Common Read

‘Reclaiming Prophetic Witness’ is Common Read book

The Unitarian Universalist Association’s Common Read book for the upcoming church year is Reclaiming Prophetic Witness: Liberal Religion in the Public Square, by the Rev. Dr. Paul Rasor. The 105-page book was published in 2013 by Skinner House.

Rasor is director of the Center for the Study of Religious Freedom at Virginia Wesleyan College. He is a UU minister and the author of an earlier book, Faith Without Certainty: Liberal Theology in the Twenty-first Century.

A UU theologian, Rasor dispels the myth that conservative Christianity is the only valid religious voice in national debates on social policy. He calls on religious liberals to bring their religious convictions to bear on current issues.

A discussion guide will be available in October. Reclaiming Prophetic Witness was one of 14 books considered for the Common Read. The book is $15 from the UUA Bookstore, with discounts for purchases of multiple copies.

More information about the selection process is on the Call and Response blog of the UUA’s Faith Development Office. In the forward of the book Rasor writes that there has never been a more important time for UUs to speak about about issues including the environment, immigration, and gender.

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Restaurant workers subject of UUA Common Read

All Unitarian Universalists are invited to read the book Behind the Kitchen Door this winter and spring. The book, by Saru Jayaraman, is the 2013-14 UUA Common Read. Congregations are encouraged to use the book as part of adult education and book group discussions and also in worship, as a way of reflecting on congregants’ dining-out practices and the lives of those who create and serve restaurant meals.

The book describes how restaurant workers live on very low wages, and how poor working conditions, including discriminatory labor practices, exploitation, and unsanitary kitchens, affect the meals that are served to us. The author, who launched a national restaurant workers organization after 9/11, tells the stories of ten restaurant workers in cities across the United States as she explores the political, economic, and moral implications of eating out.

She explains that what is at stake is not only our own health, but the health and well-being of the second largest private sector workforce—10 million people, many of them immigrants and many of them people of color.

The author is cofounder of the Restaurant Opportunities Centers United, an organization working to improve conditions for restaurant workers. The book is a resource for the new minimum wage campaign announced July 18 by the UU Service Committee and the UUA. The campaign has a goal of raising the minimum wage to $10. The book, published by Cornell University Press earlier this year, is available from the UUA Bookstore for $21.95, with discounts for multiple copies. The book includes a free discussion guide.

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‘Behind the Kitchen Door’ new UUA Common Read

The book Behind the Kitchen Door by Saru Jayaraman has been chosen as the 2013–14 UUA Common Read.

The book describes how restaurant workers live on very low wages, and how poor working conditions, including discriminatory labor practices, exploitation, and unsanitary kitchens, affect the meals that are served to all of us. The author, who launched a national restaurant workers organization after 9/11, tells the stories of ten restaurant workers in cities across the United States as she explores the political, economic, and moral implications of eating out.

She explains that what is at stake is not only our own health, but the health and well-being of the second largest private sector workforce—10 million people, many of them immigrants and many of them people of color.

All Unitarian Universalists are invited to read Behind the Kitchen Door as a way to reflect on their own dining out practices and the lives of those who create the meals and serve the food.

The author is cofounder of the Restaurant Opportunities Centers United, an organization working to improve conditions for restaurant workers. The book is a resource for the new minimum wage campaign announced July 18 by the UU Service Committee and the UUA. The campaign has a goal of raising the minimum wage to $10. The book, published by Cornell University Press earlier this year, is available from the UUA Bookstore for $21.95, with discounts for multiple copies.

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Youth groups important, says Common Read author

Eboo Patel, in his book Acts of Faith, describes a conversation he had with a Protestant man after Patel, founder of an interfaith youth movement, made a presentation about the importance of youth programs in religious communities. The man told Patel that he and his wife really enjoyed their church, but their teenage daughter hated it because there was no real youth program. Patel told him, “Change churches. . . Either that or make sure that the church starts a youth program that interests your daughter.”

“In my mind,” Patel writes, “it was a question of priorities. Was he more interested in his daughter liking church or himself liking it?” Most people choose themselves over their kids, he says.

It is an entirely understandable choice, but we should not be blind to the consequences. It means we will continue to fail our religious youth. I cannot help but think of the number of teenagers I know who say that they are bored in their congregations, that their church or synagogue or mosque or temple has little going on for them. The youth minister they liked was let go because of budget cuts. The Habitat for Humanity trip they were planning got canceled because the adult supervisor couldn’t make it at the last minute. The pastor or imam or rabbi can never remember their names.

Too many adults secretly consider the absence of young people in mainstream religious communities the natural course of events, viewing the kids as too self-absorbed, materialistic, and anti-authoritarian to be interested in religion. The result is that adults pay lip service to the importance of involving youth in faith communities, but let themselves off the hook when it comes to actually building strong, long-lasting youth programs. Youth activities are typically the top item in a congregation’s newsletter, but the last line in the budget. Youth programs are the most likely to be funded by short-term grants, and youth ministers are the first to be fired when a religious community has financial problems.

Acts of Faith, published by Beacon Press, is the 2011-2012 Common Read for Unitarian Universalists. Look for a longer excerpt from Acts of Faith in the Spring 2012 issue of UU World.

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‘Acts of Faith’ discussion guide ready

The discussion guide for Acts of Faith, the 2011-12 “Common Read” of the Unitarian Universalist Association, is available now from the Ministries and Faith Development Staff Group as part of its online Tapestry of Faith resources.

In Acts of Faith, author Eboo Patel shares his faith journey as an American Muslim. He discusses how he was called to found the Interfaith Youth Core. Acts of Faith explores the appeal of religious fundamentalism to young people, noting that their spiritual hunger is tied to their desire to make a mark on the world. He encourages support of young people, helping them ground themselves in a faith that fuels their passions and inspires them to work across faiths to create a better world.

The discussion guide, available free online, is suitable for youth, young adult, campus, adult, and cross-generational Common Read groups. It offers materials for a single ninety-minute session or for three ninety-minute sessions, each expandable to two hours. It also provides the option of splitting the single ninety-minute session into two shorter sessions for those congregations that want to use it in a regular Sunday morning forum or discussion group.

Contact Gail Forsyth-Vail, the UUA’s Adult Programs director, for more information. Acts of Faith, published by Beacon Press, is available through the UUA bookstore with discounts for multiple copies.

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UUA’s 2011-12 Common Read is ‘Acts of Faith’

Acts of Faith: The Story of an American Muslim, the Struggle for the Soul of a Generation, a memoir by Eboo Patel, is the 2011–2012 Unitarian Universalist Common Read. The Common Read project invites Unitarian Universalist youth and adults in all congregations to share a common reading experience, and to engage in reflection and action about that book.

In Acts of Faith, Patel shares his faith journey as an American Muslim who comes to believe in religious pluralism. Patel founded the Interfaith Youth Core (IFYC), a nonprofit focused on building an interfaith youth movement. Patel invites those who believe in religious pluralism to support young people, helping them ground themselves in a faith that can equip them to work across faiths to make the world a better place.

Gail Forsyth-Vail, the Unitarian Universalist Association’s Adult Programs director, said the book was chosen with an eye to both the tenth anniversary of September 11 and to the work of building coalitions as UUs prepare for General Assembly 2012, a “Justice GA” focused on immigration issues, in Phoenix.

The discussion guide will be published in October and will offer materials for a single 90-minute session or three 90-minute sessions, each expandable to two hours. The guide will provide the option of splitting the single 90-minute session into two shorter sessions. Download a flyer for Acts of Faith. The UUA Bookstore is offering the book for $14, plus a discount for multiple copies.

The UU Common Read last year was The Death of Josseline, stories about crossing the Mexico-Arizona border.

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Common Read of ‘Josseline’ continues

“How far would you go to feed your children?” That’s one of the questions raised in the book The Death of Josseline: Immigration Stories from the Arizona Borderlands, about the struggles that face Mexicans and people from Central America as they try to cross the border between the United States and Mexico in an effort to survive.

Several hundred die each year, including 14-year-old Josseline, whose body was found in the desert in 2008. The Death of Josseline is a UUA “Common Read” this year, meaning that all congregations are encouraged to read the book, discuss it, and use it in sermons and in other ways.

The book is available in paperback for $15, with discounts for buying five or more copies, from the UUA Bookstore. Bookstore Manager Rose Hanig says they have sold more than 1,100 copies. Gail Forsyth-Vail, the UUA’s Adult Programs director, adds, “Winter is a great time for congregations to join the many other congregations where this book is being read. This is a book that begs for processing and conversation in a trusted community.”

Linda Laskowski, a member of the UUA Board of Trustees and the UU Church of Berkeley, Calif., has written about the book on her blog. Forsyth-Vail says the author of the book, Margaret Regan, will be at General Assembly next June to discuss the book and talk with those who took part in the Common Read.

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Immigration book suggested as congregational ‘Common Read’

From a special InterConnections feature story, now online at UUA.org:

Congregations are being invited this fall to engage in a “Common Read” of the new Beacon Press book on immigration issues, The Death of Josseline: Immigration Stories from the Arizona-Mexico Borderlands.

Gail Forsyth-Vail, the Unitarian Universalist Association’s Adult Programs director, says the hope is that all types of small groups within congregations—lifespan education programs, small group ministry groups, book groups, etc.—will read the book and discuss it between now and next spring.

Go to the full article.

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