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Freddie Lassers was pretty excited when his parents told him he could have a friend birthday party to celebrate turning 6. “But I already have a lot of toys,” he told mom and dad, Christine and Alex. So the Lassers started brainstorming: what could F…
St. Paul will offer its Blue Christmas worship on Tuesday, Dec. 22, at 6 p.m. This service of hope is designed for anyone in the community who may not feel like celebrating. During the holidays, grief, illness, aging, depression, loneliness, unemploy…
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“Mom, can we have chili dogs?” This was the question from my then-4-year-old brother, Daniel, regarding Christmas day dinner that year. It was the usual family holiday insanity, packed with airport runs, last-minute errands, and family activities. Ex…
During this Advent season, traditions become a part of many of our days. There are as many traditions as there are families. Many of us try to honor and keep those family rituals as time passes and as we enter into different phases of our lives. At t…
“You’re sort of a know-it-all,” my wife says lovingly after I tell her the theme for this year’s Advent blog. At first glance, the theme to Treasure and Ponder only got me pondering what to say. In my day-to-day life, in fact, I consider myself sure-…
On the Tuesday before Thanksgiving at the Madison Marketplace food pantry, there was quite a crowd. Among the group were Madison families, an “oh-so-sweet” 12-day-old baby boy, a cadre of St. Paul volunteers and Madison staff, a small group of helpfu…
There is a Slavic tradition of welcoming those arriving to one’s village by presenting them with bread and salt – in those ancient times, offering up salt was like handing over gold. This tradition of hospitality is not unique to Slavic cultures, of…
Out under the sky, it was this past February: Rocking gently from the waves below, Starring into a vast, star-lit sky above, Feeling entirely alone in the middle of the Indian Ocean. My husband and I began to ponder our future once more – faced with…
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Heidi Watkins attended a concert with her mom, Patty (Lundahl) Watkins, about 15 years ago at First Lutheran Church in Moline. As she sat in the pews, she noticed the incredible mural behind the altar, and half-moon-shaped pieces depicting the life o…
After this year’s first snowfall, my neighbor pushed his snow blower down the sidewalk around our entire block in an early-morning act of service to the neighborhood. Last week at the airport baggage carousel, I observed a woman introduce herself to…
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Today is my parents’ 49th wedding anniversary. On December 10, 1966, they were married in the small, stark sanctuary of the Baptist church where our family worshiped for decades after that. It was an old-fashioned wedding in most senses. There was n…
In today’s fast-paced and commercial culture, we are often inclined to surround ourselves with treasures, whether they are items or people. We don’t always have the time to sit down and think about why we treasure them, and what exactly that means. I…