Melanie Davis

Melanie Davis

I joined this congregation not long before the pandemic lockdown, so my experience with Beacon may be different from some of yours.

In a 2006 essay, Barbara Wells Ten Hove called people like me “home bred UUs,” meaning we have been in this religious movement for our entire lives. We differ from UUs who bring with them an identity of exodus from another faith. We hold an identity of belonging to UUism. 

She wrote, “Most of us who stayed got the message that our faith and our church matter, a message primarily transmitted through what I believe lies at the heart of the liberal church—worship, justice, and community.” 

My parents were new UUs when I was born and dedicated in the DuPage, Illinois UU Church. When we moved to a California town without a UU congregation, they remained friends with our former minister. Through their conversations my parents’ faith was formed, and through them, mine was. We talked about politics at dinner; we collected signatures on fair housing petitions, we marched in anti-war marches, and we talked about whether or how God exists. Those lessons mattered.

I have belonged to four congregations as an adult, but Beacon feels like home. I was excited when at the new member meeting, Reverends Emilie and Robin described how Beacon puts its faith and mission in action. They said something like, “If you have an idea for a project that aligns with our mission, we’ll do everything we can to help you succeed.” That was new to me, having become familiar with less innovative ways of doing church.  

I took Conversational Spanish classes, auditioned for the choir, and joined Rev. Robin in the pulpit on “Sex Sunday,” and then…we went into lockdown. The flexibility our ministers had lauded was immediately evident.  My ability to take classes, sing in the choir, perform in the Cabaret, and attend worship online made the pandemic less lonely. I made friends. I became part of this active and caring community. This Easter was the first time I sang with the choir in person, and I faked my way through one hymn because I was too emotional to sing. I was home.

The Beacon community matters, in good and hard times. We offer each other our friendship and support, and together, we reach beyond these walls to create change locally and globally.