A Sense of Belonging

I sometimes joke that I have a strange gift: I can tell the future. OK, maybe not exactly - but hear me out. Over the years, I've noticed that I sometimes get an intuitive sense about people and places, little nudges that point toward what's ahead.

For example, years ago a friend showed me a brochure for a place called Yes Bay Lodge in Alaska. I looked at it and thought, Someday, I’m going to be there. A year later, I found myself working at Yes Bay for the summer. Later that same summer, I met a man outside a museum in Ketchikan. Something in me just knew I'd see him again - and sure enough, he later applied for a job at the very lodge where I was working.

And when I first came to OCUUC to interview, I felt that same deep certainty: This is the place for me. It felt right. It felt like home. I belonged here.

I think many of us have these moments, those intuitive hits that whisper to us about belonging. They remind us that sometimes our souls know the way forward before our minds have caught up.

When people come to OCUUC for the first time, they may not consciously know it, but they are searching for that same sense of belonging - a knowing that is beyond words. Sometimes it takes a while, and other times it happens right away. But much of it depends on the welcome they receive.

My friend who gave me the brochure made Yes Bay Lodge sound like a wonderful place; the man I met in Ketchikan was kind, chatty, and helpful; and the Search Committee here was authentic and warm. Every soul longs for a "third home" - a place of true belonging. And each of us helps create that here at OCUUC.

Thank you for being part of that welcome.

Rev. Sian