The Trees Community

The Trees Story begins with disparate individuals looking for the truth. In the summer of our youth in 1970, in the heat and curiousity of Manhattan, we stumbled through the never-locked door of a semi-abandoned building, Up four flights of dark and broken steps, we carried the shadows and brokenness of our young lives. Our destination: an attic junk closet transformed into a would-be temple.

In the summer of our youth in 1970, in the heat and curiousity of Manhattan, we stumbled through the never-locked door of a semi-abandoned building,

Up four flights of dark and broken steps, we carried the shadows and brokenness of our young lives.
Our destination: an attic junk closet transformed into a would-be temple.
Here, in this unassumed space we called 'the loft', from 10 to 40 people gathered each evening to find answers.

Sincere openness and longing carried us from discussion through meditation into prayer.
After baggage and intrique were stripped away all that was left was the welcome of our being to the private embrace of an indellible God.

From this personal awakening we stirred to a shared communion, sounded in spontaneous music, whose mystery and magic defied explanation. Most who took part of the early gathering never wanted to leave, including a cult deprogrammer sent by a worried mom
.
Many of us did in fact stay, for a few days, a few months, several years, or the full eight years of the group's existence. We would vary in size, growing as large as fourteen, and stabilizing at seven members. Our first name was the New York Tent City Symphony of Souls in Christ. We then changed our name to the Trees Community (aka. the Trees Group).