The UU Common Read builds community in our congregations and our movement by giving diverse people a shared focus for reflection and action. A Common Read can take us on a powerful faith journey as we explore what it means to be human and accountable in a pain-filled world.

Common Read 2022-23: Mistakes and Miracles by Nancy Palmer Jones and Karin Lin

Authors Nancy Palmer Jones and Karin Lin—a white minister and a lay person of color—explored five UU congregations’ journeys toward Beloved Community. In Mistakes and Miracles: Congregations on the Road to Multiculturalism (Skinner House Books, 2019), they shared the joy, disappointment, and growth these congregations found.

The world has seen much turmoil, pain, and yes, glimmers of hope, in the three years since Mistakes and Miracles‘ publication. As we enter a Common Read of this book, we find ourselves receiving its report with a changed spirit, an urgent need, and perhaps new hope for multiculturalism and antiracism work in our congregations and our movement.

Today, UU faith communities are grappling with a charge to dismantle white supremacy in ourselves, our communities and our world. What lessons and inspiration can we find in Mistakes and Miracles to guide our striving for Beloved Community, today? 

This and many other questions related to the Common Read will be addressed in group discussions led by Laurie Cartier starting in early 2023. Four sessions based on the UUA Group Discussion guide will take place January through April 2023. Discussion of the issues raised in this book will help to guide UUSB members toward a greater understanding of the need for a UUA 8th Principle and acceptance (or rejection) of this principle. (See related article on the UUA 8th Principle.)

To prepare, orders for the books are now being taken. Please let Laurie know if you would like a book by November 15. If you have difficulty affording a book, there will be some extra to share. 

Contact Laurie with any questions at 207-944-0650 or amalauriec@gmail.com.

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