Kendall Murano

Kendall Murano

When our second daughter, Maya, was born and my oldest, Naomi, was 3, I started to feel a longing for a spiritual community and a faith to ground myself and my growing family.

A co-worker I admired mentioned that she grew up Unitarian. She talked about how as she grew up in the church, she learned about all the major faiths and was encouraged to explore, which was so different from the Southern Baptist church I knew from my grandma in Texas. Those experiences turned me off of religion when I was younger. So, I started to Google…

I found Beacon in Summit, not far from my home in Maplewood and went with the whole family to check it out. Carol and Norm Miller welcomed us at social hour right on that very first day. By the end of it, my daughter Naomi was giving Carol huge hugs and has been doing this almost every time we’ve seen her since.

Now, we have three girls! And, I feel blessed to have found Beacon and to watch my children learn about love, kindness and acceptance from roles models across the congregation. I’ve also become more involved, working with the amazing Widening the Circle team to live into our 8th principle and build an anti-racist community at Beacon. As we continue to make new friends and deepen ties here, I realize, it’s not just for my kids, but I’ve also found my own sense of belonging and spiritual community.