We are a virtual community practicing progressive spirituality.
Our hope is for you to grow personally, whether you consider yourself secular and/or spiritual, and to know that you have a loving, connected community available to you.
170 Trees is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit interspiritual and interfaith organization that merges social justice practices and progressive spirituality to create an online space of radical belonging for our changed and changing world.
We have programs where people can receive spiritual guidance or advice, explore meaning-making, and build an aligned community to thrive in this unique time in history.
We want you to engage in ways that are meaningful and doable for you. Maybe that’s through active engagement–attending events and groups, commenting on and creating posts, and forming relationships. Maybe that’s through passive engagement–watching videos, reading posts, and pondering some of the topics we bring up.
We want you to experience radical belonging either way.
170 Trees Community for
Progressive Spirituality
Learn more about our core community and how we connect, including the 170 Trees Spiritual Community Center and our integrated chat forum to connect and share with others, and give or receive spiritual advice.
Spirited Solace
Death Texting
The Spirited Solace program offers accessible, text-based support and spiritual mentorship to those going through or observing the dying process to help decrease fear, increase feelings of love, process life review, and provide comfort.
Kintsugi
Community
Kintsugi Community provides spiritual guidance to the coviding community (people practicing–or wanting to practice–high levels of COVID caution and community care) by tending to their specific spiritual needs.
Spiritual Guidance for a World on Fire.
Some of us need a fresh take on what spirituality can look like in this time. Our modern world is far more different from our grandparents’ world than theirs was from their grandparents’ world. We crave uplift, meaning-making, spiritual advice, guidance, and connection, but end-stage-capitalism, diminishing human rights, and climate catastrophe keep us overly busy and stuck in fear without knowing how to take action.
We want ways to find oneness and experience our interconnection. We’re not guaranteed any specific amount of time on this earth, and our lives can be chaotic and challenging. Join us as we leverage progressive spirituality to break through the noise and make meaning in ways that can create ripples of deep and lasting liberation.
Our Voice.
Rev. Lia’s homily at her The Chaplaincy Institute ordination speaks to the vision underlying the work of 170 Trees.
Through her homily, Rev. Lia expresses her vision of a progressive spirituality, calling all — secular and spiritual — to embrace the intersection of social justice and spirituality.
Rev. Lia expresses her vision of a progressive spirituality, calling all — secular and spiritual — to embrace the intersection of social justice and spirituality.
Our Name.
The origin story of the name 170 Trees starts with some of the worst of humanity and continues with some of the best. On August 6 and August 9, 1945, in WWII, the United States dropped two atomic bombs on the people of Japan, in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, respectively. It was unknown if any trees had survived or would survive for the long haul. 170 trees survived and live on now!
There is an organization called Green Legacy Hiroshima that sends the descendents of those survivors (which are called Hibakujumoku) in the form of seeds and saplings around the world to be planted as signs of hope and warning.
We live in a complicated time of unfolding crises–climate catastrophe, degradation of human rights, and pandemics (including the ongoing covid pandemic). Those 170 trees and their descendents do serve as symbols of hope and warning and encourage us to find ways to survive, grow, thrive, and spread acts of love and hope throughout our lives and communities even in (and especially in) these times.
Social justice and spirituality are intertwined.
Recognizing social justice and spirituality are inextricably intertwined, we make the following commitments:
We will work toward the liberation of all.
“Nobody’s free until everybody’s free.” – Fannie Lou Hamer
We will not leave anybody behind. Through our actions and words, we will hold up the needs of the many or the few and not settle as if we are “there” yet. This includes continual learning and being accountable to the community if we miss the mark.
We will center voices and works of marginalized people.
We recognize the value of lesser-known stories and perspectives, so we will do our part to make sure our membership experiences the diversity of offerings of our wider community.
We will be community first…
…while striving to really know people–whether in brief interactions or longer relationships.
We value you as a part of our community and embrace you in your wholeness, regardless of your active participation level.
We will use restorative practices to work through conflict and challenge.
Restorative practices (often seen in indigenous cultures around the world) center relationship, community, and those who have been affected by any harm done (intentional or unintentional). We will support anyone, including bringing in facilitators who are skilled in guiding others using restorative practices.
We will acknowledge hard truths.
What’s happening in Palestine is genocide.
Two things can be true at the same time. (e.g. We can love and support Palestinians and work for their liberation while we love and support Jewish people.)
The covid pandemic continues.
Climate catastrophe is real.
We will work to decolonize our minds and hearts.
Even with the best intentions, we are all still swimming in the waters of harmful systems that have persisted through colonization (like patriarchy, white supremacy culture, and capitalism). We try to change those waters by incorporating anti-oppression practices in all we do from organizational structure to community accountability to wording and representation.
Join our Progressive Spirituality Community!
We are so excited to welcome you into our beloved community!
Once you join, you will have access to our community offerings, chat spaces, and virtual community spaces where you can experience spiritual advice, guidance, mentorship, community, and belonging.
Existing member? Sign in here!