First Presbyterian Church, Waukon IA

08/31/2026

Pastor Grant's charge to the congregation upon his retirement: "What happened to the bird?"

Whatever happened to the bird? Have you ever noticed, in the photo that has long served as the church’s unofficial logo, that there’s a bird sitting on the cross? When I snapped the shutter from th…

08/30/2026

From Pastor Grant's final sermon this morning --

"Without a doubt, there is a forwardness to our faith. That’s because nostalgia is not a healthy driver of solid belief and fruitful discipleship. While we remember and treasure the past, there is no turning back. Moving forward in faith is daring to believe – in the face of strong evidence and feeling to the contrary – that the Word really does continue to abide among us."

It happened just a little way off Allamakee Street. My lovely wife, Julie, and I, and our three littles had stepped from the safety of our trusty minivan and set foot onto the grounds of the 158th …

08/23/2026

"To be salt means that God created us to mix it up with world. To do our holy work of making this world a better place, you and I every day need to be out there – getting our hands dirty, engaging with joys and concerns of people, culture, and government. "

Someone once posed an intriguing question to the Presbyterian preacher and writer Eugene Peterson: What he would say if he were writing what he knew to be his very last sermon? Mr. Peterson respond…

08/21/2026

Make plans to join us for worship this Sunday, Aug. 23, as we celebrate the 170th anniversary of our congregation's founding. Leading our musical praise will be the GRD-Brueggen Family, a polka and waltz band from Cashton, WI. Come and be part of the "joyful noise."

08/21/2026

Countless hearts across the Waukon community are aching and broken upon word that 16-year-old Sophia Ghegan died Wednesday of injuries sustained in a one-vehicle rollover accident last weekend. An account has been established at Kerndt Brothers Bank if you wish to offer financial support – in addition to the healing comfort of prayer for Sophia’s family and Waukon High School classmates, which includes our own Lexy McNamara and their friend group. Lord, in your mercy …

08/17/2026

Please join the faith community in lifting up Sophia Ghegan, the 16-year-old from Waukon who was gravely injured in a one-vehicle rollover accident Sunday afternoon. Given the community’s tightly woven fabric of family and personal relationships, Sophia's situation is creating many heavy hearts -- not the least of which are those of our teenagers. So be good to one another, love one another in word and deed. And trust in the Spirit …

08/16/2026

"In the Holy Saturdays of our lives, where life absolutely feels on the edge, Christ descends into the depths of our tombs and ascends to the edges of our cliffs – into the hellishness of our lives, breaking the bonds of death and setting free the captives. His love fills the tomb and permeates its walls; his love envelops the edge and strings a safety net."

Scripture holds so many precious passages, and more than a few of them I regret never having preached. So indulge me while a turn back the church calendar to Holy Saturday with a scene from the Gos…

08/13/2026

*** Ambassadors for Christ, agents of reconciliation and peace ***
On display at church last Sunday were the quilts and blankets from the latest batch of 63 made by our congregation’s Mission Sewing Group. Receiving the comforting warmth of their ministry will be patients, clients, and residents of these agencies: Allamakee County Relief Office, Northeast Iowa Community Action, Veterans Memorial Hospital in Waukon, the Veterans Administration hospital in Iowa City, the Joppa homeless ministry in Des Moines, Good Samaritan and Northgate care centers in Waukon, Helping Services of Northeast Iowa, and Thornton Manor in Lansing.

08/09/2026

"What replaces the pursuit of happiness and passion is something quieter and much-more radical: Letting a day, however it unfolds, be sufficient. It doesn’t need grading; it need not require meaningful feedback. ... Existence itself moves from the venue where happiness is supposed to occur to the thing itself – no longer a means to an end but the end itself."

For a bunch of professional fishermen – well accustomed to being out on the water, presumably in all kinds of weather, the Lord’s apostles sure spend a lot of time panicking over stormy seas. The o…