Christopher Burtt

Christopher Burtt (Cab)

I’m Christopher Burtt or Cab. I’m a realtor in Monmouth and Ocean County, living in Ocean Township near the beach.  I have 2 kids, Ben who is 19 and Meredith who is 16. I have been active in Beacon since Ben was about 4.

It has been great for me to find a radically inclusive spiritual community that celebrates each person's uniqueness, including being a gay atheist. When I was asked if I would speak briefly about Beacon, of course I accepted. I would do anything I can to help our community!

And it seemed easy, just speak on what Beacon means to me. But as I started to work on it, I realized it was incredibly hard. Only a few paragraphs to talk about everything that makes Beacon important to me?

There are so many choices I could make: 

I could talk about community groups, the close relationships I’ve built and how it forces me to set time aside to feed my spirit.

Or how my kids have made deep friendships by participating and even leading youth group, OWL and other programs. They have learned to form their own beliefs and to value what others believe too. They have also become involved in social justice work.

Beacon has given us many opportunities as a family, including ushering on Christmas Eve, Frost Valley retreats, and going on one of the Beacon buses to the Climate March.

In addition to the march and the environment, I could discuss the opportunities Beacon has provided to work on healing the world with Black Lives Matter, Marriage Equality, and Gun Control, and a push to dismantle white supremacy, income inequality and other issues.

I could talk about giving time and resources to Beacon by serving on the board and search committee, and how much I developed my own leadership skills in the process.

Or when Beacon came through for me when times were incredibly tough, through coming out, two divorces, and especially when I was recovering from back surgery and Beacon members came to feed and care for me.

I could talk about any of these for hours, and have done so with my Beacon family who were there with me through the good times and the hard ones.