Reflections from the Clergy

Reflections from Clergy

As a general rule of thumb, country music is one of my least favorite genres. Before you turn the page and leave me behind, you need to know, dear friend, occasionally there is a song that sneaks through and touches…

Reflections from Clergy

Another gunman has opened fire. This time, the bullets flew during a baseball practice of Republican congresspersons. Some had their children in attendance as well. There was one fatality, the gunman, and five injured. According to gunviolencearchive.org, this shooting was…

Rebuilding Our Community through Unity The church I grew up in had a motto. It was “where there is unity there is strength.” One of the definitions of unity is oneness of mind, feelings, concord, harmony or agreement among a…

Last month, Rev. Hightower wrote about the Civil Rights Act signed in 1964 and the Voting Rights Act signed in 1965. In 2008, Barack Obama was elected president, and Sen. Mitch McConnell said, “We are going to do all we…

Rebuilding Our Community One Vote at a Time Unless you have been living under a rock and have not noticed, we are living in some very strange times. The Bible says it this way in 2 Timothy 3:1-5 NIV, “But…

A warm day in February Today as I write it is 71 degrees in Peoria. I cannot remember any time in my life when it was this warm in February in Illinois. People are sitting in cafes drinking their coffee…

The Worth and Dignity of Every Person One of the core teachings of virtually all of our religious traditions and our secular democratic tradition as well is the idea that every person has worth and dignity. Democracy really cannot function…

Living With a Loose Cannon Welcome to a new year, my friends. We are about to have a new President. I know some people must be happy about that, but I am not one of them. If he is your…

Ethics of Stewardship As I write about ethics of stewardship, today I am focusing on things outside our walls. Next time I will focus on use of building space. It was not until the late 19th century that grass lawns…