St. Paul United Church of Christ

Welcome from the Pastor

Welcome to St. Paul United Church of Christ.  We are a warm and open community of caring, thoughtful Christians, commited to serving God after the example of Jesus Christ.

Come worship with us! 

Rev. Jessica Taft is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin and Eden Theological Seminary in St. Louis.  

She laughs now. It is perhaps one of the most wonderful things that I can
imagine. My nearly 5-month-old daughter laughs. She laughs when I kiss her.
She laughs when we play "peekaboo". She laughs when I repeat a word that sounds
funny. (Last night it was "extravaganza".)

For a long time, philosophers said that laughter was one of those things that
distinguished us from the "lower beasts". Aristotle believed that the first
time an infant laughed, was the moment the child received their soul. (As a
side note, researchers now know that this is not true...other animals do laugh,
even lab rats!)

She laughs and I understand what the psalmists mean to say when they write
about leaping hearts. There is no noise quite so wonderful as the sound of
someone you love laughing that pure kind of laughter of joy. I have to believe
that it is also one of the deeper joys of God's heart.

May you hear the laughter of someone you love and may you know that your own joy
resounds in heaven.
Rev. Jessica Taft