The Unitarian Universalist Association’s Common Read Selection Committee has chosen two books for this year’s program. They are: Centering: Navigating Race, Authenticity, and Power in Ministry, edited by Mitra Rahnema (Skinner House, 2017), and Daring Democracy: Igniting Power, Meaning, and Connection for the America We Want, by Frances Moore Lappé and Adam Eichen, (Beacon Press, September 2017).

Centering: Navigating Race, Authenticity, and Power in Ministry “centers the stories, analysis, and insights of a number of Unitarian Universalist religious leaders of color as they explore how racial identity is made both visible and invisible in Unitarian Universalist communities.”

Daring Democracy: Igniting Power, Meaning, and Connection for the America We Want “lifts up the importance of democracy itself. It examines the anti-democracy movement that led to the Trump presidency, then offers a vision and call to action to save the democracy we thought we had and to take our civic life to a place it has never been.”

A Common Read “invites participants to read and discuss the same book in a given period of time.” It can “build community in our congregations and our movement by giving diverse people a shared experience, shared language, and a basis for deep, meaningful conversations.”

Congregations, groups, and individuals may purchase both books from inSpirit: The UU Book and Gift Shop. Centering is available now and Daring Democracy will be available in early September; bulk discounts are available.

A discussion guide for each book will be available for download by Oct. 13, 2017. Each guide will include plans for both a single session and three more in-depth sessions for UU congregations, groups, and individuals. The Common Read encourages readers to “make time to read both, and to work with others to organize discussion groups in your UU community.”