Week Four: Nurturing Community

Reflection

by Rev. Cathy Rion Starr, UUA Leadership Development Specialist

Someone recently asked me, “What is community? My answer in that moment was this: Community is biking to pick up my kid from school and waving at the neighbor walking their dog. It’s joining the gaggle of parents waiting at the crosswalk and enjoying that precious 5 minutes of conversation. It’s checking in with the kid whose dad is running late and offering to walk them home.

Community is woven through these small moments of connection. This daily 5 minutes of connection over the months of the school year has woven us into a people who care about and look out for each other. So now when a No Kings Day protest is coming, I know who from my neighborhood is going with their kids. When a young trans neighbor is struggling, we surround their family with care and advocacy at their school. When I doorknock my neighborhood for an election, I already know the faces that answer the doors and we have richer conversations about the people on the ballot.

Building community that nourishes relationships is core to our UU faith and must be central to our justice work. When we share food, play together, and prioritize time to get to know each other in our committees, congregations, and communities, we live into our interdependence and make our organizing stronger. We counter the myth of the charismatic solo leader by cultivating teams, not heroes.

This moment of crisis is urgent and there is so much to do, but we cannot let that urgency eclipse our care and connection with one another. Fascism feeds on cynicism and isolation. Our relationships with one another are the antidote. When we pause to ask how are you and pause to really listen, we are nourishing community. When we have a conversation about something we care about and listen more than we talk, we are nourishing community. When we lean into conflict with respect and care, we are nourishing community. When we build teams with a variety of roles and celebrate different strengths and ways of doing things, we are nourishing community.

By intentionally nourishing community, we ensure that justice is a collective and love-filled practice. By putting people and relationships at the center of all we do, we root our organizing in interdependence, collaboration, and partnership.

Multigenerational Activity

Body Practice

My Body Is Part of This Community by G Williams

Reflection Practice

Creative Practice

“Nurturing Community” Coloring Sheet by Lena Kassicieh

Theological Conversation

In this deeply relational conversation, Side With Love’s Rev. Brandan Robertson and Rev. Dr. Jé Hooper explore what it takes to nurture radically inclusive communities capable of care, accountability, and transformation. The discussion centers on covenant, public ethics, and how congregations can become sites of healing amid social fragmentation and crisis.

Rev. Dr. Jé Hooper is a Unitarian Universalist minister, interdisciplinary scholar, and instructor of performance theory and Black Queer thought at various universities. They hold a Ph.D. in Interdisciplinary Arts, a Master of Arts in Theology, and a Doctor of Ministry from Union Theological Seminary. Identifying within the Humanist spectrum, Rev. Jé brings a grounded, compassionate UU humanism to their ministry and scholarship.

Their work emphasizes pastoral care, ethical engagement, and cultivating relational ecosystems that center those on the margins of the margins. Rev. Jé’s ministry invites communities to reflect on shared values, deepen collective care, and reimagine oppressive infrastructures through intentional, values-driven practice.