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Sunday June 17
9:00am Chalice Circle
9:15am Coffee with Questions
10:45am To Be a Blessing
12:20pm Mindfulness
6:30pm Chalice Circle
Monday June 18
Office Closed
7:30pm Mindfulness
Tuesday June 19
Office Closed
7:00pm Board Meeting moved to 6/26
Wednesday June 20
Office Closed
12:00pm RE Work Day
7:30pm Odyssey
Thursday June 21
1:30pm Mindfulness
7:00pm McHenry County Pride
Friday June 22
7:00pm Green Sanctuary Movie
Saturday June 23
8:00am Tree Removal
Pat Costigan - Trustee
Rebecca Heisler- Trustee
Patrick Kerin- Trustee
Carol Alfus- At Large
Office Hours:
Monday Closed
Tuesday Closed
Wednesday Closed
Thursday 10-2
Friday 10-2
Others by appointment
Click
here for Website Calendar Link
Click Here to see the latest Board Minutes
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Please forward to any interested friends or relatives using the Forward to a Friend button on the left hand side.
The Office will be closed June 18-20 for General Assembly in Kansas City. Mila Brinker will be happy to help you with administrative issues on Thursday and Friday 10am-2pm.
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To Be a Blessing
Sunday, June 17, 2018 10:45am
M.E. Tanabe
When we recognize our blessings and feel how they fill us, we make space for blessings to overflow onto others. Henri J. M Nowen shares these thoughts on the power of offering a blessing: To give someone a blessing is the most significant affirmation we can offer. It is more than a word of praise or appreciation; it is more than pointing out someone's talents or good deeds; it is more than putting someone in the light. To give a blessing is to affirm, to say "yes" to a person's Belovedness.
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And You Shall Be a Blessing
Sunday, June 24, 2018 10:45am
Rabbi Maralee Gordon
Abraham is told by God in Genesis 12, "Be a blessing!" What does it mean to be a blessing? Rabbi Gordon will explore how through recognizing our blessings and blessing others with our attention we can be a blessing.
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Building and Grounds Needs You
The new roof has been installed! The stain glass window project is nearing completion! And the new carpet has been delivered! With all this recent momentum, it might be time to get together and have a meeting on what is needed to complete some projects as well as start planning for others that are needed.
Saturday June 23 from 8AM-5PM we will be cutting down the dying diseased trees and chip the brush. Jason Madaus is heading up this project. Please contact Jason or Patrick Kerin to sign up. Please bring chain saws, racks, and other equipment to help out.
Friday and Saturday, July 27 and 28 we are ripping out the old carpet and installing the new carpet! This is phase one of this project with a carpet installer coming Saturday to teach us. Paula Yensen is heading up this project and is signing up people for sifts on those days to remove furniture, rip up the old carpet, learn and install the new carpet, and putting the rooms back together. Please contact Paula to schedule your time to get the project done!
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It's Sunday, Let's Go to Church! 
6/17/2018 Father's Day
Children are invited to join us in worship; nursery care is available for children birth-3 years of age.
Volunteers needed
for the 2018-19 school year! We are excited to announce that next year's RE students will be joining in the congregation-wide Soul Matters discussions. They will be using the same themes we're sharing in our Chalice Circles and Worship Services. RE is looking for Sunday morning volunteers to facilitate these discussions and the activities that go with them. Both new and experienced teachers welcome!
We are also looking for volunteers to teach the Our Whole Lives curriculum, a comprehensive lifespan sexuality education program which we offer because we believe that honest, accurate information about sexuality changes lives. We provide extensive training and support to these vital teachers. We offer these programs for 5/6th graders, 8/9th graders, and 11/12th graders. More information can be found here: https://www.uua.org/re/owl
Please consider serving our congregation and our children in these rewarding endeavors. Contact Heather at DRE@treeoflifeuu.org for more information.
An activity group for LGBTQ teens meets on the 4th Wednesday of the month, 7-9PM, in the
downstairs youth room. The time of the meeting coincides with the meeting of McHenry PTI (Parents of Transgender Individuals).
Work Days
are scheduled for the Summer! The RE team will be meeting on the following days to re-organize our classrooms. We welcome people of all ages to join us:
June 20, 12-3
July 18, 12-3
July 25, 11-2
Aug 22, 12-3
See you there!
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Green Sanctuary Movie Night 
The Green Sanctuary committee of TOLUUC invites you for a viewing of the currently relevant film "Straws," by Linda Booker,
Friday, June 22 at 7:00 p.m. A 32 minute documentary, this acclaimed film highlights the impact our use of plastics, particularly straws, has on our environment. A discussion and Q&A will follow the viewing with invited guests Cynthia Kanner, Executive Director of the Environmental Defenders of McHenry County and board member Joe Starzynski. We will be providing popcorn, water and soft drinks and welcome you to bring adult beverages and snacks.
Second Sunday Offering
The Second Sunday Collection taken for UU Black Lives Matter raised a terrific $699! Outstanding! As part of a national push a generous donor has promised to match contributions from congregations equal to $10 per member, effectively potentially doubling our effort. Tree of Life is on record as reporting 104 members which means that we need to come up $1040 to qualify for the match. The Social Justice Team voted this week to contribute the balance of our current budget--$97 to the effort. That leaves us just $244 short of the goal. At least one member told me she might make an additional anonymous donation to help make up the difference and there are others who were not at the Barn Service who might like to help. How about it? Can a few of us help meet the goal? If you are interested in making a contribution, please contact the office or put a check in the offering plate with BLUU in the memo line.
Patrick Murfin , for the Social Justice Team.
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Women's Book Club 
The next gathering is on Friday July 13th, 2018 at Judy Whitaker's house (8660 Belfield Rd, Crystal Lake). The group chose to read and discuss Goodbye, Columbus and Five Short Stories by Phillip Roth (1959, Houghton Mifflin, mass market paperback 216 pp.). Back in 1960, it won the National Book Award and National Jewish Book Award for Fiction. Description: "Roth's first book--about Neil Klugman, Brenda Patimkin, and their relationship which tests the boundaries of suspicion, social class, and love--instantly established its author's reputation as a writer of explosive wit, merciless insight, and a fierce compassion for even the most self-deluding of characters."
The local libraries have copies in print, audio, and eBook. It retails for around $14 if you want to purchase a copy. If you have any questions please contact Therese Hart via email (theresehrt@yahoo.com) or in the Women's Circle group on Facebook, thanks!
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The Women's Circle Needs Leadership
Do you have a vision? We need one woman who can step forward and help us plan and communicate our monthly gatherings. Is that woman you? Please contact Heather Madaus for more information. Monthly Women's Circle gatherings have been discontinued until new leadership emerges.
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FAITHBRIDGE INTERFAITH FEED MY STARVING CHILDREN, JUNE 25TH, 5:45 - 7:30, 742 East Park Ave., Libertyville.
FaithBridge is sponsoring an interfaith service project and has scheduled an event time. Come join your neighbors from the McHenry County faith community as we work together to pack food to be shipped to areas in need. You can find more information here
https://www.fmsc.org/about-us or talk to M. E. Tanabe.
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Women of the Congregation
You should have received an Evite from Sue Kazlusky, Annette Jasiota, and Karen Meyer about a "Welcome to the Congregation" light dinner for Simon David Kuhl. It is on Saturday, June 23 from 3-6 pm at Kim & Patty's Restaurant in McHenry. In talking to people, not everyone received it - apparently, computers arbitrarily decide that Evites should be marked as Spam. It was sent out May 30. If you did not receive it, can you contact Sue at kaz.sue@comcast.net or 815.715.5190? Thanks.
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Coffee with Questions
Topic: Personal responsibility for mass violence
Leader: Bob Coleman
Time: Sunday, June 17, 2018, 9:15 AM
Location: Tree of Life UU Cong. 5603 Bull Valley Road, McHenry, IL 60050
Phone:(815) 322-2464
A recent article on free will and mass violence says our will is like a fight between a good dog and a bad dog. The one who wins is the one you feed the most
References:
Lecture 47 (22 minutes) by Daniel N. Robinson, "Psychological and Biological Determinism" in "The Great Ideas of Psychology " (Teaching Company CD, 1997)
Northwest Herald, Saturday, June 9, 2018,, page 4, "Napolitan gets 28 years"
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Community Care Committee
Joys and Concerns shared during the service will be printed in the Happenings and Bulletin unless there is a request made to the office or community care committee to withhold.
Judy Ayres is feeling so blessed to have had 59 1/2 years of marriage to Dave. She reminds all of us to tell the people in our lives that we love them.
Till Spitza told us his grandma had some chest pains and had to go to the hospital, bu he is happy now that she is back home.
Carrie MacDonald is delighted to be at her first Barn Service!
Kathy Tinkler welcomes Shelly Nicholson and her sons to the barn Service. Kathy also reported that Judy Mullen passed her swallowing test and can now eat "real food"!
Heather Madaus told us her sister-in-law has been struggling with a kidney infection, and asks us to keep her in our thoughts and prayers.
After more than two years fighting pancreatic cancer, Bob Tirk shared that he has entered hospice this week.
Judy Mullen update: Judy is eating and speaking now, which is great news! She hopes to be out of Holy Family in two weeks or so and transferred to a center closer to home for further therapy. She sends her love to the congregation and we are all thinking of her and sending our love and healing thoughts.
Carrie MacDonald and
Judy Stettner are excited to be singing at General Assembly next week. You can watch a live stream of them at the Service of the Living Tradition Thursday,
June 21 at 7p.m by using this link https://www.uua.org/ga/off-site/2018
Tom Tipton writes:
sad news, Tom Dincecco died June 1st. He and his wife Jenny were longtime members of our congregation. He did PADS and DAP for many years also. I will never forget the day he proposed to her in what would have otherwise been an ordinary Sunday service. He was a wonderful and caring person. Jenny Dincecco's address is:
22320 Classic Ct. #328, Lake Barrington, IL 60010.
Driver needed from Cary! If you would be available to provide transportation on Sunday mornings to and from Cary, please contact caring@treeoflifeuu.org.
If you are looking for a ride to church, please contact Pat Costigan, our Transportation Coordinator, who is matching people in need of rides with others who are willing to provide them.
Drivers to and from Sunday services needed! Do you drive through Crystal Lake on your way to services in Sunday? Let Pat Costigan know. We try to keep the commitment to once per month and can be creative! Please email:
caring@treeoflifeuu.org
Cary Drivers?
We have a person from Cary who would like a ride to services on Sundays. Please contact Pat Costigan at (Church email??) if you are able to help out. The schedule is at your convenience and usually only one time per month, unless you can do more!
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UU World News 
Tuesday, June 12, 2018
FROM THE PRINT MAGAZINE
Creating community
A congregation bonds over its multiyear collaborative quilt project.
By Sonja L. Cohen, 6/11/18 (Summer 2018)
Summer issue is now online
Subscribers are receiving their copies of the Summer edition of UU World. You may also read and share its stories on our website:
NEWS
Reported by UU World writers
From the editor: Farewell to two members of UU World's team
This month we say goodbye to Kenny Wiley and Joshua Craft.
By Christopher L. Walton, 6/11/18
FROM THE UNITARIAN UNIVERSALIST ASSOCIATION
Follow UU World at General Assembly next week
EDITORS' BLOG
Updates throughout the week
Interdependent Web: Families belong together, left and right, the bad president problem,
Weekly roundup of blogs and other user-generated web content about Unitarian Universalism.
By Heather Christensen, 6/8/18
https://www.uuworld.org/articles/blog-roundup-2018-06-08
Media roundup: Mosque welcomes UUs in need of space to worship
Weekly guide to stories about Unitarian Universalists from other media.
By Rachel Walden, 6/8/18
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Contacts
Judy Stettner
Office Administrator
Janet Burns
Religious Education Chairperson
Forrest Ransburg
Director of Music
Carrie MacDonald
Board President
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