Before I started attending St. Paul, I hadn’t been a church-goer since my teens. To put that in perspective, I’m soon going to be 65. For all those years before St. Paul, I used to tell myself that it was OK that I didn’t go to church, that it was en…
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I still use a paper planner. They’re filled with pencil written appointments, services, reminders, and to-do lists. While our family shares an online calendar to make sure we never abandon the kids at choir practice, I still use – and love – my paper…
Recently, I achieved a milestone. Twenty years of service as a mother! As all parents know, these days are often long. I’ve worried about our children’s education, their health and their future. I’ve worried that my kids don’t read enough, don’t pra…
One thing that has given me hope is the fact that I get to attend Davenport Central High School. This is very meaningful to me because I have wanted to attend there since I was 3 years old. My parents attended there and I was able to grow a passion f…
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When I was young, I recall piling in the old Plymouth with my Mom, Dad and brothers for a drive to see the Christmas lights in town. That was a thrill – and I still love seeing the beauty of lights at this most wonderful time of year. I have come to…
Since the beginning of 2020, a lot of things changed for me – as they did for many others. I experienced my first special election and entered the pandemic in March; helped run an Iowa primary election and bought my first car in June; moved into my f…
My thrill of hope was the anticipation of the birth of my grandchildren. From the announcement that my daughter-in-law and son were expecting a baby to the day of their birth, I thought of the hopes I had for their future. What will the future hold f…
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Joel Moore is a registered nurse and a deacon in the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America. He serves as director of care coordination for in-patients at Genesis Health Systems. Earlier this week, he received one of the first vaccines for COVID-19 i…
I am a last-minute wrapper, I admit. If I used glue, it would still be damp when the person was opening the gift. Christmas Eve has usually included a late candlelight service, followed by cocoa and cookies at home, and then a final wrapping session…
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The Saturday before the first Sunday in Advent, a short, square, white box is removed from its shelf in the basement and brought upstairs. The contents of this box are one of the most precious gifts I have ever been given. It is the family’s nativity…
When I first started baking bread, I challenged myself to make something that was not just store-bought, uniform, and pre-sliced. I wanted something different, the type of bread that was hard to describe – but when you had it, you knew it was somethi…
A while ago, a pastor friend of mine and I got into a discussion about the topic of expectations; how to respond to them when they are fulfilled and particularly when they are not. When you think about it, every aspect of life hinges on what we expec…