After the service everyone is invited for coffee and conversation. Worship services are at 10am at Tree of Life UU Congregation 8505 Church Street (in Ridgefield) Crystal Lake, within a multi-congregational shared church building. To Attend Online – We conduct our services live on the Zoom platform to allow for a more interactive experience. You will need … Continue reading Sunday Service November 15, 2026
Sanctuary is a place but it is also a religious, legal and political principle with ancient origins in the earliest human societies. It is already a fully developed practice in ancient Israel and is the central theme in The Odyssey. Both the Israelites and ancient Greeks shared the idea that any person might be a … Continue reading Sanctuary
To finish that novel, or not finish that novel? Readers well know that sometimes the novel isn’t worth finishing. Such guilt we feel. Sheepish are we at not wanting to continue reading the author’s hard work. Excuses are proffered. Sorry. Bye. Next? Join Alan Shear on Sunday, September 13 as we explore together the ethics … Continue reading The Poetry of Endings
*Services this week are ONLINE ONLY Arthur C. Brooks stated in his The Atlantic Magazine article, Stop Keeping Score “Instead of checking items off a list, the Buddha suggests shining a light on yourself and others. ‘Dwell as a lamp unto yourself,’ he advised his disciple Ananda. He meant that happiness comes from the illumination … Continue reading Scoreless Listless Happiness
Join us on Sunday, March 29 for a service of music and poetry by members of Tree of Life in celebration of the coming of Spring. Several local poets, two musical groups, a piano soloist and the Tree of Life Choir will enhance our worship experience. Bring your friends and come celebrate Spring with music and … Continue reading A Patchwork Spring Celebration
While sharing core values, Unitarians are free to assemble their own personal spirituality, within reason. So, let’s belly up to the buffet with Alan at the All-You-Can-Eat spirituality cafeteria and peruse the selections. Some restrictions apply. Carry-out available. The Rev. Dr. Alan Shear is a retired college professor currently serving on the Tree of Life … Continue reading Smorgasbord Spirituality
A question we ask ourselves is ‘who are we’. The answer is neither simple or unchanging. There are many things that we are and many things that we are not. We are complicated and our self identity changes over time. An experience might lead us to experiment with a emergent way of being in the … Continue reading Genuine Pretending
For some, the word virtue sounds a little too much like Protestant Puritanism – dour and strict. Rather, let’s consider a virtue as something more like a personal asset, a state of mind, an outlook and attitude where practicing a virtue is a special sort of ‘power’ enabling us to experience a deeper level of … Continue reading Happiness Gardening
The category of ‘story’ is not one thing but varies depending of diverse factors. Myth is a story but is not the same thing as a legend or fairy tale. A theatrical play tells a story but is not the same as a religious ceremony that reenacts a story. History can be turned into a … Continue reading The Tale of the Story
Soul Matters for October on Deep Listening states, “Listening to your inner voice is obviously about trying to hear a message. But the often less obvious (but just as crucial) part is deciding what metaphor to use to describe that inner voice. Or to put it another way, how we envision our inner voice significantly … Continue reading ’tis all one to me
