MARK YOUR CALENDARS!

Our one-year anniversary is coming up and you won’t want to miss it. We are planning a potluck picnic celebration in the pavilion behind the Patty Turner Center after service on Sunday, September 25. Bring delicious food to share and invite your friends and family.

Do not be concerned about weather! We will hold our picnic indoors if we need to.

We have so much to celebrate!

Want to reconnect with the center of your being in the middle of the week? Join us at 7PM on April 12 for a Contemplative Interfaith Service in the sanctuary of First Church of Christ Scientist, 155 Deerfield Road. This is a very powerful, deeply enriching experience.  The theme for this month is Spiritual Surrender. You will hear this theme presented by sacred texts or writings of the mystics of the world's major faith traditions and supplemented by meditative music. Live music - Native American flute, singing bowls, gong and drums - will be provided by Cheryl Good to complement the readings and create sacred space for meditation and reflection.

NOTE: This service is being put on hold after April 12 to allow Rev. Carol to focus on community building and leadership development. We love this service and will resume it again in divine time.

It's hard to believe it's been ten years since 9/11, when the events of the day plunged our country into sadness and uncertainty.  Where are you now? What life are you creating? On Sunday, September 11, we will have a special service commemorating the 10-year anniversary of 9/11 and dedicating the next decade to a new conversation of Love, Compassion and Understanding.  Our theme is Remember… Release… Renew.

Unity created World Day of Prayer—the second Thursday in September—as a global effort to uplift our world in shared prayer consciousness. Since its inception 18 years ago, this sacred initiative has supported more than 15 million people with prayer. In our first year at Abundant Life Unity Church, we will be wholeheartedly participating.

ALUC community member David Forman wants to create some live music opportunities for our Sunday services.  If you have experience playing an instrument [guitar, keyboard or percussion] or have experience singing, please see David or email him at loveconquersall770@gmail.com. This will be a lot of fun and will also enliven our music performances on Sunday mornings.

After service on Sunday, October 16, Rev. Diane Venzera, Youth Education Consultant for the Great Lakes Unity region, will be joining us to lead a visioning process for our family ministry program. Everyone is invited. Having a vibrant youth ministry is key to the success of Abundant Life Unity, and truthfully, we are all stakeholders. So please prayerfully consider if you feel called to participate in this visioning opportunity.

At our next Chicago Botanic Garden stroll we will see what summer has in store for us. Join us after service on Sunday, June 24 for lunch at the Chicago Botanic Gardens, 1000 Lake Cook Road, Glencoe, IL. After lunch we will stroll the gardens and take in the beauty and wonder of the plant world. Parking is free for members [annual membership is $70]. 

Prayer is a challenge for many of us. What should we ask of God? Is anyone listening? Why aren't our prayers being answered? For thousands of years, humanity has brought needs to God with varying success, often resulting in disillusionment. Now is the time to try something new: A nine-step prayer practice called The Gathering. We began this group in late August, but anyone can join us. 

We had just moved from Houston to Florida in the summer of 2001. Our daughters were in school - kindergarten, 6^th and 8^th grade - and I was at home. Being new to the area, I had no real friends at the time, but I got a call out of the blue from someone I had met at an event. I am not sure what we were talking about when I heard her suddenly exclaim, “A plane just hit one of the twin towers!” Had she not called, I would have been oblivious to everything that happened that morning because I rarely have the TV on. I rushed to our TV room and plopped myself on the couch in front of it. Like thousands of others, I was stunned as I watched the twin towers come down and then even more stunned when the Pentagon was hit. And I was alone. My husband, Greg, was out of town. In fact, he was scheduled to come home out of Chicago’s O’Hare airport that very morning. When all this was happening, Greg was in the air on an American Airlines flight.