Our Common Read invites participants to read and discuss the same book in a given period of time. A Common Read can build community and foster personal growth by giving diverse people a shared experience, shared language, and a basis for deep, meaningful conversations. 

Mistakes and Miracles: Congregations on the Road to Multiculturalism by Nancy Palmer Jones and Karin Lin

What calls Unitarian Universalists to create multicultural, antiracist Beloved Community? What do congregations need when they embark on this journey? What common threads run through their stories? Nancy Palmer Jones and Karin Lin—a white minister and a lay person of color—share how five diverse congregations encounter frustrations and disappointments, as well as hope and wonder, once they commit to the journey. Mistakes abound. Miracles of transformation and joy emerge too. Extensively researched and thoughtfully written—with reflection questions at the end of each chapter—Mistakes and Miracles: Congregations on the Road to Multiculturalism will guide readers to apply these stories to their own communities, develop next steps, and renew their commitment to this hard but meaningful work.

Register in advance for the discussion on March 25th at 10:00 AM on Zoom.

Register for Zoom Meeting

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

Read or Listen to Mistakes and Miracles
Mistakes and Miracles can be purchased from inSpirit: The UUA Book and Gift Shop or listen to as an audiobook.
The Kindle version is available via Amazon.

Past Common Reads

  • Kindred by Octavia Bulter
  • Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
  • The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie
  • The Girl with the Louding Voice by Abi Dare
  • The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron
  • The Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich
  • The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
  • Breathe by Imani Perry
  • The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Michele Richarson
  • The Cooking Gene by Michael W. Twitty
  • Choke Hold by Paul Butler
  • This Tender Land by William Kent Krueger 
  • Washington Black by Esi Edugyun
  • On the Come Up by Angie Thomas
  • An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz OR An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States for Young People adapted by Jean Mendoza and Debbie Reese
  • The Overstory by Richard Powers
  • Dispatches from Pluto: Lost and Found in the Mississippi Delta by Richard Grant
  • Justice on Earth: People of Faith Working at the Intersections of Race, Class, and the Environment by Manish Mishra-Marzetti and Jennifer Nordstrom
  • American Gods by Neil Gaiman
  • The Book of Joy by Desmund Tutu & Dalai Lama
  • The Buddha in the Attic by Julie Otsuka
  • Daring Democracy: Igniting Power, Meaning and Connection for the America We Want by Frances Moore Lappe & Adam Eichen
  • The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Religion and Politics by Jonathan Haidt
  • Beyond Words: What Animals Think & Feel by Carl Safina
  • Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis by J. D. Vance
  • The Third Reconstruction by The Reverend Dr. William J. Barber II
  • Defying the Nazis: The Sharps’ War
  • LaRose by Louise Erdrich
  • To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
  • Behind the Kitchen Door by Sarumathi Jayaraman
  • Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson
  • The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander