A Message from Theo, LRE Director
Dear friends, I am excited to take over the column this week to tell you all a little bit more about our UU Common Read for 2026. Each year, the UUA picks a book for UUs across North America to read and discuss. This year’s pick is Social Change Now: A Guide for Reflection and Connection by Deepa Iyer.
I have always been a sucker for a personality quiz. It started with American GIrl Magazine, where each issue would feature a quiz where the number of As, Bs, and Cs, would tell you something about yourself. In high school I discovered the Myers Briggs Type Indicator, and became deeply invested in my identity as an INFJ. Then, during lockdown, online personality quizzes had a resurgence in popularity, and I was suddenly learning which character I was most like on television shows that I had never watched.
So when I looked at this year’s book and saw what looked like a giant personality test, I was thrilled. Social Change Now, by Deepa Iyer, explores the idea of Social Change Ecosystems—groups or organizations with a set of shared values, who want to create social change. The author identifies ten different roles that people can play within a Social Change Ecosystem, all of which rely on each other. There are Visionaries who dream up big ideas about a better world, Disruptors who put themselves on the line to change the status quo, and Frontline Responders who show up with supplies in an emergency. All of these roles interact and rely on each other in different ways, much like the organisms in an ecosystem.
So when I sat down with my copy of Social Change Now, I couldn’t wait to check off characteristics and find out which role I play. But as I read, I discovered that this book was not going to just tell me what I was—I was going to have to work for it, using the reflection tools the book gave me. And while I have to admit that this was a bit of a disappointment at first, it made sense. This is something that takes much more discernment than figuring out if you are an early bird or a night owl. We could all probably play a variety of roles, but Iyer encourages us to choose the one that is speaking to us the most and focus our energy.
And right now, that focus feels particularly needed. In a world where we are learning about new tragedies and injustices everyday, many of us feel spread thin. It is easy to feel a sort of decision paralysis, where there is so much that we feel like we must do that we can’t end up doing any of it. Or, we might go in the opposite direction and try to do everything, pulling ourselves in too many directions and quickly wearing ourselves out. If we can choose one role to focus on right now—knowing that we can always shift to another role in the future—we are much more likely to actually accomplish something meaningful.
Last Sunday, I introduced these ideas to the children and youth using We Are the Builders, a picture book companion to Social Change Now. I was impressed—but not surprised—by how seriously the children took this work. They compared characteristics of different roles, and deeply considered what role they might take on here at church compared to other ecosystems they might be a part of. But even more than that, they made me realize the importance of taking this work out of our own heads and into community. They listened to each other, and helped their peers find clarity by describing the strengths they saw in each other. They began to explore the ways that these roles could interact and support each other.
I would like to invite all of you to engage in this work in community as well. On March 8, we will have a UU Common Read discussion group after the service. I encourage anyone who attends to read the book ahead of time and try to determine your role within the Social Change Ecosystem of First Church. When we gather, we will focus on the shared values of our ecosystem, and how we can use these different roles to support each other as we create change.
If you haven’t yet, you can fill out our book order form here. I will be placing the order on January 21, so please put in your order before then. If you cannot afford to purchase the book, free and reduced-rate copies will be available.
Please reach out to me if you have any questions or would like to know more about the history of the UU Common Read.
In Faith,
Theo Burbank