this at home. 678 is a gathering of – you guessed it – sixth, seventh, and eighth grade students that happens on the fourth…
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By Dylan Engelbrecht It is September 22. My birthday was yesterday and it was a great day. Today I will work on my Christmas list. I must get it sorted and prioritized based on what I received yesterday. I will then distribute it soon to the many fam…
By Beth Heston When I agreed to write this devotion, I thought it would be easy to express my feelings about the wonder and joy of God’s love. Writing this has really made me think about what that means. I look back on my happy childhood and all the…
By Dave DeWit I encountered a certain amount of rejection in my earlier years, and I still have difficulty imagining why God, or anyone else, would love me. And I still have to admit that if I were God, I certainly wouldn’t love me. I wouldn’t even l…
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By Jerry Fisher It was a beautiful Sunday afternoon, I was driving to Des Moines for some meetings on Monday. I had just crossed the North Skunk River, when a semi passed me. It wasn’t long before the semi slowed down and was once again alongside me….
It’s no secret to those who know me that I love to sing. The first thing I did when I moved to Davenport eight years ago was join the St. Paul Chorale. Through that group I got to know the rest of this community, and began making a home here. Advent…
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Last month, Peter DeMarco wrote a letter that was later published in the New York Times. It was addressed to the numerous medical professionals who cared for his 34-year-old wife in the hospital. Laura had suffered a severe asthma attack and later di…
Two new skillets. Muffin pans. A toaster. Microwaves. Spatulas. A mixer. From serving funeral luncheons and Lenten dinners to preparing food for the Salvation Army meal site (and countless other examples in between), extending hospitality to others i…
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A few years ago, during the busiest part of a Sunday morning at St. Paul, a 4-year-old boy went running past me at full speed. I gently interrupted his race and asked him to please walk and be careful of everyone around him. “There’s a lot of people…
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Having just written an editorial on the Donald Trump victory, for the magazine I help publish – The Christian Century – I’m reticent to preempt that piece with a reworking of its contents here. But since the election results are still so fresh, with…
At the River Bend Foodbank warehouse on the southwest side of Davenport, an assembly line of nourishment formed on Friday night. The stations on the line? Peanut butter packets, soups, snack crackers, a fruit roll-up, juice box – and others. The work…