True Filial Love

Hyung Jin Moon
September 19, 2010
Cheon Bok Gung, Yongsan Seoul Korea

Welcoming Remarks:
Yeon-ah nim:

Good afternoon brothers and sisters. Good afternoon. Welcome to the headquarters of the Unification Church on this day. It is really, really great to see you all. This week we sincerely hope and pray that we live in God's presence and True Parents' love in our hearts and in our lives. Aju.

Hyung-jin nim:

Good evening brothers and sisters. I'm sorry, good afternoon! That happens sometimes. Let us begin by manifesting the Principle. Give and receive action; four position foundation; may I inherit the true love and word of God. Aju.

Today's reading is from the Cheon Seong Gyeong 2201. True Father says:

The filial child is the person who can accept what he dislikes more than what he likes. The person who sacrifices his precious love in order to fulfill his filial duty to his parents will be able to go anywhere in Heaven, and if there are twelve pearly gates, then not one of them will be blocked to him. All the gates will be wide open.

Brothers and sisters, if you understand that God is in the world of the mind -- the spirit world, as Father says, the world that transcends time and space, a different dimension -- and if you then understand that God's heart and mind have been filled with suffering and pain, then you understand that His whole being is as if covered with pain and suffering. And if there is a son and a daughter who can come and alleviate that stress and anxiety and pain that He feels in His heart, then He not only feels liberated in His heart, as separate from His body, but He feels liberated in His heart and His whole existence.

Brothers and sisters, we know that the ones who have liberated our heavenly God, who have liberated this pain that He has had in His heart, that incredible mental anguish and disappointment, are none other than our True Parents of Heaven and Earth. Yes, let's give it up one time for our True Parents who have liberated God's heart! This is what True Father is talking about with the filial child.

At this time, brothers and sisters, we always take the time to meet one of our wonderful families here on the ground. Today we have a beautiful Unificationist family, such an amazing family, doing many things. Today let's meet them through the video. Let's take our time to meet our beautiful Blessed family.

Video: Japan's Largest Group for the "Way of Tea Ceremony"

"I'm a Proud Unificationist: Lee Cheong-gun (48 years old) and Muramatsu Kanako (51 years old)"

Wife:

In the 16th century, the founder of the Way of Tea, Sen no Rikyu, was a secretary of General Hideyoshi Toyotomi. He would serve the general tea, discuss culture and advise him about governing Japan. Hideyoshi was thinking about unifying Japan and invading Korea. Rikyu opposed him to the end and said, "You should never do that." However, Hideyoshi ended up invading Korea, and ordered Rikyu to commit suicide by hara-kiri. So, Rikyu did as he was told, and committed hara-kiri. When I went to Chung Pyung, I liberated the Sen no Rikyu couple, the special liberation, so they are now a Blessed Family.

This Tea Center was built in 1988, at the time of the Seoul Olympics, to teach the Ura-Senke Way of Tea. At the time, a Korean instructor was here. A sister who was in charge was a member, who became blessed with a husband from Singapore and had to go to start her family. However, the foundation was very well-established here and she loved it, so did not want to give it away to a non-member. She recommended me, but I didn't have much experience and I declined three times.

Then one day, the top chairperson of the Ura-Senke School, who is called an Iemoto, Mrs. Shizu Sengen, appeared in the elevator of this building. She made a deep bow to me with her two hands together in the Buddhist style, and said, "You are the only person who could do this, so please accept this position." She bowed to me. I had no confidence, but thinking if this will help Korean-Japanese relations that Father speaks of, I will do it.

Our first seven-year course was full of hardships, striving to build a foundation here. In front of the Japanese Embassy close to here, there were demonstrations every day, about the sex slaves issue, the Tokdo Island issue, and so on. Some college professors came here as well, and looking at me straight in the face, said things like, "So you've come to culturally invade Korea." I was so shocked. I felt like crying, but I smiled and I tried to serve tea to them well.

Due to this kind of stress, or indemnity perhaps, we could not conceive a child. I did 100-day prayer conditions, went to hospitals, my husband gave me moxa treatment, and after much effort, then one day we finally conceived.

Husband:

This wasn't something we were doing because we liked to. Right now, it is so difficult, but later, due to this, better things will come to us, we thought. We felt that kind of sense of mission. Her position now with Hyung-jin nim and everyone liking tea, and being able to serve close by, I think is really wonderful.

Wife:

The second seven-year course, at that time in 2003, Hyung-jin nim is now of course the International President but before he became a minister, while he was still at Harvard, he visited this Tea Center when he was in Korea, together with Yeon-ah nim. I was really surprised and so grateful; they spent the whole day here. They gave us many words and a calligraphic writing; and from that day on, I felt hope that, although until now I had only gone through hardships in teaching the Way of Tea, from now on, this Way of Tea has become somehow connected with God's will.

By chance, that same year, I was awarded the "Foreign Minister's Award" in Japan. That a young woman by herself continued with cultural exchange in this area that even the Japanese Embassy was unable to touch, was evaluated, and so I received the Minister of Culture Award in Japan. This really gave me a sense of satisfaction.

Now, I've been through the 21-year course, and if there is a goal for us, it is to enter into the Abel realm, and our couple to unite to enter the direct dominion of God. I want to live a life in which we can truly feel the dominion of God, and witness in earnest.

Hyung-jin nim's calligraphy:

"Devotion and Love for your Hometown Forever, Feb 26, 2005"

Husband and wife:

Brothers and sisters, let's go out witnessing! We love you.

Hyung-jin nim:

Let's give it up one time for our wonderful brother and sister, Lee jipsa nim and Kanako Muramatsu sensei, for the wonderful tea master. I had the honor and privilege of learning Japanese tea ceremony from her and some of my children did as well. Just an incredible teacher, and doing so many things.

Main Sermon:

Today I would like to speak to you all about "True Filial Love". As you know, it is the autumn season. In Asia, this is the time for remembering the ancestors. So, let's begin first with our core scripture from Matthew 12:46-50. Let's read together:

While Jesus was still talking to the crowd, his mother and brothers stood outside, wanting to speak to him. Someone told him, "Your mother and brothers are standing outside, wanting to speak to you." He replied to him, "Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?" Pointing to his disciples, he said, "Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother."

Aju.

Here, Jesus shows that it is those who partake in the will of the Father, who have the same purpose and mission, the same life purpose that moves forward for the Father, who are his brothers and sisters and mother.

When we look at the Unification Movement, we can see that in the early age, at the foundation level, we were HSA-UWC, which is the Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity. There, the foundation was to expand to unify Christianity, and if they had received True Parents as the Lord of the Second Advent, then we know that Cheon Il Guk could have been established at a much faster rate. But due to that particular situation not occurring, then the providence was extended.

In the 1990's, True Father then moved us to the growth stage, where we not only had the mission of unifying Christianity, but we now had the mission of moving and transcending many different boundaries: political boundaries, social boundaries, national boundaries. We made very many networks and many Peace Ambassadors, and we were able to reach out and connect with many, many different realms of existence.

Now, at the perfection stage level, in the age of Cheon Il Guk and after the coming of heaven, then True Parents have blessed us with the name Tongil-gyo, which is different from HSA-UWC. In the west, I do not think this is clear, but within the name Tongil-gyo there is an incredible and profound secret.

When we look at the Chinese characters Tongil-gyo and we look at the 'gyo', it means the teaching or the tradition. Buddhism, for example, is bul gyo; Confucianism is yu gyo; Christianity is gidok gyo; it's the same gyo. And in this 'gyo' character there are two elements: the element or radical on the left is the character for filial piety, that's hyo-ja, and on the right side of that is the character for father, or parents.

True Father explained that when there are many filial sons and daughters next to the parents, next to True Parents, next to God, next to the Father, then unification will occur. Within this short but amazing meaning, we have the real essence of what it means to be Unificationist; to be filial pious sons and daughters near the father, who protect, uplift, glorify, etc.

Now, growing up in the west, I never understood the meaning of filial piety so much because in the west we do not necessarily have the concept like in East Asia about filial piety. It is a little different. In the west, when you call your parents once in a while, visit them on Thanksgiving, visit them at Christmas, you are considered a very good son or daughter. This is pretty common. It is quite normal in the west because we do not have the tradition of that kind of filial piety. There is also not the tradition of bulhyo or 'unfilial' piety which we have in Asia, for example. So in the west, it is quite normal that kids will argue with their parents in their teenage years, etc. This is the notion of filial piety that I had understood, being from the west. I understood it as treating your parents kindly, thinking about them once in a while, visiting them at Thanksgiving, etc.

I heard a lot about filial piety in our tradition but I did not understand exactly what type of filial piety True Parents were looking at, or what perspective they were coming from. We know that Korea, for example, is influenced by Buddhist, Daoist and Confucian thought. It is also influenced in the modern day by Christianity.

When I started studying the East Asian traditions from a western person's perspective, I was fascinated by many things from different traditions: Buddhism, Daoism and Confucianism. But studying a little bit about Confucianism, there was the notion of filial piety that Confucius explained at three different levels. The first level of filial piety is the level of filial piety where the son or daughter will attend their parents and take care of them, prepare their meals during the day, and attend to them. But this is basically the first level where you are attending them every day of your life, almost. So already it is a very high level of filial piety compared to what we have in the west.

In the second level of filial piety, Confucius said that you do the first -- you attend your parents and take care of them and their wellbeing -- and at the second level, you not only take care of your parents in your relationship with them, but now when you leave the house, when you deal with people in society, when you go about your work or your business, you do not embarrass or shame your parents through your actions. So, not only do you have the first level, which is the relationship between parents and child, but at the second level, you have to look at yourself and you have to reflect on whether your actions and thoughts are influencing your parents negatively or hurting them, hurting their reputation, hurting their honor.

In the west we have somewhat similar notions to this, how one must be cognizant of how his behavior will affect groups. In the west, if you are working in a company, or in a group or business conglomerate, then how you behave is also reflective. You would have to be someone who is cognizant of how you behave ethically with transactions, etc., so that your behavior reflects the integrity of that enterprise or that business. We have that concept a little bit in the west.

Confucius then went on to describe the third level of filial piety: the first, attendance; the second, not shame; the third level of filial piety, which was the greatest he said, was that you do level one, you do level two, but at level three you do everything in your power to glorify your parents, to glorify them. This, he said, was the greatest level of filial piety.

What I realized, in understanding and studying this, and coming to Asia and explaining this to Asian people, I realized that they did not learn this. They did not learn this in the history books or in their studies. But, what I felt is that, although they did not learn this in a book, they could feel and intuit that which would be in the realm of filial piety.

In the west, we have a notion of patriotism for the nation; that is very strong in America and in other countries, Great Britain as well. It is patriotism towards the queen or patriotism towards the nation. This, of course, everybody in the west can understand.

The notion of the Asian filial piety is kind of like patriotism towards your parents. That is an easy way to understand what we are talking about when Father is talking about filial piety; the type of patriotism and heroism that we see in the west when soldiers go out and fight for their country and really sacrifice their life. This is the same type of mindset as when filial piety is offered to the parents. This is the type. In my own perspective, this is what I feel is an easier way for a western person to understand what is meant by Asian filial piety in this context.

Let's move on to our next scripture, which is from Mark 12:29-31. Let's look at this verse because this is a very important verse. Let's read this together:

"The most important one," Jesus answered, "is this: 'Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these."

Now, when we look at these two quotes, people usually make a mistake. We tend to focus on the second quote as the teaching of Christ, so the real action call of Christ is to love thy neighbor as you love thyself, practice empathetic compassion towards other people.

But this is a misreading of this verse. Jesus first says the greatest commandment is what? "The greatest command is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind and all your strength." That means 100%. That doesn't mean 80%, 20%, on Sundays… No, no. It means with all your mind, with all your thoughts focused on God, with all your heart, all your heartistic inklings and emotional content, driven towards that focus. All of your will, all of your soul, all of your spiritual action is moved towards that. All of your strength, all of your effort is moved towards that aim. To love the Lord, is the greatest command, is the testament of being Christ-like.

So this is the question to Unificationists, "How much do we love God?" This is the question. This is what others wish to see, because if Unification Movement has the truth that is to unite the religious traditions, to bring into one the nations and the world, as the prophecy has been spoken, then they would want to see not only what our teaching is but how then we apply it in our life. Not just how we treat our neighbors, not just how we are kindhearted or nice to people. That's not the greatest commandment. The greatest is how much, how intensely we love God. How intensely our life resembles the intensity of focus and admiration and love and praise towards God. That is what serious religious practitioners would want to see.

I had a chance to be in Jerusalem this time with many Muslims. I love their seriousness and the intensity with which they focus on God, orient themselves toward Mecca every day and center themselves five times a day. In the West, we have the notion of Sunday faith. We think of God just on Sunday, but not Muslims. Muslims, every day. Practicing Muslims, every day. Orient yourself five times a day, orient yourself towards God, bow down before Him and recognize who you are in relation to God.

So then, if we are the tradition to lead, to influence and to bring together Muslims and Christians, and others, they are not only going to look at our teaching -- they are going to see, of course, how we much we love our neighbors, how much service work we do -- but on the deeper level, how intensely focused we are on loving God. This is what intense religious practitioners will want to see.

I remember before I started ministry, I had a chance to spend a little time in China and I had a wonderful opportunity to spend time at Shaolin Temple. Oh, I love it! Shaolin Temple. Let's do it [showing a slide of his teacher at Shaolin Temple] I love his beard, he has this huge Boddhidarma beard. I had a chance to train with him a little bit. We know Shaolin Temple is very famous now worldwide because of Jet Li and Shaolin Temple, and all those incredible movies that they made.

Of course, in modern days, there are some problems with the government, etc. The monks who have upheld the tradition have become somewhat marginalized in some contexts, but traditionally, the monastery has always been a place of intense practice, intense training, as of course now the world knows, and intense sutra recitation, study of the Boddhidarma and the texts, the practice of meditation, the physical training and all this kind of thing. Very intense.

The seriousness, the manner in which the monks would train was very inspiring for me when I was there. Very inspirational and also very heartfelt. Before the world came to know about Shaolin Temple, China already had a great love for Shaolin Temple because the monks, known as the martial monks, were the ones that sharpened their skills, and through those skills were able to protect even the Emperor during invasions during Chinese history. So they were seen as patriots of the nation.

These monks were trained from a very young age, training their bodies very rigorously. They were training even when they were eating rice and eating meals. They would be sitting in a horse stance position and strengthening their leg muscles as they were eating; that was wonderful kind of training. As they increased in age and also in maturity, they would then not only practice the body in a hard way but also practice the mind, training the mind. It was this intensity of focus even the older monks had in training their mind, in training and practicing in their spiritual life.

When I saw this I was very inspired because I always wished to train at the Shaolin Temple and be with the real monks there. We are now doing eight times a day prayer training here in Cheon Bok Gung with our Hoonsa nims and Mooksa nims and also with a couple of leaders in Europe. More and more, here at the Cheon Bok Gung, many members are starting to join us in the eight times a day prayer. Per day, not just Sunday faith. Not just thinking of God when we need a blessing, but focusing our attention, constantly training the mind, training, training, constantly, constantly, we are orienting, constantly coming back to prayer, constantly coming back to training.

When we practice this brief training, maybe five, ten minutes, it is very short but very often, we start with the Unification Principle, manifest the Principle, and we start by doing Eok Mansei. You all know the Eok Mansei… let's do them together. [Hananim – Eok Mansei!]

We start with Eok Mansei because that means we praise God first. We praise True Parents first and we praise Cheon Il Gook, which is the nation and the will. We praise the will and Thy Kingdom and Thy will first. Before anything, we start with that in prayer. As we do that then we move on to the next stage, which is the eight stages of prayer. We talk of that many times, eight stages of prayer. What are the levels of eight stages? We can do them together. Ready? Individual, family, tribe, society, nation, world, cosmos (that includes spirit world), and God level. Let's do it backward. I can do that in Korean. Let's see if I mess it up in English. Let's do it backward. God, spirit world, the world, nation, society, tribe, family and individual.

So when we pray after we offer the Eok Mansei we go on to the eight stages of prayer. We first start prayer and focus on God. We start praising God first, remembering His goodness, then we move to the second level which is then praying for the spirit world and praying for our ancestors and also the four great saints. Remember Jesus, remember Buddha, remember Confucius, remember the Prophet Mohammed. Remember our four great saints. Remember the ones who have passed on to the spirit world, who come before us.

And then we also offer prayer for the world. As Unificationists, we offer prayer for the world. For the world to become one and the world to be unified. We also offer prayer for the nation. In this current atmosphere we offer Nam-Buk-Tongil, which is North-South-Unification. For the nations of the world to come to understanding of True Parents. Also, societies and tribes and families to become blessed families and to be able to glorify heaven not just through the transfer of lineage but also until our Seunghwa ascension ceremony. Until our dying breath we can offer and glorify heaven with our life.

And then when we arrive at the individual level, we don't pray, "God give me a golden house and a golden car and golden radio." We don't pray that; as Jesus said that's not even a prayer. That's not prayer. Jesus talks about in the Lord's prayer that you first have to praise God, praise Thy nation and Thy kingdom first then you can talk about what you need, but God already knows. So starting with what we need, "God bless me this, God bless me that way, give me this, give me that…", these are not prayers as Jesus is talking about.

When we offer the individual prayer, we offer the prayer saying, "God use me for Thy Kingdom, for Thy will. Use me how You will it to be. How You decide to be. I don't have the expectations. I surrender my expectations to You. I'm not expecting You to use me in the way I want to be used or use me in the way that I expect. I surrender that. Use me how You will, for Your kingdom and Your purpose."

This is the mindset; this is the posture that we set when we train. After the eight stages of prayer, then we move into the family pledge, which is the reading Father said is the greatest prayer among prayers, and then we recite that eight times a day. Then we finish by manifesting the Principle. That's fast, about five minutes, up to ten minutes long, not that long, but what it does is centers us completely on our purpose.

During our normal day in life, when we are being hit by tribulations, the waves and the winds of normal life, then we will very often forget our purpose in life. We will forget why I am living, why I am fighting, why am I going through these winds and waves, what am I doing? We will forget why it is we are living. But when we re-orient, when we bow down, when we humble ourselves, when we remember and focus with all our hearts, all of minds, all our souls, all our strength in our training, then we start remembering every time the prayer session comes, then we remember, we let go of the things that are controlling us. The different worries, the different stresses and anxieties, let go of that and return back to what we are doing here on this earth.

When we think of every day, eight times a day prayer, we think that's impossible. I can't even think of praying five times a day, let alone eight times a day. Too much, too much, can't think of that. But we found that when we train like that, it's actually easier than we think because it's so refreshing, because it gives us purpose, it returns us back to our life value. It returns us back to our posture before heaven, etc. So the things of this world, the things that usually stress us, take our energy away, sap us, the person over there who is really stressing me out, those kinds of things become small and weakened in the central focus, which is great, which we have when we come back to prayer.

So, when we look at this training, what I always tell my Hoonsa nims and Mooksa nims is that when we are training, our posture is so important. When we do meditation training, our posture is important because it holds us up straight, allows us to breathe and allows us to focus and not fall asleep. In the same way when we pray, our posture is the same. It's so important not only our physical posture but our spiritual posture. How we are posturing before God? This is so important.

You all know the story of Job in the Bible. We know the story of the wealthy man who was very blessed, very faithful to God. But Satan challenges God. He says, "Know what? Job is faithful to You because You bless him. He is rich and he is famous and he is wealthy and he has abundance; that's why he is faithful to You. If I take everything away, Job will betray You in an instant and He will curse Your name. He will forget You." This is what Satan says to God in the Bible.

God says, "No, he won't. He won't do that. I know he will not betray me. I know his faith is real." So Satan says, "Okay, fine then. I will move ahead." And Satan then attacks Job. He takes his family, he takes all his riches, his wealth, even his reputation that it took years to build, destroys his reputation. All his networks, all his success and all his business enterprises, everything, Satan takes away. And on top of that, he gives him a sickness, a sickness with bleeding. He has sores on his body, he is bleeding and nothing can stop this kind of pain, this disease that he has been given.

But in the course of all that tribulation, Job does not curse God. He gets to the level of saying, "God, why am I enduring these things?" He gets to that level, but he does not go to the level where he curses God and betrays Him. It is through that victory that God is able, in the story, to bless Job two times over because through his victory Satan is defeated, he is chased away, he is proven to be false. Also, Job is blessed double with his family. Blessed double in his business. Blessed double in his assets. Blessed double in his blessings, in his reputation. He is blessed completely in abundance, more than he ever saw or even thought.

Whether or not this story is literally true, that's not the point. The point is that Job has the right posture, the spiritual posture towards God. He didn't say, "God, You use me how I want to be used, just don't take away my riches, and use me in the proper way." He said, "Use me however You wish. You give me sickness, You give me health. You give me riches, You give me famine. You give me whatever. You use me for Your purpose. I will continue to praise Your name." This is the spiritual posture that is so important when we train.

This kind of spiritual posture is the type of heart and posture that can focus us, and not only focus us, not only allow God to bless us in greater ways, but also allow us to defeat evil as God used Job's life to defeat evil in his realm. So, how we train, we are not just praying petition prayer, "God bless me, give me this, give me that." These are not prayers, as Jesus said, but how we posture ourselves before God. How we sit before Him -- not physically, I'm talking spiritually -- is the key that we can learn from the Job story.

It is in this way that we are training once again, in the Unification Movement, to come back to prayer, to come back to training, to come back to the intensity of training in our daily lives, not just on Sunday, not just praising God on Sunday. Doing it as a habit even more than Muslims bow down before the one and only Creator, to remember that we also are that much more in love with God, that much more oriented on God. Of course, it doesn't mean that it makes you perfect, that the training makes every flaw disappear. Of course not. But what it does is trains us in a way that we can slowly progress and become greater and greater filial sons before heaven and before earth.

This is exactly what Tongilgyo needs. This is what we need once again. We need to not only be the Tongilgyo that is doing great things for our neighbor or doing great things for our society and service work -- this is the second commandment -- but we need to be the Tongilgyo that is showing the world the intensity with which we love and glorify and praise God every part of every single day.

Let's give God some glory and let's give Him some praise. Let's give True Parents some glory and praise. (Applause).

If we get back to training how it was when we were training in the beginning when True Parents were just starting, how everybody was praying and training all the time, climbing up mountains all the time -- when we get back to that type of training, that type of spiritual intensity and spiritual training, then we can be the Tongilgyo that is not only gathering the religious leaders together or the religious practitioners together, but we can be the Tongilgyo that they see, the teaching they respect and also the practice they can respect and the practice that they can learn and emulate and come closer to God with.

Brothers and sisters let's end today with True Parents' final words with our Hoon Dok Hae. This is from the 84th volume, 205th page. Let's read together:

God is the first parents among parents. The first king among kings. The One who alone can rule over all of heaven and earth and the first ancestor capable of formulating His ideal. Our purpose in the Unification Church is to attend Him as His sons and daughters who are capable of offering Him filial piety, loyalty and saintliness and for the first time stand before Him and inherit His vast work of creation without shame or accusation.

Aju!

Brothers and sisters, let's all rise and let's lift our hands up and wipe the tears from God's eyes as we extend our hands towards heaven. Let us pray.

Closing Prayer:

Dearest, most beloved Heavenly Father, our most beloved True Parents,

Thank you so much. We praise you today. We want to glorify and magnify You with all our mind, all our hearts, all our soul and all our strength, as Jesus said. Father, we want to remember this day that it is the greatest commandment that we must first accomplish, and it is through that accomplishment and that training that we can become compassionate to our neighbors and to the world, Father.

Let us always be rooted in the one and only God which is You, our eternal God, our creator of the universe of time and space. Father it is because of You that we can move and have our existence. It is because of You that we live this day and we breathe this breath. Father it is because of You that we did not perish yesterday, or the day before, or ten years ago; but, Father, it is because of You that we can experience this moment. We offer gratitude to You, Father. We offer grace and glory to You this day and we pray that You may receive it with a happy mind.

Thank You so much. We pray for True Parents today, Father, the ones who liberated Your pain and mental anguish and psychological anxiety and suffering and torment. The one who can liberate that heart, Father, how much gratitude You feel towards that son and daughter.

We thank You, Father, for our True Parents, that we can live in this age. Father, we pray that we can inherit that type of True Love. Father, we pray also for the spirit world because we know that none of this is done alone, that we have the ancestors looking down at us, our loved ones who have passed and ascended, who are looking down and working with us, the four great saints who are in motion. Father, we pray for all them this day.

We also want to pray, Father, for the world, that the world may come into unity and become one, can understand You are one and come to You, Father. We pray that all the nations, as the Scriptures foretold, that all the knees will bow and every tongue will confess that the Lord has returned.

We want to pray for all the societies and the tribes and the families, that we can all become Central Blessed Families and glorify heaven to our Seunghwa ceremony, all the way to our dying day, that we can live our life and glorify You here and in heaven. Father, as we reach the prayers on the individual level, Father let us be used for Thy purpose and Thy kingdom alone. Father, we know that when we focus on my kingdom and my will, on our own things, then we cannot receive Your abundant blessings.

Father, let us be for You, let us be for Your kingdom. We know that You will use us in great ways. We know that You will use us to bless others. Father, even though it is not in the way that we assume or expect, we know that You use us for Your purpose and Your will to glorify goodness and Your essence, true love.

We thank You so much. Father, we pray these things also in remembrance that we are not perfect. Father, we pray that every day as we train and wipe away the stains that are over our spirit that we can become better and better each day, that every time we bow down in our prayer, we can improve and come closer to You.

Father, we also pray for forgiveness because we have things to be forgiven of. Father, we pray that we may also forgive others in our lives who have scarred us, who have hurt us, who have betrayed us, who had made us suffer. We pray that we can resemble You and forgive them. Father, we pray that You don't lead us into temptation but that You lead us into deliverance, into bringing others into Your deliverance, that others can also come into Your realm of love and understand what it means to be a true filial son and daughter.

Father, we pray that all the filial sons and daughters may rise up and that we may become filial sons and daughters that can surround our True Parents and You. We know that when that happens, Unification has already occurred.

We thank You so much. We pray these things with a grateful heart and an everlasting love, and we glorify You this day with all our hearts and mind and soul.

In our own name, as central blessed families. Aju!

Notes:

Matthew, chapter 12

1: At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the sabbath; his disciples were hungry, and they began to pluck heads of grain and to eat.

2: But when the Pharisees saw it, they said to him, "Look, your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the sabbath."

3: He said to them, "Have you not read what David did, when he was hungry, and those who were with him:

4: how he entered the house of God and ate the bread of the Presence, which it was not lawful for him to eat nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests?

5: Or have you not read in the law how on the sabbath the priests in the temple profane the sabbath, and are guiltless?

6: I tell you, something greater than the temple is here.

7: And if you had known what this means, `I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,' you would not have condemned the guiltless.

8: For the Son of man is lord of the sabbath."

9: And he went on from there, and entered their synagogue.

10: And behold, there was a man with a withered hand. And they asked him, "Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath?" so that they might accuse him.

11: He said to them, "What man of you, if he has one sheep and it falls into a pit on the sabbath, will not lay hold of it and lift it out?

12: Of how much more value is a man than a sheep! So it is lawful to do good on the sabbath."

13: Then he said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." And the man stretched it out, and it was restored, whole like the other.

14: But the Pharisees went out and took counsel against him, how to destroy him.

15: Jesus, aware of this, withdrew from there. And many followed him, and he healed them all,

16: and ordered them not to make him known.

17: This was to fulfil what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah:

18: "Behold, my servant whom I have chosen,
my beloved with whom my soul is well pleased.
I will put my Spirit upon him,
and he shall proclaim justice to the Gentiles.

19: He will not wrangle or cry aloud,
nor will any one hear his voice in the streets;

20: he will not break a bruised reed
or quench a smoldering wick,
till he brings justice to victory;

21: and in his name will the Gentiles hope."

22: Then a blind and dumb demoniac was brought to him, and he healed him, so that the dumb man spoke and saw.

23: And all the people were amazed, and said, "Can this be the Son of David?"

24: But when the Pharisees heard it they said, "It is only by Be-el'zebul, the prince of demons, that this man casts out demons."

25: Knowing their thoughts, he said to them, "Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and no city or house divided against itself will stand;

26: and if Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself; how then will his kingdom stand?

27: And if I cast out demons by Be-el'zebul, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they shall be your judges.

28: But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.

29: Or how can one enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man? Then indeed he may plunder his house.

30: He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me scatters.

31: Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven.

32: And whoever says a word against the Son of man will be forgiven; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.

33: "Either make the tree good, and its fruit good; or make the tree bad, and its fruit bad; for the tree is known by its fruit.

34: You brood of vipers! how can you speak good, when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.

35: The good man out of his good treasure brings forth good, and the evil man out of his evil treasure brings forth evil.

36: I tell you, on the day of judgment men will render account for every careless word they utter;

37: for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned."

38: Then some of the scribes and Pharisees said to him, "Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you."

39: But he answered them, "An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign; but no sign shall be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.

40: For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale, so will the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

41: The men of Nin'eveh will arise at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here.

42: The queen of the South will arise at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, something greater than Solomon is here.

43: "When the unclean spirit has gone out of a man, he passes through waterless places seeking rest, but he finds none.

44: Then he says, `I will return to my house from which I came.' And when he comes he finds it empty, swept, and put in order.

45: Then he goes and brings with him seven other spirits more evil than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last state of that man becomes worse than the first. So shall it be also with this evil generation."

46: While he was still speaking to the people, behold, his mother and his brothers stood outside, asking to speak to him.

48: But he replied to the man who told him, "Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?"

49: And stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he said, "Here are my mother and my brothers!

50: For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother, and sister, and mother."

Mark, chapter 12

1: And he began to speak to them in parables. "A man planted a vineyard, and set a hedge around it, and dug a pit for the wine press, and built a tower, and let it out to tenants, and went into another country.

2: When the time came, he sent a servant to the tenants, to get from them some of the fruit of the vineyard.

3: And they took him and beat him, and sent him away empty-handed.

4: Again he sent to them another servant, and they wounded him in the head, and treated him shamefully.

5: And he sent another, and him they killed; and so with many others, some they beat and some they killed.

6: He had still one other, a beloved son; finally he sent him to them, saying, `They will respect my son.'

7: But those tenants said to one another, `This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.'

8: And they took him and killed him, and cast him out of the vineyard.

9: What will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the tenants, and give the vineyard to others.

10: Have you not read this scripture: `The very stone which the builders rejected

has become the head of the corner;

11: this was the Lord's doing,

and it is marvelous in our eyes'?"

12: And they tried to arrest him, but feared the multitude, for they perceived that he had told the parable against them; so they left him and went away.

13: And they sent to him some of the Pharisees and some of the Hero'di-ans, to entrap him in his talk.

14: And they came and said to him, "Teacher, we know that you are true, and care for no man; for you do not regard the position of men, but truly teach the way of God. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?

15: Should we pay them, or should we not?" But knowing their hypocrisy, he said to them, "Why put me to the test? Bring me a coin, and let me look at it."

16: And they brought one. And he said to them, "Whose likeness and inscription is this?" They said to him, "Caesar's."

17: Jesus said to them, "Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's." And they were amazed at him.

18: And Sad'ducees came to him, who say that there is no resurrection; and they asked him a question, saying,

19: "Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man's brother dies and leaves a wife, but leaves no child, the man must take the wife, and raise up children for his brother.

20: There were seven brothers; the first took a wife, and when he died left no children;

21: and the second took her, and died, leaving no children; and the third likewise;

22: and the seven left no children. Last of all the woman also died.

23: In the resurrection whose wife will she be? For the seven had her as wife."

24: Jesus said to them, "Is not this why you are wrong, that you know neither the scriptures nor the power of God?

25: For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven.

26: And as for the dead being raised, have you not read in the book of Moses, in the passage about the bush, how God said to him, `I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob'?

27: He is not God of the dead, but of the living; you are quite wrong."

28: And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, "Which commandment is the first of all?"

29: Jesus answered, "The first is, `Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one;

30: and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.'

31: The second is this, `You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than these."

32: And the scribe said to him, "You are right, Teacher; you have truly said that he is one, and there is no other but he;

33: and to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the strength, and to love one's neighbor as oneself, is much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices."

34: And when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, "You are not far from the kingdom of God." And after that no one dared to ask him any question.

35: And as Jesus taught in the temple, he said, "How can the scribes say that the Christ is the son of David?

36: David himself, inspired by the Holy Spirit, declared, `The Lord said to my Lord,
Sit at my right hand,
till I put thy enemies under thy feet.'

37: David himself calls him Lord; so how is he his son?" And the great throng heard him gladly.

38: And in his teaching he said, "Beware of the scribes, who like to go about in long robes, and to have salutations in the market places

39: and the best seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at feasts,

40: who devour widows' houses and for a pretense make long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation."

41: And he sat down opposite the treasury, and watched the multitude putting money into the treasury. Many rich people put in large sums.

42: And a poor widow came, and put in two copper coins, which make a penny.

43: And he called his disciples to him, and said to them, "Truly, I say to you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the treasury.

44: For they all contributed out of their abundance; but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, her whole living."  

Heavenly Fortune Festival for Word Peace and Unification

Hyung Jin Moon
September 12, 2010
Cheon Bok Gung, Yongsan Seoul Korea

Let's first start with Romans, chapter 6 verse 5. Let's read this together,

"If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection."

Aju!

These are the words of Saint Paul and he is of course reflecting on the Christian faith and becoming one with Christ in his death and also when he returns, when Christ returns, that we will certainly be united, we will become one with Christ and his mission and his purpose etc.. We will come together with him.

Now this is very important because for the Christian faith, the fundamental purpose of the Christian faith is awaiting the Lord to come; that the Lord will return and that when he returns we will serve him and build his kingdom. This is really the purpose of the Christian faith. It is to unite with Christ when he returns.

In Islam, we know that Islam also sees that Jesus is the Messiah and that he will also return. Very interestingly enough in the Hadith tradition when Jesus returns he will break the cross, he will shatter it, he will take it down. You may have heard about a messianic man who takes down crosses that we know of! So the Islamic tradition also sees the One who is to return.

Of course in the Hindu traditions we see the Kalki Avatar. In the Buddhist tradition we see the Maitreya Buddha. In the Confucian tradition we see the True Man, the Righteous One who will return and guide everybody back to benevolence and ethics etc…

And of course, we as Unificationists know who that individual is. We know who the returning Lord is. We know who the Lord of the Second Advent is. It is no surprise to us but it is of course a surprise to the world. But we want to give it up one time for our True Parents of Heaven and Earth. Let's give up for them, our True Parents! (Applause)

And this time we are by True Parents' blessing and order, we are traveling across the different nations and meeting the churches, the members there and also the leaders of the churches etc… At first when True Father told me, ordered me to go on a world tour, I didn't actually know why I had to go. Maybe of course to visit the members, to be with the members, also to be with our leaders there who are trying to develop the church in churches in their respective nations.

But I realize especially this time that we are not going only for the purpose of meeting the members and meeting the leaders and trying to help them with church growth and building their foundation in those respective nations, but we are visiting the spirits in the spirit world as well. This is what I realize very strongly this time. Especially our four great saints who are Jesus, Buddha, Confucius, and the Prophet Muhammad ("Salla Allahu 'Alaihi Wa Sallam", May blessing and peace of Allah be upon him.)

And when we go to these different lands, we have sought the lands and the homelands of our saints. We have gone last time to Nepal and to the Buddha's birthplace, Lumbini. We have seen where he grew up and also offered devotions there and prayers there for Buddha so that he can also work in returning resurrection on this earth. This time in going to Jerusalem and in various European states, we were able to visit Bethlehem of course the place where Jesus grew up in and of course we were able to go to the Garden of Gethsemane where he prayed before he was taken by the Roman guards. So we were also able to offer prayers and devotion to Jesus; to be with him in his land as well.

In November we will be going to the Arab world and going to visit the homeland and the region in which the Prophet Muhammad did his various religious works [Saudi Arabia] and many of the incredible things that he was able to accomplish. In December we will be visiting Qufu [China] which is the homeland of Confucius, and we will be able to offer devotions and also prayers there at the holy land of the birth place of Confucius.

But for me the question was, "Is there a connection of these things to the fatherland, to True Father's recent declaration of the substantial word of God, and the recent Seunghwa ascension festival that True Parents have been doing for about the last year?" I realized this time very strongly that True Parents are the ones who are bringing all the heavenly fortune to the fatherland of Korea. They are the only ones who are bringing the world's blessings to Korea.

True Father has declared that Korea is the homeland and the fatherland of God. He declared this in the declaration of the Substantial Word of God and this was done on the 8th of July, the 20th of July in Korea, in New York and again in Jerusalem, the first, second and third Israels. This kind of proclamation was made!

For us this may be something that we hear quite often, but for people in Jerusalem to think of Korea as a fatherland is outrageous. It doesn't make any sense. For them it is Jerusalem! That is the holy land, that is the chosen land that God has imbued with His spiritual presence. So even the fact of proclaiming that Korea, the small little peanut nation in the pacific rim is the Holy Land of God, this is incredible! It's so hard to believe! But we were able to proclaim this in Jerusalem.

True Father has also allowed something that he has never allowed before, which was doing the Seunghwa ascension ceremonies for the great leaders who are not Unificationists, that helped True Parents while they were alive like Alexander Haig or the previous president of Indonesia. But he has also allowed us to do the Seunghwa ceremonies for the soldiers who lost their lives, who died fighting for the freedom of the fatherland, the Korean Peninsula, the people who are the heroes who sacrificed themselves to liberate and save this country.

And this of course is very, very revolutionary! Father has only allowed Seunghwa ceremonies to Unificationists who had faith, who lived a life of faith and offered glory back to heaven their whole life and as they pass they are blessed with the Seunghwa ceremony and the eternal life and resurrection, etc…

But it is the first time that he has allowed us to offer this for tens of thousands of soldiers who have lost their life while fighting for this holy land. We know from True Parents' declaration that the holy land of God is Korea. This is a very big responsibility here for Korea.

But the next question is then, "What is the holiest day that God would celebrate?" Obviously as Unificationists we know what the holiest day of God would be during the year. It is the day that our True Parents come into the world -- because they both come on the same day, the same lunar day- and it is they who are able to liberate the historical misery, the pain, the resentment, the anxiety, even the anger of God by seeing his children continually not able to inherit his true love and inherit selfish love. So then if God is most happy on that day, most joyous on that day then also all the saints in the spirit world rejoice on that day.

And I realize that this is why True Parents were sending me on the world tour. As we go on the world tour we are bringing back the holy lands to Korea. All the spiritual power, fortune and blessing that the holy lands have are now pouring down spiritually into Korea. When I realize this, I realize also that the four great saints want to bless True Parents, want to work with True Parents and want to glorify True Parents in a substantial way.

And if we imagine that it is True Parents' birthday -- that is the month of January in the solar calendar -- and that the whole nation of Korea is coming to receive True Parents' blessing, to offer grace, offer devotion and sincerity but also to receive blessing from True Parents. Would this not be amazing if not only the nation of Korea but also the world would come! Think about how amazing that would be.

When it becomes December everybody knows that it is the birth time of Christ or that everybody is reflective about the coming of Christ into the world. When it is April all Buddhists are aware of the birth of the Buddha etc… And it is said that the messiah would come and would unite the twelve tribes of Israel, to make them united. That the Messiah in other traditions will come and judge the world and that he will create the new world; that goodness and evil will be separated and that the good will be allowed to go into the Kingdom of Heaven. We know this from various traditions.

But what if the Messiah came, was able to unite the homeland and also bring the blessings of the world to this nation and from this nation spread the blessings of the world back to the homeland? Last year during True Parents' day True Parents ordered that there be six days of celebration following the first day of the lunar year to True Parents' birthday, which would be symbolic for the seven time periods of creation. And now, as you remember from last year, we celebrate with True Parents at Chung Pyung on the first day, and then the week of festivities begin; there are sports and there are all these different types of festivities.

But this year we are planning to connect the world tour with True Parents' birthday festivities. All the earth and the stones that we are bringing back from the holy lands -- we will cleanse and we will make sure they are clean -- they are prepared into a sand. And that these four holy sands gathered from different parts of the world, different sacred sites from all over the world, will be held by the representatives of the respective faiths and they will be poured into a huge bowl of holy salt that will be able to be mixed up and become one holy land, one holy land!!

Then all our members across the world, not only our members but our Peace Ambassadors who have up until now been having a relationship with us can now come to True Parents' birthday, can now offer their devotion, can offer their thanks, can offer their glory, can offer their bows to True Parents and also receive this holy land.

Peace Ambassadors, all people of the fatherland, and nations; we want to create it so it is an open event, so everybody can come and celebrate True Parents' birthday on that day. And they will receive a special case or little glass that they can fill with this holy salt and bring it back to their home to purify their house and to spread it in the four directions to bless and have the presence of the four great saints there with them protecting their family and their home and their nation.

If you go to the temple on Buddha's birthday you can receive the great blessing of the Buddha. If you go to church on Christmas and pray with Jesus, you can receive Jesus' grace and blessing. But on True Parents' day you receive the blessing of God and True Parents as well as the world's blessings. From all the corners of the world you receive the lands of the four great saints and you connect them to your own land and your own house and become purified and your house even becoming like a holy land.

And on this day we are also planning to have festivities and performances and prayer and meditation and dance and music all from those respective traditions; almost like a world religions' festival that's coming together on True Parents' birthday!

And at the same time prayer lanterns and prayer flags will be lifted up for world peace and praying for the peace of the nations. At the same time we will also be offering the nation-level Seunghwa ceremony, that remembers and blesses all the spirits who lost their lives fighting for this nation of Korea, the soldiers who fought and died protecting this land.

And on who's birthday is all this incredible national, world level, spirit world level and cosmic level blessing and fortune coming to the people of this land? It is only on the day of our True Parents of Heaven and Earth! Let's give it up one time for True Parents and their day! Because there will be nothing like this in the world! (Applause)

So as I returned from the Europe tour, I spoke with Father about this World Peace and Unification Ceremony and the Heavenly Blessing Ceremony. Father was very delighted, very pleased, that this will be a perfect fit for our festivities during that time. And doing the world tour, I realized, "Ah! This is the reason why True Parents sent me to do the world tour!" Not only to meet and encourage our members; not only to stay with the churches etc. but also to remember the Saints, the four great Saints that we are visiting as we visit these various countries!

I also realized, that's the reason why True Parents have allowed us to do the Seunghwa ceremonies for the deceased soldiers who lost their lives, American, Thailand, Korean soldiers who lost their lives, fighting for the freedom of this nation, and all the four great Saints now with the true purpose of wanting to glorify True Parents and the land that they have declared as a land of God.

You see, only our theology can handle this, because True Parents have blessed the four Saints; they have canonized them as Saints in the Unification tradition. They are not only leaders of other religions, they are our Saints that we revere, and that we respect, uphold and protect.

But If you look at other theologies, then you realize this cannot be done in other faiths. Christians don't acknowledge the Prophet Muhammad ("Salla Allahu 'Alaihi Wa Sallam"), Islam does not recognize the Buddha as a prophet of God. Only the Unification Church and True Parents can bring the Saints together and bless the nations from the Parents' perspective. Let's give it up one time for our True Parents, because this is an incredible thing! (Applause)

You see, this is exactly what the prayer room at Cheon Bok Gung is all about. This is why we have the four great Saints there! I realized, "My God! The world tour is not just helping our churches externally. It is also about connecting to the spirit world and with our four great Saints that are here with us all the time".

Brothers and sisters, now is the time for the Unification Church to get to the world stage, to be recognized and to do something that no one else can do. As a tradition we have gone through too many things, our True Parents have gone through too much and our God has suffered too much. Now is the time to show what the Unification Church brings, that it brings this incredible unity that is unseen, that all the religions can come together to also give praise and thanks to True Parents on that day, and at the same time people of the nations and the world can also receive the blessing for their individual lives and families on that day.

When we see the Unification Movement coming out into the more and more public arena, not only doing our internal ceremonies, but now reaching out into the national sphere and being able to move the nation one person at a time, we can see that now we are moving into the next stage. In February it's going to be our first year anniversary of the entrance into the Cheon Bok Gung and this is exactly the same time when the World Peace and Unification Heavenly Blessing Festival will be taking place.

We will have accomplished visiting all the sacred sites by December. So by that time all the lands will already be gathered. We are already offering devotions and prayer, not only in those nations, but while the lands are gathered here before we participate in the ceremony. Brothers and sisters, it is so important then for us as Cheon Bok Gung members, as people that come to Cheon Bok Gung and are in this incredible presence, to get back to the basics of our faith.

We are doing a national tour and also visiting churches nationally every week, and we are reminding them that we must get back to our basic prayers. We have to get back to the basics of faith, back to prayer. As you know Muslims are really amazing in their faith towards God and proclaiming God. We had an incredible time with amazing Muslims this time in Jerusalem. They pray five times a day, every day, without fail! This is a practice that over one billion Muslims around the world do every day! They are not just believers, church goers or Sunday faith believers. They are practitioners of their faith every single day. They bow down before God, humble themselves and worship only God, "La ilaha illallah Muhammadun Rasul Allah!" They bow down before Him every day as a form of their practice and devotion to God.

This kind of incredible practitioners cannot be moved, cannot be lead by people of weaker faith or less practice. They can only be moved by people who practice even more, who even practice loving God, centering themselves on God, bowing down before God, really offering their life to God, even more than this kind of practitioners. So it is up to us as Unificationists not only to gather the religious traditions and the leaders of those faiths but also to lead them to God and True Parents. And we do that not by the words that we preach but by the practice that we do, being practitioners of the Unification tradition, being practicing Unificationists.

Brothers and sisters at this time we have a big Blessing coming up in October, the 10/10 Blessing. We need everybody's help to create great victory here on that day and to return glory back to God and True Parents that day. But that's not all, because after that we are going to be preparing for the great True Parents' Day festivities and for all the world religions' teams that will be coming from across the world to celebrate with us on that day and all the nations' people that will be also invited to the Cheon Bok Gung.

So in order to do that, we have to get back to our basic prayer life. We have to get back to giving devotion and living our life with prayer and devotion. Right now a couple of our leaders in Europe including our France National Leader couple Jean Francois and Isako-san are joining us with an eight-times-a-day prayer condition every single day. We are not trying to have a competition with Islam but by doing the practice every day we understand the heart of Muslims that pray every single day. We have now a greater respect for them, a greater appreciation for their practice and vice-versa they have a greater appreciation for our daily practice as well.

If our brothers and sisters from the Cheon Bok Gung membership also want to join in the eight-times-a-day prayer please see our Hoonsa-nims. Our Mocksa-nim Michael Brazil can connect you with the Hoonsa-nims. They will tell you the times in which our congregation is praying every single day eight times a day.

And we must remember that as we pray, as Unificationists, we don't just pray for ourselves. This is not how Unificationists pray. As Unificationists we pray on the eight stages. We first pray for God, that's the first stage. We first lift up God, comfort God, we lift his Holy Name up; that's what we do first, we pray for God.

The second thing we do, is the universal stage, just praying for the spirit world, for our ancestors, our four great Saints, our brothers and sisters that are up there with us, moving with us; we pray for them as well, acknowledge and remember them.

We also pray for the world at the third stage. We pray for the nations, the societies, the tribes. We pray for the families.

Then we reach the individual stage, where we are praying for our own lives. But when we pray for our own lives, we remember, that we ask God to use our life not for 'my kingdom and my will' to be done and 'my' purpose to be done but we ask God to use us for his purpose and 'Thy kingdom and Thy will'. When we do this we start changing; our entire life begins to change and as we do this not once a day or once a week, we do this eight times a day at various times a day, focusing ourselves every single day, then our life begins to change. We don't become perfect, we don't become flawless, no! But we start training and disciplining our mind and we become more centered every single day.

So brothers and sisters, it is now time for us at Cheon Bok Gung to start gathering the devotion, gathering the prayers, so that we can have great victory, not only in October, but also on True Parents' Day, where we can show before the world the whole new level that the Unification Church is moving to, where all the nations' blessings will now be coming into the fatherland and touching all the nations' people and then of course going back out into the world.

Brothers and sisters, let's all stand up at this point and let's offer our prayers together as we finish up and close our sermon. Let's lift our hands up and touch the face of God and wipe away his tears and let's offer our prayers:

Prayer

Heavenly Father, we thank You so much for this day. Father, we thank You today, because You alone are great and You alone we worship, because Father You created the heavens and the earth and You created us. Father, we thank You so much; it is because of your grace and your love that we can even breathe at his time. It is because of You, that we can experience this moment and Father we thank You and want to uplift your name and remember the greatness of your love and your compassion and your mercy for us. Thank You so much!

Father, we also want to uplift and uphold the Heavenly True Parents, your earthly representative, Father, who has also liberated your heart and your mind from pain and anxiety and all the past failures of humankind. But Father now You are free, your mental anguish has been released and now You can be free, when you look at your children, know and have confidence that now True Parents' words are spreading to the world and really uniting the world through our central blessed families.

Father, we pray also for the world, that we may come to unity. We pray for the nations, that as the scripture says, all the nations will bow down and every tongue will confess that the Lord is You. Father, we pray also for the societies, Father, the tribes and the families, that they may become central blessed families and offer their lives to Heaven and uphold your name. We thank You so much and we pray that You use us and Father use us in a great way. Use us beyond our mind's capabilities and our expectations for ourselves. Father, use us for your purpose and your kingdom alone.

We thank You so much and we want to offer all these prayers also at the same time in humility recognizing that we are not perfect, but Father we need forgiveness and also we need to forgive other people who hurt us in our life. We thank You so much and we pray these things with a grateful heart, and Father, an excitement, that now we can glorify True Parents before the entire world, that we can glorify them and all the four great saints will help us and Father, truly allow them to bless the entire nation and the entire world.

We thank You so much. Build up our faith, let us start our prayer life again, and Father, let us train and train and practice and practice until our dying day. We want to offer all glory to You. We pray these things in our own names as central blessed families, we pray. Aju! Aju!

Notes:

Romans, chapter 6

1: What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound?

2: By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?

3: Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?

4: We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

5: For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.

6: We know that our old self was crucified with him so that the sinful body might be destroyed, and we might no longer be enslaved to sin.

7: For he who has died is freed from sin.

8: But if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him.

9: For we know that Christ being raised from the dead will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him.

10: The death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God.

11: So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

12: Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal bodies, to make you obey their passions.

13: Do not yield your members to sin as instruments of wickedness, but yield yourselves to God as men who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments of righteousness.

14: For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.

15: What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means!

16: Do you not know that if you yield yourselves to any one as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness?

17: But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed,

18: and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness.

19: I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For just as you once yielded your members to impurity and to greater and greater iniquity, so now yield your members to righteousness for sanctification.

20: When you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness.

21: But then what return did you get from the things of which you are now ashamed? The end of those things is death.

22: But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the return you get is sanctification and its end, eternal life.

23: For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.  

Report on International President's Tour of Israel and Europe

Hyung Jin Moon
September 5, 2010
Cheon Bok Gung, Yongsan Seoul Korea

Main Sermon:

Brothers and sisters, today I'd like to first share with you a little bit about the Jerusalem and Europe visits, and then I will move on into the main part of the sermon. We never planned to go to Jerusalem. As you know, for the Korean church right now, it is a very busy time. We're now preparing for over sixteen thousand blessed couples to be blessed in October. So it is not the best time to be going on visits to other nations! But Father expressly ordered for us to be in Jerusalem. As you know, on July 8th, Father first did the proclamation of True Parents' eternal word in Korea, and then on the 28th of July in America, so the third Israel and the second Israel, and then Father ordered to do it in the first Israel, in Jerusalem, to proclaim True Parents' substantial word of God. So initially we were going to Europe, but we had to make an extra trip to Israel.

It was the first time for us in the Holy Land. As soon as we landed and entered into the Holy Land, we went immediately to the olive tree that True Parents designated as the site where Jesus prayed before he was crucified. It's a thousand-year-old olive tree, and there are three nails in it -- as some of you that have been there know -- representing the three Abrahamic faiths, that True Parents actually put into the tree. And we could still find those nails that represent Judaism, Christianity and Islam, engrafting onto the olive tree. We were able to go there and give a prayer, and also to place True Parents' picture within the tree. We also visited the place where Jesus is traditionally said to have prayed before his crucifixion. Then we moved on to the Dead Sea to see the place of the Essene community, the early community that was waiting for the return of the Christ and that created the very famous Dead Sea Scrolls and the Apocryphal literature that was retrieved from that incredible, historic area.

The next morning, we were able to have Hoon Dok Hae and some testimony time with our brothers and sisters in Israel, followed by quickly going to the Temple Mount and the Wailing Wall, where practicing Jews come and pray, really pray, for the restoration of their temple. Now on the Temple Mount, on top of that, where King Solomon built the original Temple's foundation, is the famous al-Aqsa Mosque. We were able to go with our delegation to the al-Aqsa Mosque and meet the Grand Mufti there who was so kind to allow us to enter into the al-Aqsa Mosque and even underneath into the cave where non-Muslims are not allowed, and allowed us to pray there and share time with them.

Then, we were able meet the leaders of the Druze community, who are always playing a central role in peaceful relations between Muslims, Christians and Jews. They are a tradition that is an offspring of Islam, and they have about two hundred thousand followers in Jerusalem, but really are respected from all the communities. We were able to meet with the top leader there, Imam Tariff, and many of the priests there: a big Orthodox priest that came in attendance and some Islamic imams that came in attendance. We were able to share True Parents' role as the Lord of the Second Advent who comes to fulfill the prophecies of the past. We were able to share this wonderful time and also to share the autobiography with Imam Tariff. Then we had to go and do the special ceremony to proclaim the substantial word of God and the era of the parents of heaven, earth, and humankind. And in the speech, Father was with us via internet live broadcast; True Parents were attending the entire service, and were very keenly watching the word being proclaimed.

The word that was being proclaimed was that True Parents are the Messiah, that they are the Lord of the Second Advent, that they come with that mission; and that Korea, the Fatherland to which the Lord of the Second Advent has been sent, is now the homeland and the sacred site of God. So it is a Holy Land as well. This was the main aspect of the proclamation.

We had the time also to stop at al-Jazzar Mosque where the prophet Mohammad, sall Allahu 'alayhi wa sallam (may Allah honor him and grant him peace), his hair is within the sanctuary, and people come from all over the world to see his hair. We get to see True Parents in reality, let alone a hair! Do you understand the value of True Parents being with us? Let us give it up one time for True Parents with us here, in the flesh!

So we had a wonderful time there. Of course it was Ramadan and they were fasting. We met Imam Masih, the head of the al-Jazzar Mosque. And there is a very interesting picture where we are wrestling over a cell phone, and he is actually giving me back the cell phone, because during our meeting the phone rings and we pick up the phone and it is True Father on the other line! So I am sitting there with Imam: "Oh, Father, we are in the meeting with the Imam Masih!" So we hand the phone to Imam Masih. And Father gave him a special blessing from heaven. They said it was the first time that something ever happened like that. So Imam Masih is now a blessed man. And we wish him many fortunes and many blessings, many great blessings coming to him. (Applause) It's a historic time.

We had the great honor of breaking fast with them. As you know, Muslims, during the day during Ramadan, don't eat or drink -- water or any type of beverage -- during the whole day, and as the sun sets, they are able to eat. We had this feast and Imam Masih kept on feeding us until we almost burst! Just so much of this incredible hospitality that we felt from this man who is a real, incredible spiritual leader! He was going around making sure that everybody ate before he broke his fast. Such a wonderful example for that community!

Then we had to fly and make our way to Italy. We went to Italy, and we landed and immediately went to the Vatican. In 1965, before he started the American providence, True Father went on the world tour and designated holy sites all around the world. In 1965 he designated in front of the obelisk in the yard in the great arena, the front area of the Vatican before St. Peter's Basilica, as the holy site. And there we gave offerings and prayer. And we were able to ascend into St. Peter's all the way to the top, to the dome.

But one of the great experiences was the Sacred Stairs that we were able to visit at St. John Lateran Cathedral, where the steps of Jerusalem were moved some centuries ago by the Vatican from Jerusalem. These are the steps where Jesus went up to be judged by Pontius Pilot. They moved that staircase from Jerusalem to Vatican City and it is in the incredible Lateran Cathedral. It's covered by a wooden staircase to protect the original stairs. You go up the stairs -- the twenty-eight stairs -- but you don't go walking on your feet; you go on your knees in penance and in repentance and prayer. You walk on your knees! And it's very painful.

But when you look around and you focus, in the tunnel, on the image of the Christ hanging lifeless on the cross, you realize that this pain is nothing; it is nothing compared to what Christ had to endure for the sake of our spiritual salvation. So you really feel this incredible sense of communion. I remember Yeon-ah nim, Hyo-jin nim's wife, who came with us, had a great spiritual experience there and she was tearing up, and pouring out tears. And we believe that Hyo-jin hyung was also in presence with her as we walked up those stairs in penance and in repentance, really focusing on the love of Christ. Such an incredible training that we were able to do with the Catholic practitioners there; such a beautiful, beautiful training!

Of course, every morning we would start with the manifestation of the principle. The principle not only heals our spirit, not only heals our mind, but also heals our body. It teaches us how to give and receive, and the four positions, and to unite and become one centered on the essence of God. So we do the Cheon-jin Chi-gong in the morning, the devotional practice, the kyungbaes (full bows), the meditation training etc. with the members. Every day, we were able to do that training. Such a wonderful time!

We visited the holy site, the holy rock, designated at the main headquarters workshop center and we shared some words with our Italian brothers and sisters from all over Italy who came and spent time with us there. At night, after the event, we were able to go to visit a family. We always love visiting families in any nation where we are. We choose by lottery and we go and visit the family. This family was such a beautiful family, the Natali family. I said to them when we were having dinner -- we were having pizza, they ordered pizza -- I said, "So, pizza was made in New York, yes?" And they said, "No, no, no! It was in Napoli! Napoli!" I said, "No, no, no, I am from New York, and I heard pizza was made in New York!"

They got so angry: "Never, never -- we'll never admit to that! Pizza is from Napoli!" So we saw some of that Italian pride, very beautiful, and had a wonderful time. In the family visits we are able to remember the blessings of God. We always remember that we have to become blessed central families and not cursed central families -- not where we are cursing each other. We are learning to bless each other, in the habit of blessing, blessing, blessing, right? And so we learn how to become grateful for each one of the family members. We had a wonderful time with them, such a beautiful family. The eldest son will be getting blessed this time in October! Let's give him a great round of applause for a new beginning and a new start, now entering the second blessing of life!

We were then whisked away: we had to travel to France. Initially our plan wasn't to go to France. We initially planned to go to Italy, and then Germany, and then England, although Father of course sent us to Jerusalem first. But while we were in Italy we heard that less than a couple of weeks ago, during a workshop, the bus that was going towards the workshop had an accident, and one of our young blessed children, a Unificationist, passed away on the spot. It was a bad accident and one of them passed away immediately. His name was Tony Yuen. And another sister, Tiffany, immediately went into a coma. She was helicoptered away to the hospital in Lille. My wife's heart was moved during prayer. She said, "You know, we have to go and visit them." So we changed our schedule in Italy, canceled one day in Italy, and went to France, really on the spur of the moment.

We went there and we were able to visit Jacky Yuen's family -- this is Tony Yuen's family. We went there expecting they would be tremendously depressed and overwhelmed. Of course; it is painful! But we were so happy to see that they had already created an altar for Tony Yuen, that they already had the candle lit for their son, and were praying for him. We saw that and said, "You know, if it wasn't for the Unification faith that they have, they could never -- not understanding the spirit world -- do this: overcome and still be in the presence of Tony, be with him and live with him as part of their family." The young people in this family, the children, were absolutely fantastic. They are very involved in the community -- leaders, really, up-and-coming leaders, in the young people's community. Such an exemplary family, such a hard-working family of faith!

One thing about Jacky, the dad: he is very sincere about sharing his faith. He goes out to witness. He works all day at a factory -- he works in a Christian Bernard factory I believe. He goes out and he works, and then he goes witnessing, every day. He loves to share the word of God; he loves to share True Parents. He has this kind of an exemplary faith. We were so inspired to see his family, and to see their love transcending the boundaries of earth and heaven, and really giving honor to their son. We heard that they love McDonald's so we had a great McDonald's meal.

Then we were whisked to the Eiffel tower where True Father designated the France holy site in 1965. We went there and gave a brief prayer. And then we were on the plane to Lille, a smaller city in France, where Tiffany was in a coma. Quite a remarkable situation. This young sister was also a leader within the community. In the accident, Tony Yuen immediately ascended to the spirit world, but Tiffany went into a coma. The doctor said that she had no chance, that she would literally be a vegetable for the rest of her life. But -- incredible! -- the hand of God worked.

The parents testify that they had a peace in their heart: they knew that God would bring her out. And within three days -- the doctor had said she would never get up again! -- within three days, God's hand moved. He worked a miracle and she is now up and around, and when we met her she was talking; she was doing fine. Let's give it up one time for the almighty God! Hananim, kamsahamnida (Thank You, Heavenly Father)! Yes, that is our God! And such a wonderful sister! She is going to make a full recovery and the doctors are really just so amazed.

I told the parents, "You and Tony's family are now one family. You can't be separated. God brought you together. When your daughter's all healed, you must go visit his family, console his family, be with his family, have McDonald's with his family -- and Tony! -- and become one family. So they made that promise to me.

It was such a wonderful time in France -- just a couple of hours in France actually. Then we had to run and fly to Germany. In 1965, on the 29th of July, True Father designated a tree as the holy ground in Germany, during the world tour, and we could see how big the tree has gotten and also how many Unificationists have now emerged and are really standing up for their faith. They were having a beautiful seminar with about two hundred young people, young Unificationists studying the principle and also doing different kind of projects, exercises, and challenges.

We were very moved by the workshop center because in that center in Germany we saw an incredible array of statues that were made by one of the senior members of the German church. He made the whole providential picture, from Adam and Eve to Abraham, to Moses, to Isaac, all the way to Jesus, and then finalizing in this incredible pagoda-type fountain area where True Parents are there as the Lord of the Second Advent. Also some of the True Children are there, and some of the early disciples are there as well. We were so amazed. We saw that and were so inspired. We even felt inspired to develop it in our Korean churches, as this brother has developed it in Germany.

Every morning we started with training, with dedication and practice, rotating the principle. We were also able to go to Wartburg, which is the place where Martin Luther, when he was chastised by the Catholic Church, ran away and had safe haven; at Wartburg Castle. And this is where he translated the New Testament within two months from Latin into German. The Protestant Reformation began from this historical area and this place where he translated the Bible, the New Testament, so that all people could read it for themselves.

After that we were able to go visit the Buchenwald concentration camp. This is one of the camps organized by Nazi Germany, where fifty-six thousand people were murdered and killed. We could hear the spirits of their souls; we could hear them crying; we could hear them shouting for liberation! We could hear their pain in this place. Now beautiful flowers are blooming from the ground, but still, that doesn't hide the incredible torment and incredible hell, the living hell that was this concentration camp. We saw the place where there were executions. The Jewish people were brought in there, being told that it was just a doctor visit and that they were having a checkup. The floor was painted red so that the blood could be washed away more easily and hidden so none of the other Jewish people who were passing by would know that it was an execution chamber. They were brought into this room and were asked to face the wall to measure their height, and they were shot in the head -- executed without them even knowing.

There is a photo of a mountain of corpses that the concentration camp was trying to get rid of. They created furnaces, their own cremation centers, because there were so many bodies being killed, such was the rate of bodies being killed, that they could not get rid of them; they could not burn them quickly enough at the outside crematories. So they created their own crematory. And they would stuff not only one body in there, but forcibly stuff three bodies in these small, little places and cremate them. This is the terror, the terrible history of atheism, when it loses sight and becomes centered on a megalomaniac like Hitler. We were able to give a prayer there.

And we went and were able to meet the German brothers and sisters, were able to share about some of that experience, but also to share times of hope and that we have to return to prayer, come back to prayer; that prayer is at the center of our lives, and that it was in that relationship (with God) where True Parents were able to make the world foundation. So we focus and return back to prayer.

We were able to go meet the Makkonen family, which is a wonderful family from Finland and Austria. The husband is from Finland and the wife is from Austria. Such a wonderful family! But they still have a very tough marriage and blessing -- many difficulties they had to go through and, still, they had a lot of pain within that marriage. But in the meeting we were able to see a lot of healing come to pass. Even their children, in the practices we did with them, were moved to tears. Their son, sitting on the side, was moved by seeing his parents move to the next level in their faith life and practice life together. This is their wonderful family.

Then we had to move to the UK. In Hyde Park, they have the holy site there. There was a young man named Kenko -- Kenko san -- an incredible young man who grew up as a blessed child, Unificationist, but his parents were always busy witnessing. He had Japanese parents who sacrificed tremendously for the church, and he grew up alone with his grandmother, never understanding why he could never see his parents. He said he was filled with resentment, filled with a lot of hate. But when he was a young person, one of his friends said, "Let's go to a workshop." And he went, I believe, at the age of sixteen, and he heard the principle for the first time. Because his parents were so busy, they had never shared the principle with him, never taught him the principle -- which is the unfortunate fate of many blessed children.

We must always remember as parents: no matter how busy we are, we must teach we must teach the children the principle; they must learn the faith! This young man went and he heard the principle. And he realized why his parents were giving for the sake of the world, sacrificing for the sake of the world. And he had a change in his life, he said. He said, from that point, on he not only was a member, he became an evangelist! He started witnessing! And as a young person, in high school -- he was a terrible student, his grades weren't good -- all of sudden he was a straight-A student. And then he started witnessing to his high school friend. While he was in high school he had his first spiritual son! Amazing young fellow! In high school he was able to witness to this man, Yuen, and he became a blessed couple. He was actually there at the event as well, and at the morning service as well.

This young man went on to come out of one of the greatest engineering schools in the UK, went on to be an i-banker. He is a professional now, getting his PHD while also earning a great professional living, but at the same time contributing to the church -- not just as a church-going member, not just as a donating member, but as a witnesser! He is going out and witnessing to his professional friends, bringing people to the faith. This young man is an incredible example of Unificationist faith. Let's give it up one time for Kenko san. Incredible young man! He grew up in America and in the UK… What an incredible fellow! We need many, many more young Unificationists like this man. Incredible, incredible young man!

We had time to then spend with our brothers and sisters in Europe. [Pointing to a slide:] I cannot remember which building this was, too many buildings I was in. We had a wonderful time, again remembering the importance of prayer, going over prayer in our life with our brothers and sisters from the UK. And then we had the chance to meet the wonderful Robertson Family. The father is suffering from multiple sclerosis so his body is in paralysis but he can move his head and he can speak. What a fine fellow of faith!

What an incredible man of faith! In this situation he could be complaining about the church, complaining about everything, complaining about how his life is terrible, that God left him. Exactly the opposite! Consoling everybody; praising God, praising the True Parents, praising brothers and sisters that are there, giving thanks to them. What an incredible man of faith, a living testament of the power of the principle applied in our life. His wife as well, when I first saw her I thought she looked like a saint. She is a sister from Austria. They have a wonderful son, Gilchris. Just an incredible family that we had the privilege of not only being with but also praying with and also just experiencing God's presence there so much. Let's give it up one time for the Robertson family in the UK. They are probably watching us. They watch us, they say, every week, so they are watching us today!

We then had a wonderful chance to have an inter-religious council at the House of Commons with Lord King who was able to acquire a room for us for free. We had about two hundred delegates from politics; of course, religious leaders, Iman Sajid; we had an Oxford professor, Dr. Ramsey who is also a Muslim; we had Dr. Braybrooke who is a priest, an Anglican priest, who is one of the great people of interfaith in Europe. So, very prominent leaders were present there. So many people were there. I had a brief time to share words and, of course, we went up there and we did not just talk about interfaith. We talked about the reason why Father would even start anything of interfaith: it is because he comes as the messiah and the Lord at the Second Advent. That is the mission of True Parents. That is who he is.

We were able to share that with all the leaders there. Simon Cooper, who is the National Leader of the Unification Church in Great Britain, said he was so refreshed. He said at these events we never used to proclaim Father as the Messiah, we'd always hide that point. But since we are doing it out in the open, he was so happy. And of course there is no wacky reaction, they already know anyways! So he said he felt so refreshed: "Thank God we are being more open! We are coming out of the closet with our faith, so to speak, and being honest in what we believe!" Let's give it up one time for all these brothers and sisters now proclaiming True Parents, proclaiming who True Parents really are.

And then, as we left, we had nice interviews with The Sun and Forbes magazine. From Forbes magazine there was a wonderful interviewer that I met when he did an interview with me from the BBC. He was from the BBC, but he left the BBC about six months ago, and now is becoming an Anglican priest. He just stopped by to say hi! What an incredible visit. Such a great guy, just a friend! We just hit it off from the very beginning. Such a wonderful young man! Then we were able to come back to Korea.

You know, one of the things that I really felt on this tour was the incredible nature of Islam. Around the world, more than Christianity now, Islam is the fastest growing religion in the UK. It is also the fastest growing faith in America; it is the fastest growing religion in the world. And by 2050 Islam will be the biggest religion in the world, presently with over a billion Muslims, praying five times a day, every day -- giving that kind of incredible prayer life! This time around, praying with the sheiks, imams, and being able to go (to the mosques), I really felt the incredible faith and devotion of Islam.

You know, I saw that many, many European leaders were worried about this, they were worried about Islam. Many of them were saying, "Islam is growing too quickly!" -- In France it is 20% of the population -- "Islam is growing so rapidly! What can we do? It is going to take over Europe, take over our European constitution!" But we have to understand this from a principled perspective. When, in the course of the Providence of Restoration, when Christianity became corrupt and forgot the mission of Jesus, when it forgot God, God sent Islam for Christianity to remember who God was. So Islam was sent by God to bring Christianity back to God and away from the path towards secularity which it was falling into. Islam's message is very clear: La ilaha ill Allah, Muhammad-ur-Rasul, "There is only one God, and Muhammad is His prophet." Islam's message is crystal clear: You only worship one God, there is only one God worthy of praise, there is only one God worthy to be bowed down before, and that is who you worship. Islam is incredible. We felt the real, incredible clarity of Islam.

In France, Jean-Francois, the National leader, told me that in France, you cannot mention the name of God in public without being persecuted. He said that he met a congressman and while in the meeting he said to the congressman the word "inter-religious" -- he didn't even say "God," he said "inter-religious" -- and the congressman was so upset: "You keep your religion at home, not in here!" -- so angry. "Why do you bring out the word 'inter-religious' here in the public?"

If the nations become that secular, where "God" cannot even be spoken, God will bless Islam. It is the will of God that Islam then spreads in that nation. Why? Because Muslims will not compromise their belief in God. They will not be intimidated by any state or any nation that says you cannot talk about God. They will declare God, they will talk about God, they will be vocal about God -- as the center of their life and the center of the entire universe. In that realm, we have to not only be grateful to Islam, we have to be even more faithful than Islam! Let's give it up one time for our brothers and sisters who are doing very important work in Europe!

In Islam there is the notion that human beings are the servants of God; they are slaves to God. The prophet Mohammad, sall Allahu 'alayhi wa sallam (may Allah honor him and grant him peace), is the slave of God. He is not a son of God; there can be no son of God. You are not sons and daughters of God; you cannot be so. You are slaves of God. In Islam, they explain: you must be a slave to something in your life. Think about it. You have to be a slave to something in your life! You are either a slave to money, a slave to your career, a slave to education, a slave to knowledge, a slave to power -- you have to be a slave to something in your life! You might as well be a slave to the God and the Creator of all of heaven and earth; might as well bow down before Him, and only through Him receive your life's purpose.

So you see, Islam is very, very clear. I remember one sister saying, "We of course understand God as Lord, but now we see God in the parent-child relationship. So this is the great difference between us and how Christians see God and also how Muslims see God." I told her, "Don't forget that the parent-child relationship is a very rich relationship. It is a very manifold, multifaceted relationship." I told her, I am the son of True Parents, the direct son of True parents. I have a parent-child relationship with him (Father) but, at the same time, I am also his servant.

When he asks me and orders me to do something, I have to obey it with absolute obedience like a servant, not like a son that can say, "Oh Dad, I don't agree with you here! I don't really want to do the blessing that's coming up this time. It's really stressful and you know you are going to have to understand. I simply disagree with you!" I cannot do that! That doesn't exist in the parent-child relationship -- it is not like in the west where we only see it in this realm. It has within it the servant relationship to God. That's the whole teaching of absolute faith and love and obedience: that we have the obedience to God almighty. And this is a wonderful facet of Islam that reminds us that the relationship of parent and child is manifold, multifaceted; that even within this relationship, we must submit to the power of God and allow Him to work in our lives, not believing that we can do everything on our own.

One of the things that I learned when I was at the Divinity School at Harvard, from my professors, was the real nature of interfaith. Two of my professors who were Buddhologists but also Christians explained to me that when people do interfaith and they gather these different religious people and all these religious people say, "Oh yes, you are right and we all believe the same thing," and, "Yes, it's wonderful: Peace be! Shalom! God is great! We just believe the same thing! We are all the same!"

When they do this, this is a huge disservice to interfaith. This is not interfaith, they would tell me. They told me real inter-religious activity requires the different religions to understand the similarities as well as the differences between the different religions, so that they may understand where the conflict zones may stem from. They can understand, through those differences, the pinpoint areas where conflict can arise, and become more aware of those differences. Only when different traditions can do that in a state of agreeing to understand, disagreeing with theological views but still working toward interfaith -- this is when real interfaith is done.

We've done interfaith, of course, as a Unification movement, for twenty years. One of the key ingredients of interfaith is that if a religious faith involves itself within interfaith, it has to have a strong identity of its own faith. Without a strong identity of its own faith, it will fall into what is known as religious relativism. It will believe that just gathering the faiths together is the purpose of that work, and they will never be in a position to lead those faiths to the next era. And when we look at how we have done interfaith over the last twenty years, have we strengthened our faith? Through the interfaith work, have we strengthened our identity as Unificationists? Have we become more serious in our practice? Or have we become more watered-down? Has our faith become lessened, our prayers less, in the church? Was church-going less?

We saw the results, of course: a lot of that became diminished, became weakened as we started trying to just embrace other faiths without having a strong sense of our own faith. This is the key to interfaith: If we truly want to contribute the Unification principled perspective, which is an incredible perspective, towards the world's religions, then we must have a strong sense of faith and a very strong sense of practicing our faith. This is one of the things that was a serious challenge in any of the interfaith activities that we did, but now in any of the focuses that we do with interfaith, we always declare clearly what we believe, clearly what True Parents' role is. And from that prospective we explain why interfaith is so important for the Unification tradition.

When we spent time with the European leaders explaining this and discussing this with them, I told them, "Look! You want to be able to move people of incredible faith, like Muslims, like imams, people who practice daily, daily, daily! They will never be inspired when they see Unificationists who can just memorize the Principle or give lectures about the principle. They are going to see how much we are practicing about God, how much we are centering ourselves on God. They pray five times a day, every day. They are going to see how many times we are praying. They are going to see how many times we center ourselves on God. Are we just Sunday church-goers? They will never respect that; they will never respect the principle. They will never respect anybody who speaks on a Sunday-faith level." The only way people of serious faith will be moved and be led is by people of even greater faith. They cannot be moved by less faithful people, people who lead more secular lives. They will not be moved. People of great faith will not be moved by these kinds of people.

This is the reason why it is so important for Unificationists to find once again that early-time faith, that faith from when we were in the early movement, that strong sense of faith, that strong sense of presence with God, praying constantly with God, being one with God constantly. To make that condition, while we were in France and other European nations, we made a new condition that we are practicing now with the European church leaders and, as I came back here, with the Hoonsa nims in Korea. In order to understand the seriousness of Islam and to communicate with them on a deep level and also to influence and even guide Muslims, we must be practicing an even stronger faith. Thus, instead of five-times-a-day prayer we've now made a condition where we actualize the eight stages of perfection; where we divide the day into eight sections and pray eight times a day, going from individual all the way to the level of God; to segment the day and offer the entire day to God.

This is not a petty competition with Muslims who practice five times a day, but it is respecting the type of practice that they do and also actualizing the type of prayer life that we should have in our own lives. Remember, Muslims -- one billion, not only the imams, not only the religious leaders or the pastors, the normal members as well -- every day are orienting themselves to Mecca and to God, five times a day. There is no other religious phenomenon like that on the planet. It is an incredible testament to the seriousness of the faith of Islam.

If we are going to move Islam, and if Christianity is going to accept the Lord of the Second Advent, then it is only by more serious faith that people of very strong faith will come to respect not only our teaching but also how we live and center ourselves on God. Thus we created the new eight-times-a-day-prayer special condition that our European leaders are now doing as we speak and now, as we come back to Korea, we are doing with our Hoonsa nims, to train.

Brothers and sisters, let's all rise and I want to just go briefly through the series of small bits and pieces of this very short prayer that we do eight times a day so that all of you can understand what kind of pattern we are doing it in. And if you want to include yourself in the special training, then please see your pastor and our Hoonsa nims for the times and also the prayer practices.

First we start with manifesting the principle: give and receive action, four position foundation, "May I inherit the true love of God!" Then we give a bow. We do a full kyungbae, and we come back up. Then we offer glory, first, to God. So that is, "Hananim weonkwon seungnim og mansei." We do og mansei for God, og mansei for True Parents and then og mansei for Cheon Il Guk. "Og mansei!" We go back down and do another bow. We come back up and we center our heart and we pray along the eight stages of prayer. That is, we pray for God first; we then pray for the second stage, which is the spirit world and the cosmos; we then pray for the third stage, which is, we pray for the world; the fourth stage, we pray for the nations to come to God; we pray for the societies, the tribes and the families to come to God; and the last stage is we pray for our individual life to be for the purpose of God's Kingdom and God's Will: "Not my kingdom and my will, but Thy Kingdom and Thy Will, for You and only You, let us live!" We pray like that.

We end the prayer and then we come together and we open our hands like a Hoon Dok Hae book. We open our hands like a Hoon Dok Hae book and we recite the eight Family Pledges of the Kajeong Mengsei in the original language, in Korean. We do it in Korean. So we also learn Korean, and also learn the deep meaning in those Pledges. After we recite the eight Pledges, we come back and manifest the principle one more time: give and receive action, four position foundation, "May I inherit the True Love of God and glorify Heaven till my ascension to the Spiritual World. Aju." That is the prayer that we are doing eight times a day -- of course starting from 2:30 morning training. That's still the same, but eight times a day throughout the day. If you want to participate with our European leaders and our ministers, Hoonsa nims, here, and with myself, if you want to participate, please see Michael and also our Hoonsa nims.

Let's finish with a final prayer as we end this service. Please join me in prayer.

Hyung-jin nim's final prayer:

Heavenly Father, Lord and Creator of the universe, we thank You Father so much that we can be in Your presence this day, that we can glorify You and lift You up on high today. Father, we pray that we are not here just for the sake of "my own kingdom and my own will" but Father we pray that we are gathered here to truly be Unificationists who can unite the religions and the nations and the world. Father we pray that we may now step up our faith life, not only be Sunday Unificationists, but, Father, now we can go to the next level of faith, we can go to a faith that inspires Muslims and Buddhists and Christians -- serious people of faith -- to understand the truth of the divine principle and the truth of the revelation that You have given to True Parents, our lord and our savior.

Father we thank You so much because this day You bless us in a whole new way. Father, You remind us that the world is changing, that secularism is being challenged by faithful people from all over different religions of the world. But Father, let us be those who can truly guide the world into unity, guide the world into peace, into Your heart. And let us be those people who not only talk the principle, who not only can preach or lecture the principle, but practice it every day, starting from our daily prayers and our training and our meditation practice, every single day.

Father, we pray that we can have that kind of faith life and out from that can spring the great compassion to save lives, to save people, to witness and share True Parents' word to this world. We thank You so much. We pray that You may move the world to unity, You may move the nations, that every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that the Lord has come. Father, we thank you so much, that all the tribes and societies and families may come to Your blessing; that they may live in a blessed life, not for themselves but for Your Kingdom, and Father, they may ascend to the spiritual world in glory with the Seunghwa ascension.

We thank You so much! Use us individually with all our talents and potentials for Your Kingdom and Your Will alone. Father, guide us on that straight path, make us center ourselves on You constantly, and let us be the ones that can unify this world. We pray these things with gratitude and with honor. We offer this and lift You up and we thank the True Parents who have liberated Your pain! We pray these things as central blessed families, in the names of our own names. Aju. 

Rev. Hyung Jin Moon Makes Pastoral Tour of Western Europe

Chris Davies
September 9, 2010
Amsterdam, Netherlands

It was part preaching, part pilgrimage and part diplomacy to religious opinion leaders. Rev. Hyung Jin Moon, President of the Unification Church International, rallied with church members in Italy, France, Germany and the United Kingdom in the last week of August, sharing the breaking news of the Messiah's advent and inviting Unificationists of all ages to meet and greet him for the first time.

Accompanied at every step of the way by his wife, his sister in law [Yeon Ah Choi Moon], and a number of other Unificationists, Rev. Moon, the youngest son of the Reverend Sun Myung Moon, 90, visited families in their homes, prayed at the Vatican, spoke in town halls and at the British Parliament. His goal was to share his message with Unification Church members, speak to public officials, and to learn more about the religious heritage of Western Europe.

Rev. Moon is the international president of the Unification Church and the Family Federation for World Peace and has been designated by his father, Rev. Sun Myung Moon, founder of the Unification Church, as the person to carry on his religious work.

Rev. Moon began his tour in Rome on Aug. 24, 2010 and later visited Paris, where he said he was shocked to hear from church members that "in France you cannot talk about God in public, you have to keep your religion at home." Rev. Moon observed that "There are many people in Europe who are not happy with secularism and modernism, but while Christians have allowed God to be excluded from public life, Muslims are very assertive about their faith and their prayer life. They recognize clearly that Jesus was a man, not God; and they are very clear that they will not let anyone walk on them because of their faith. This is also what Christians and Unificationists should be doing. Muslims want to see if they can respect us; how serious is our faith? In much of Europe, Christianity was fading when God sent Islam in the seventh century."

Rev. Hyung Jin Moon and the Unification Church

Hyung Jin Moon was born in 1979 in New York and is the seventh and youngest son of Reverend and Mrs. Sun Myung Moon. He and his wife Yeon Ah Lee live in Seoul, Korea and conduct a number of religious services in both Korean and English each weekend at the recently-opened Unification Temple. The temple features a prayer room that includes four paintings honoring four great saints or founders of religion: Jesus, Mohammed, Buddha and Confucius. This was Hyung Jin Moons' first visit to Europe, prior to which he participated in a Universal Peace Federation Middle East Peace Initiative program in Jerusalem and addressed a "Rally for Substantial Peace," which followed similar events held in Seoul and New York in July.

Rev. Moon received his B.A. from Harvard University and an M.A. from Harvard Divinity School; and when studying at the Harvard Center for the Study of World Religions, he met the leader of the Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism, the Venerable Bub Jang, and pursued an interest in Buddhism, which he studied and practiced in earnest. He has also met and shared with the Dali Lama. He later explained that after growing up in the West in a Christian environment, he wished to understand more about the Eastern spiritual tradition. He also has demonstrated skill in martial arts, which he has practiced since he was very young.

In his sermons Rev. Moon often quoted extensively from various scriptures, and in Germany mentioned that he wished to study further the world's religious scriptures in their original language, in order to deeply understand the spirituality behind each religion.

On August 29, 2010, Rev. Hyung Jin Moon spoke on the power of prayer and expressed appreciation for the spirituality of other world religions at a meeting of 1,200 Unification Church members in Limburg Town Hall, Germany. He told his audience in Limburg that at Harvard he had studied all the major religions and also newer religions, including Mormonism, Bahai, Soka Gakkai and Unificationism. He said the information on Unificationism had been very fair and positive, including Father's meeting with Jesus (Unificationists refer to Reverend Sun Myung Moon as "Father," and his wife, Mrs. Hak Ja Han Moon, as "Mother,") his being tortured and put in prison, and his current working with heads of state; it had been so positive, unlike anything he'd ever seen before (outside of Unification Church publications).

He said that while members might think their numbers were small, God had been good in bringing them to this point. No other religion in history had spread to a world level while the founder was alive, whether he was Jesus, Buddha, Mohammed, or, more recently, the founders of the Bahai and Mormon faiths: the success of the Unification Church was "unseen in history."

The power of prayer

The younger Rev. Hyung Jin Moon had wondered what the real power behind his father's success was. He was sure it was due to the power of his prayer life and he suggested that his audience study Jesus' teaching on prayer. Matthew, Chapter 6 records Jesus giving The Lord's Prayer, and Rev. Moon suggested that he was not simply teaching his disciples a prayer to recite by routine, but was giving his disciples a pattern or formula for prayer.

After asking everyone to say the prayer with him, Rev. Moon noted that it started with "Hallowed be Thy Name," then "Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done." We needed to first praise God, then pray that His will be done. A relationship with God was a gift and could only be effective on God's terms. After we have started this way, we could pray for "our daily bread" and to be forgiven and able to forgive others, and not to be led into evil, he explained.

He also taught his listeners that people often thought of God as a vending machine, to be kicked a couple of times if the candy didn't come, but that didn't work. And, he asserted, Father Sun Myung Moon's heart and teaching went even further: after praise, he prayed for the world, nations, others, before self.

He had once been in an airplane in the middle of a violent storm and started praying "save me, save me", but then he remembered he had recently given a sermon on prayer, and that this was not the right way to pray! He started praising God, and the fear went away. We needed to pray not for what we wished but to trust God. Our lives would change if we came before God in the way He expected.

Rev. Hyung Jin Moon's own struggle with his faith

He had wanted to find the core of Unificationist teaching, to encapsulate the Unificationist faith in one sentence. People of the Muslim faith, for example, have asserted simply, "There is one God and Mohammed is His prophet".

He realized that while the Divine Principle contained complex theology, the goal of Unificationism was simple: "to inherit the True Love of God". But what was True Love? Jesus had talked of laying down one's life for a friend; Buddha talked of complete surrender, total focus on God. He had talked to other Unificationists, but had not found anything that totally satisfied him as to what distinguished Unificationism.

Then one night he dreamt of his father. The Christian Apostle's Creed asserts that Jesus descended into hell and then ascended into Heaven. A Christian sees Jesus with his spiritual eyes, and proclaims that Jesus died and went to hell for him, or her. In his dream, he saw that on each of the six occasions that Rev. Sun Myung Moon had been imprisoned, he also experienced hell in the spirit, yet had still pleaded that he suffer in the place of others. He realized deep inside that his father was indeed the Messiah, the Savior.

"We need to inherit the heart of a parent that would die and die again for the child; that was the heart that Rev. Sun Myung Moon had demonstrated in his life," Rev. Moon said, adding that we needed to see him with our spiritual eyes: "True Parents are not the living God, but have inherited the True Love of God, and have the value of God's True Love." He concluded by emphasizing that everything started with our spiritual life.

The talk was preceded by two small bands and a choir. Videos testified to the younger Rev. Moon's spiritual life and to remarkable developments of the Unification Movement in Korea. Rev. Moon was introduced by German Unification Church President Dieter Schmidt, a medical doctor. After his talk, Rev. Moon quickly met and took a photo with each family as a memento.

European itinerary

The day before, Rev. Moon with his wife and party visited Wartburg Castle, a place of pilgrimage for believers both within and outside Germany due to its significance in German history and in the development of Christianity. It is particularly associated with St. Elisabeth of Hungary and is also the place where Martin Luther was imprisoned and where he translated the New Testament into German. At Rev. Moon's request, the group also visited and prayed at the Buchenwald Concentration Camp.

Prior to visiting Germany, Rev. Moon and his party followed a similar program in Rome, where they visited St. Peter's (climbing to the top of the dome), St. Paul's, St. John's, passed by many of the archeological sites and, in the manner of penitents, climbed the steps of the Holy Stairs church on their knees.

He also made a trip to France to visit the family of a Church member who recently had been killed in a bus accident on the way home from an international workshop, and to visit another member who had been in the crash and was still in hospital. Rev. Moon left Germany for the United Kingdom, where he pursued a similar program in London.

The most obvious purpose of Rev. Moon's visiting Europe was to meet with Unification Church members; however, as Chairman of the Universal Peace Federation (UPF), he met with UPF "Ambassadors for Peace," in London in the Houses of Parliament.

It was clear he also wanted to deepen his appreciation of Europe's spiritual history, his visits to historical sites being more in the nature of a pilgrimage than mere sightseeing. Hans Campman, Dutch Unification Church president, said he seemed to want to connect with the main historical points: Italy, home of Roman Catholicism, Germany, home of Protestantism, and Britain, the country from which the Pilgrim Fathers took the message of Christ to the New World. 

Simple and Surprise Party for Rev. Hyung Jin Nim and Yun Ah Nim's Blessing Anniversary at Chung Buk Gung

Simple and Surprise Party for Rev. Hyung Jin Nim and Yun Ah Nim's Blessing Anniversary at Chung Buk Gung

Happy 13th Blessing Anniversary to Rev. Hyung Jin Moon and Yeon Ah Lee

Happy 13th Blessing Anniversary to Rev. Hyung Jin Moon and Yeon Ah Lee

Unificationism President Hyung Jin Moon visits Europe, addresses challenge of Islam and modernism

Christopher Davies
September 3, 2010

"If Europeans are concerned about the influence about Islam in Europe, they need to consider setting a higher standard in their lives, maybe praying eight times a day in contrast with Muslims praying five times a day, it doesn't matter for long and not as a competition," said Rev. Hyung Jin Moon at a meeting of 1,200 Unification Church members on Sunday, August 29 in Limburg Town Hall, Germany.

Rev. Moon is the international president of the Unification Church and the Family Federation for World Peace and has been designated by his father Rev. Sun Myung Moon, founder of the Unification Church and many affiliated organizations, as the person to carry on his religious work.

Prior to arriving in Germany, Rev. Moon, had visited Italy and France and had been shocked to hear "in France you cannot talk about God in public, you have to keep your religion at home. There are many people in Europe who are not happy with secularism and modernism, but while Christians have allowed God to be excluded from public life Muslims are very clear about God and their prayer life. They understand clearly that Jesus was a man, not God; and they are very clear that they will not let anyone walk on them about their faith. That is what Christians and Unificationists should be doing. Muslims want to see if they can respect us; how serious is your faith? In much of Europe, Christianity was fading when God sent Islam in the seventh century."

Rev. Hyung Jin Moon and the Unification Church Hyung Jin Moon was born in New York and is the seventh and youngest son of Reverend and Mrs. Sun Myung Moon. He and his wife Yeon Ah Lee now live in Seoul, Korea and conduct a number of religious services in both Korean and English each weekend at the recently opened Unification Temple there, a major feature of which is a prayer room that includes four paintings honoring the four great saints or religion founders Jesus, Mohammed, Buddha and Confucius. This was Hyung Jin Moons' first visit to Europe, prior to which he participated in a Universal Peace Federation Middle East Peace Initiative program in Jerusalem and addressed a "Rally for Substantial Peace", which followed similar events held in Seoul and New York in July.

Rev. Moon received his BA from Harvard University and an MA from Harvard Divinity School; and when studying at the Harvard Center for the Study of World Religions, he met the leader of the Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism, the Venerable Bub Jang, and pursued an interest in Buddhism, which he studied and practiced in earnest. He has met and shared with the Dali Lama. He later explained that after growing up in the West in a Christian environment, he wished to understand more about the Eastern spiritual tradition. He is also highly skilled in martial arts, which he has practiced since he was young.

In his sermons, Rev. Moon often quotes extensively from many scriptures, and in Germany mentioned that he wished to further study the world's religious scriptures in their original language, in order to more deeply understand the spirituality behind each religion.

He told his audience in Limburg that at Harvard he had studied all the major religions and also newer religions, including Mormonism, Bahai, Soka Gakkai and Unificationism. He said the information on Unificationism had been very fair and positive, including Father's meeting with Jesus (Unificationists refer to Rev. Sun Myung Moon as Father, shortened from True Father, sometimes True Parent/s, a number of Christian ministers refer to him as Father Moon), his being tortured and in prison, his now working with heads of state; it had been so positive, unlike anything he'd ever seen before (outside of Unification Church publications).

He said that while members might think their numbers were small, God had been good in bringing them to this point. No other religion in history had spread to a world level while the founder was alive, whether he be Jesus, Buddha, Mohammed, or, more recently, the founders of the Bahai and Mormon faiths: the success of the Unification Church was "unseen in history",

The power of prayer

He had wondered what was the real power behind his father's success. He was sure it was due to the power of his prayer life and he suggested that his audience study Jesus' teaching on prayer. Matthew, Chapter 6 records Jesus giving The Lord's Prayer, and Rev. Moon suggested that he was not simply teaching his disciples a prayer to recite by rote, but was giving his disciples a pattern or formula for prayer.

After asking everyone to say the prayer with him, Rev. Moon noted that it started with "Hallowed be Thy Name, then "Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done". We needed to first praise God, then pray that His will be done. A relationship with God was a gift and could only be effective on God's terms. After we had started this way, we could pray for "our daily bread" and to be forgiven and able to forgive others, and not to be led into evil.

People often thought of God as a vending machine, to be kicked a couple of times if the candy didn't come, but that didn't work. And, he asserted, Father Sun Myung Moon's heart and teaching went even further: after praise, he prayed for the world, nations, others, before self.

He had once been in a plane in the middle of a violent storm and started praying "save me, save me", but then he remembered he had recently given a sermon on prayer, this was not the right way to pray! He started praising God and the fear went away. We needed to pray not for what we wished but to trust God. Our lives would change if we came before God in the way He expected.

Rev. Moon's own struggle with his faith He had wanted to find the core of Unificationist teaching, to encapsulate the Unificationist faith in one sentence. Moslems, for examples, asserted simply, "There is one God and Mohammed is His prophet".

He realized that while the Divine Principle contained complex theology, the goal of Unificationism was simple: "to inherit the True Love of God". But what was True Love? Jesus had talked of laying down one's life for a friend, Buddha talked of complete surrender, total focus on God. He had talked to other Unificationists, but had not found anything that totally satisfied him as to what distinguished Unificationism.

Then one night he dreamt of his father. The Christian Apostle's Creed asserts that Jesus descended into hell and then ascended into Heaven. A Christian sees Jesus with his spiritual eyes, and proclaims that Jesus died and went to hell for him, or her. In his dream, he saw that on each of the six occasions that Rev. Sun Myung Moon had been imprisoned, he also experienced hell in the spirit, yet had still pleaded that he suffer in the place of others. He realized deep inside that his father was indeed the Messiah, the Savior.

We needed to inherit the heart of a parent that would die and die again for the child; that was the heart that Rev. Sun Myung Moon had demonstrated in his life. We needed to see him with our spiritual eyes: "True Parents are not the living God, but have inherited the True Love of God, and have the value of God's True Love". He concluded by emphasizing that everything started with our spiritual life.

The talk was preceded by two small bands and a choir. Videos testified to the younger Rev. Moon's spiritual life and to remarkable developments of the Unification Movement in Korea. Rev. Moon was introduced by German Unification Church President Dieter Schmidt, a medical doctor. After his talk, Rev. Moon quickly met and took a photo with each family as a memento.

European itinerary

The day before, Rev. Moon, who was accompanied on his trip by his wife, his sister in law and a number of other Unificationists, visited Wartburg Castle, which is a place of pilgrimage for many people from within and outside Germany, for its significance in German history and in the development of Christianity. It is particularly associated with St. Elisabeth of Hungary and is where Martin Luther was imprisoned and translated the New Testament into German. At Rev. Moon's particular request, the group also visited and prayed at the Buchenwald concentration camp.

Prior to visiting Germany, Rev. Moon and his party followed a similar program in Italy, Rome, where they visited St. Peters (climbing to the top of the dome), St. Paul's, St. Johns, passed by many of the archeological sites and, in the manner of penitents, climbed the steps of the Holy Stairs church on their knees.

He also added to his original schedule, to visit Italy, Germany and Britain, and went to France to visit the family of a Church member who had been recently killed in a coach accident on the way home from an international "workshop", and to visit another member who had been in the crash and was still in hospital.

Rev. Moon left Germany for the UK, where he pursued a similar program in London.

The most obvious purpose of Rev. Moon's visiting Europe was to meet with Unification Church members; he also, as Chairman of the Universal Peace Federation, met with UPF Ambassadors for Peace, in London in the Houses of Parliament.

And it was clear he also wanted to deepen his appreciation of Europe's spiritual history, his visits to historical sites being more in the nature of a pilgrimage than mere sightseeing. Hans Campman, Dutch Unification Church President, said he seemed to be wanting to connect with the main historical points: Italy, home of Roman Catholicism, Germany, home of Protestantism, and Britain, from where the Pilgrim Fathers took the message of Christ to the New World. 

Applying Our Korean Experience

Hyung Jin Moon
September 2010

True Parents have instructed Hyung-jin nim to do a world tour, which began with his visit to Brazil at the end of June. In July and early August, he and Yeon-ah nim visited Nepal, Thailand and the Philippines. The following interview, in which Hyung-jin nim reflected on his tour experience to that point, was conducted the day before he left Korea for Israel to represent Father at the third Assembly to Proclaim the Word of God. After Israel, Hyung-jin nim and Yeon-ah nim continued on the tour to Italy, France, Germany and the United Kingdom, all in the space of a week.

Question: How does the experience of restructuring the church in Korea and the developments there help you when you are visiting other countries?

If we hadn't done any of the work in Korea and had just started the tour from the beginning, we would not have had the benefit of the experience to pass on. I am not saying the experience we have had up to now is all that is necessary for total success, because we are still in the process of creating, but in a couple of years of this ministry, the Korean church has now become independent, in that we are no longer subsidized from Japan. We've also done restructuring, and other kinds of renewal.

Now, the general trend is toward members understanding what the restructuring was for. Initially, it is always difficult to make such changes. We have just done a double-blind survey that shows that increasingly members are coming to understand the purpose for the consolidation of the churches and to see that this is the right direction for the church. These major changes -- including the media turning around, of course -- have been excellent experiences for us.

They have been very tough to do, and some hard decisions had to be made. It's like doing surgery -- it's very painful. We were crying on many nights, but we had to do that surgery for the health of the whole being. The church is now much healthier. We are not decreasing in membership any more. We are back up into the twenty thousands. We had dropped from sixteen thousand in the 1970s to about eleven thousand in 2005, that is, in the number of active members coming to service. Now we are back up into the twenty thousands. Overall, donations have increased dramatically, so we are now a self-sufficient national church and we don't require funds from Japan at all.

We were able to build the growth-stage Cheon Bok Gung with the support of the worldwide members, within a year. That was amazing. True Parents of course blessed that effort, and they have pushed us hard to achieve the goal of twenty- one thousand members -- which we haven't accomplished yet. Because I haven't yet reached twenty-one thousand members, I didn't initially want to go on this worldwide tour. We haven't firmly established a strong and powerful witnessing system yet. That caused me to hesitate, because I didn't feel I had done all my "homework." But Father and Mother clearly said, You must go on a global tour.

And it has turned out to be a great blessing.

Question: What was personally meeting the members like?

We had a great experience with the members. In going to see the different communities, we learned a lot about the different situations that the members are facing, as a church, in different countries -- for example the legal battle they are fighting in Thailand, trying to secure their human rights and religious freedom. The persecution members have to encounter -- for example, one sister in Laos. Those kinds of things which you see on the ground, we see when visiting the churches in the field. We sleep in those churches; we don't stay in a hotel where you are distant from the ground. We want to see the ground, we want to see how the members are living. We go to visit families, which helps give us a picture of where the church is at in a given country.

I know that in a day or two we cannot do all that, but we do what we can do to the best of our ability. We can visit the homes of ordinary members and we can feel the spirit and energy of the churches.

Doing those kinds of things is wonderful, because we can see True Parents' incredible foundation all over the world. It's a humbling experience. At the same time, you want to offer more glory to True Parents, you want to help those churches. But there are some basic things that any church that wants to grow has to do. Because we have done those basics in Korea, taken the primary steps, we are able to share those ideas with the national churches.

Question: It seems the work you have been doing here in Korea is helping you in your work as international president.

Its a huge help, absolutely. As one of the leaders said, "If Korea is not successful, it is difficult for our nation to be successful, because Korea is our fatherland. If Korea is successful, we can easily fight for our human rights and religious freedom." The Korean government acknowledges us. Members in other countries see our being acknowledged in Korea (as one of the big eight or nine religions) as directly benefitting their national churches. They are praying very much for the success of the Korean church, not only because Korea is the fatherland, but because it gives them spiritual strength to fight and to stand up for their faith. That was very inspiring.

Question: You've recently mentioned winning and losing models.

Yes. For example, one of the national leaders said they were going to spread out more, open up more churches or centers. The general idea was to increase from twelve to twenty-four to forty, etcetera, nationwide.

But whenever we see someone presenting that model, we know it is likely to fail. We have learned that in order to create a successful organization, you have to create a successful model first. After that, you can duplicate. You cannot duplicate based only on a conceptual approach. If you try to duplicate too quickly, you will have far too many operating costs, without enough knowledge of the on-the-ground operation. That's how businesses, or churches even, lose their financial strength. They sap their strength by spending too much at the beginning, trying to go national at the outset.

You have to create a successful model. For example if you want to open Domino's Pizza shops, you have to open one first and make it successful before you open another one. It's a basic principle. But because they want to get very big very quickly, and spread the word to everyone, people make this common mistake. There is always a process, because we live in the real world. We live in a world with real pressures and circumstances, so we can't just do things however we want. It has to be based on real experience and successful models.

Question: In the practical sense as well as the spiritual.

Oh yes. So, this was very practical advice we could offer. "Stay away from that model." I explained that in Korea we had had the same model. In Korea we had more than four hundred churches. Every single one was producing negative results and the Korean church as a whole was in debt. We were being subsidized with ten million dollars annually. There was no way this was a viable or sustainable church. We told them how we had to merge churches in Korea. We had to explain to them that if your goal is just to spread churches, you can't be successful. You will end up having to merge them back together again, and that's going to create more stress.

We were able to give that kind of advice and that helped change their direction, so to speak. That's one example.

Question: In Korea there is Cheon Bok Gung, and in the United States In-jin nim has Lovin' Life Ministries. I suppose those are good examples of growing models that could later multiply.

Yes.

Question: How important do you feel having a strong central church is?

It's absolutely essential as a success model. The central church has as its goal to be self-sufficient, not subsidized in any way by other organizations or churches -- totally self-sufficient. It is able to manage perhaps thousands of members effectively, care for them, and help them grow in faith. When you have that kind of organizational strength, you can help educate and teach how to run smaller organizations -- because you are already adept at organizing and moving big ones.

At the same time, we want to encourage creativity in the field, so we do not only have Cheon Bok Gung creating new material and trying new ideas. We have the Korean church headquarters trying new ideas, as if in competition with Cheon Bok Gung's team. And we have Mrs. Erikawa's teams in competition with Cheon Bok Gung's team of ministers and the team at the Korean church headquarters. We encourage this kind of healthy competition because it helps promote creativity in the field. Then we are able to analyze the data from the various groups in an unbiased manner and see which one creates the most result in terms of such things as witnessing and donations.

Question: What are the main aspects of the development of Cheon Bok Gung as a model that are happening here?

We don't try to keep everything centralized, in the sense of "We make it and you use it." We try to research what is successful in the field and try to use that. That's not yet happening in Korea, however. In Japan, they have always strongly felt the need to be creative in finding a way to be successful in the field. Whatever works, the headquarters will gather information on working ideas and disseminate this to the other churches.

Question: You're saying that in Japan there's a lot of give-and-take between the field and the headquarters.

There has to be. Otherwise they cannot make the results Father requests. The headquarters there is not like it has been in Korea, where it is the center that creates all the content and everyone follows that. In Japan, people in the field create the ideas, the headquarters finds the places that are successful and conveys the ideas being used in those successful places. That's why the Japanese church is able to support the worldwide providence.

Question: And are you now developing this idea in the Korean church?

Yes, we want to encourage creativity, so increasingly we want the Korean church headquarters to not just dictate the content for the field. Of course, we have particular beliefs that are central to the Unification Church and that cannot change. I am not talking about those. I am talking about our approach, for example, the approach to education, what perspective to come from. We want both the Korean church headquarters and Cheon Bok Gung to play that kind of role. We are encouraging healthy competition that is beneficial for the whole church.

Question: Recently you were doing a tour in Korea. How do your impressions of the churches around Korea compare with those of the churches in the countries you visit?

We have visited only one so far because of many other scheduled events and our travelling overseas.

They still have to create more of a witnessing culture. Things are still far from where we need them to be, but they are improving.

People are tuning in from around the world to the English language service through the internet. Are you conscious that you are running an internet ministry?

We always keep the audience in mind during the international service, and that it is an international audience. But it's also a time when we can report what is happening on the ground in Korea. We see the audience of the international service not so much as the members living in Korea, which are very few, but many, many people who are tuning in through the internet. I don't run that -- Kyle Toffey does that. But we are definitely aware of our audience!