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This year the theme for St. Paul’s Vacation Bible School is Shipwrecked: Rescued by Jesus. It is a fun way to get young people thinking about their faith. Imagining that we are all stranded on an island for the week, we have been reflecting on our re…
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When Michelle Juehring thinks of her time working at St. Paul Lutheran, a quote from Fred Rogers comes to mind: “Knowing that we can be loved exactly as we are gives us all the best opportunity for growing into the healthiest of people.” Michelle wil…
Editor’s note: Genesius Guild, Opera@Augustana, Opera Quad Cities, and the St. Ambrose University Music Department will present Mozart’s “The Marriage of Figaro,” in Allaert Auditorium at St. Ambrose University’s Galvin Fine Arts Center this Sunday,…
Editor’s note: Karen Holden is the manager of the St. Paul Book Corner. Have you heard of a star birthday? It’s when your age matches the day you were born. Mine was the year I turned 28 on January 28. Unless there’s a leap year glitch, everyone gets…
In a carefully kept black notebook, the details of many years of St. Paul funeral lunches are detailed by hand. By year and name, notes about the meal served and the number of people who attended offer a physical reminder of a faith tradition that sp…
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Running isn’t exactly for everyone. Many of us might have memories from our younger years, participating in the elementary school field day activities. That end-of-the-year celebration where everyone gets a ribbon for attempting a track & field e…
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A few weeks ago, I was riding in a Land Cruiser through rural Tanzania heading to a Maasai village called Nadaruru. I saw a sign for Nadaruru, and our driver, William, slowed down and turned on his blinker. But there was no obvious place to turn off…
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Listening to music has no practical purpose. It simply puts us in touch with the joy and beauty of life, or sometimes the sadness and uncertainty of life. Next to silence, I sometimes think, music may come closest to expressing those inexpressible my…
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I am what you call a “cradle Lutheran.” I grew up going to the same Lutheran church in Lebanon, PA until after I finished seminary and moved to the Quad Cities. I was baptized, confirmed, married, and overall raised in the faith at Holy Trinity. I at…
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She had no church experience while growing up. Kathy McManigal’s family celebrated Easter and Christmas with gifts and family gatherings, but being a part of a church community was not part of her childhood. As she grew into a young adult, she would…
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Every year I look forward to watching the NFL draft on television. I love college football, and I’m eager to see the reactions of some of my favorite players when a team selects them. What an emotional moment to finally realize that their dreams of p…
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It all started with a bowl of strawberries – ripe, red fruit left behind for waste in a cafeteria at Augustana College. Strawberries have a lot of tiny seeds on them, upwards of 200. These particular strawberries ended up planting seeds that grew int…