In Jin Moon
1. Good morning! (Loud applause) Everyone must have had some breakfast this morning! Happy Father's Day to all the fathers in the audience.
2. This day has deep meaning for me, because my journey in terms of my relationship with my father has been a long and a blessed one. On this day when I got up I thought about some of those special moments that I had with my father, and I know that many of you in the audience have had that special moment with your father too. But, having come back from Japan, to really celebrate the Commencement Gala with our kids, I realized our movement is really awesome!
3. Despite all those years in the wilderness when we suffered and when we cried and when we really shed our blood, sweat, and tears together, walking this wilderness course for many many years, I realize that something beautiful came out of it. Beautiful children came out of it. Beautiful promise of a brilliant future came out of it for our children.
4. When I saw their beautiful faces, when I saw their beautiful faces performing here this morning (the GPA choir sang before her sermon), I realized that we really do have a lot to look forward to. As long as we continue on this, really coming together as that one family of God, as that one community of God, as long as we can really truly support each other and encourage each other and empower each other, there is really nothing that we cannot accomplish or that we cannot do.
5. For me it's an incredible sense that there is always something exciting around the corner. That's really the reason why I love being a mom, because every brand-new day brings another sweet surprise –that's good, and that's bad, and everything in between – but surprise nonetheless. And we grow together from going through those experiences, and we realize that we can finally truly understand the heart of God as a parent when we come to experience life, as we call it, together with our family.
6. Having come back from Japan, where as the mother nation she carried the weight of the financial responsibility when it came to the Providence, I realize that so many brothers and sisters in Japan are tired and are so burdened with so much responsibility and so much expectation. And so, what I really want to do through the youth concert series was to highlight what's truly beautiful – that despite the suffering, despite the hardship, despite a life of denial and misery, many times, we somehow managed to give birth and really raise these beautiful children, in the midst, that represent extreme good fortune in the future for our movement. In a way these kids are precious in their handiwork, very unique, very different handiwork of God, and when you see them perform in a choir, as magnificent as the choir that we saw here, we realize that they are really tapped in to the spirit of something profound, something moving, something beautiful, that truly inspires all of us to want to be better.
7. And so, highlighting the beauty of these children I felt is the greatest gift, or a nice wonderful reminder of why we do what we do, why we continue to walk the path, why we continue to struggle and to overcome hardships, and grow together as a family. Because we really have something worthwhile, something worth investing in. It is our future; it is the future of Japan.
8. And so, this time when I went, after having a 12 year history of running these Youth Concerts for World Peace, I really wanted to share what we do here at Lovin' and Life and share the breaking news with our brothers and sisters. I think the Eve nation, for such a long time, thought that it had to be a sacrificial mother for the rest of their lives, for all of eternity. In a way, the words indemnity and restoration are the prominent words in their minds, and whatever needs to be done in order to indemnify, in order to restore, in order to fulfill the Providence – this has been their motto, their mantra for the last 40 years. But as we come out of the wilderness era and look towards the era of settlement, when we really need to start thinking about building the family, ideal families, building the communities and societies that we've been talking about, that we've been teaching other people about – you realize that there has to be a shift in our mental understanding or in our perspective, or in our opinions of how life should be.
9. Sharing these wonderful video clips of these beautiful kids being energized, being enthusiastic, being inspired by their faith, being proud of being a Unificationist, truly having dreams and having goals, of seeing life, really as an opportunity to leave something beautiful behind. When these tired Japanese members saw pictures and video clips of our kids they were so inspired. And they realized that, "yes we've suffered," but I encouraged them that their suffering is not in vain. In a way, it was laying down the foundation, it was laying down the basement foundation for a beautiful house to be built.
10. Therefore, the second generation, and generations coming after, need to be incredibly grateful to that first generation who have gone through a life of sacrifice and have accomplished something incredible, in the context of history. Unlike the other disciples of Jesus Christ 2000 years ago, who left him stranded, crucified on the cross – none of you, none of our first-generation brothers and sisters who walked the path with our True Parents, left or abandoned our True Parents – and therefore accomplished the incredible task of really protecting the Messiah and protecting our True Parents so that we can truly share the breaking news with the rest of the world, so that you could be there together with our True Parents when we come out of the era of the wilderness and we look forward to an era of the settlement. In a way that transition was made because of the foundation laid by the first generation. And therefore we need to honor them as the great heroes that they are because they accomplished something that the disciples of Jesus could not do 2000 years ago.
11. But we shouldn't just stand and pat ourselves on the back for having done something incredible. We need to move forward, we need to move on, we need to continue transitioning and actually work on substantiating what the era of the settlement is all about. And so, as we go about doing this great work, we realize that in the time of the wilderness everything was kind of mission oriented, everything was very fast – it was almost like blitzkrieg. You go in for the mission, you come out, you go on for the next one. And it was one mission after another. We had no time to settle down, we had no time to raise families, we had no time to think about ourselves. But in this time of the settlement we are actually planting a harvest. Our children are like these beautiful seeds. But the thing about a plentiful harvest, or for those of us, whoever has planted anything in our lives or did a bit of gardening, you realize that no matter how much or how quickly we want that seed to sprout, the sprouting as its own time frame. And we realize that, in order to reap a huge harvest come fall, we have to go through spring, summer, and the winter months as well – in preparation for the spring when we actually plant the seeds.
12. We realize that there is a cycle of sorts, there is a time and place for different things, and we realize that in order to reap that harvest we have to slow it down, we can't be like the blitzkrieg unit in the time of the wilderness. We have to slow down. In essence, in order to progress faster, in terms of Providence, we need to do the reverse, we need to slow down. We need to start appreciating life, we need to start taking root, we need to start building families, we need to start appreciating each other and the time given to all of us.
13. In a way, we realize that life is something so much more than something that's just mission oriented. We realize that instead of what we thought, or what the Japanese nation of brothers and sisters thought, that their life was a life of indemnity, restoration, and suffering – we realize that in order to really substantiate the breaking news in the time era of the settlement, we can only do that in a healthy and in a prosperous way, and in a successful way, – if we really start loving life.
14. We realize that we have to, kind of, recall everything that we thought it should be, or perhaps all the things that we thought we took for granted, we need to kind of rethink, we need to re-brand, we need to re-educate ourselves to understand that this is a different time.
15. As we transition, from the time of the wilderness to the time of the settlement, and I had the great fortune of really being able to congratulate all the graduates that were there at the commencement gala, the question that we need to be asking ourselves and young people and as graduates, is that question I often ask myself from time to time – we need to be asking ourselves as we transition, as you progress, as we move forward – "is the world changing us or are we the ones changing the world?"
16. One thing I recognize, being a mother of child prodigies, when you try to perfect your art, when I was practicing with my children for their piano concertos, for their piano competitions, we realize that in order to go faster, the key to playing faster is not to tense up, it's not to become more rigid, is not to become so intensified that you're not relaxed. In a way, the secret to playing faster on the piano or more natural on the piano, doing those incredible arpeggios at lightning speed, you realize that you could only do that, you can only move faster on the piano if you relax. The center and the core need to be absolutely clear, and you condition yourself through practice as to what notes you're going to play. But, in order to truly be that master artist, to truly express in divine language, in a beautiful way, you realize that all your limbs, your elbows, your wrists, your fingers, need to be incredibly relaxed. When you touch a pianist's hands while they are playing incredibly lightning speed arpeggios, you realize it's incredibly fluid. It's very very relaxed.
17. In a way, we realize that as we move towards the age of the settlement, all that age of rigidity, that army mission mentality where everything is controlled, everything is so intense and focused, we need to give way to a more natural expression of living, or a slower way of living, or more relaxed so that we can be moving faster – like the way we move on the piano.
18. And it's no different from a race car driver. One of my friends is a famous race car driver. He told me, the faster you drive, the faster you go, the more you have to sit in your seat, the more the body has to be relaxed. Of course your brain and your mental faculties are at an edge, its focused, its alert, it's looking at everything. But, the actual body is incredibly relaxed and is incredibly fluid, in order to accommodate the speed at hand.
19. Likewise, our movement, I think for a lot of people who've kind of been used to a very very controlling command-obey kind of relationship. "Don't know what to do with this Lovin' Life mentality where everything seems too relaxed for comfort." "What?! We're not separating girls and boys anymore? Worse than that, we're actually encouraging them to have healthy relationships? What?! You're not telling them about the 3 foot rule, where a boy and a girl cannot sit within 3 feet of each other? What?! They're creating frames on the ballroom dance floor? They're actually touching? Oh my goodness what is the world coming to? What is happening to our church, it's so relaxed? What happened to that clear command-obey central station type of a relationship? Everything seems a little bit too natural. Is not supposed to be natural. Being a divine son and a daughter of God is not supposed to be natural, it's supposed to be miserable. It's supposed to be a life of suffering. What the heck is going on at Lovin' Life Ministries?!"
20. But we realize that if we cannot be natural in what we believe, if we cannot be relaxed, that confident relaxed Unificationist, who is incredibly inspiring – then the natural witnessing that I've talked about often, cannot take place.
21. But I realize, you know I've been a teacher for many many years, and I realize that the most effective way to teach is when a student feels like they are in a natural environment. When you're trying to cram something down their throat, when you're trying to constantly ply them with facts and figures, nothing goes in. But I realize when you start telling them a story that has facts and figures and information woven in – and then they are all ears. They start to listen. And in the context of hearing a good story they realize that they retain more of the facts and figures that I try to teach. So I realize that in order to get their attention it has to be interactive, and has to be exciting, it has to be something that is fun. Learning needs to be fun.
22. So at Lovin' Life Ministries we are not afraid to have fun! But look at these kids. They are having a great time, but they are also working hard. But look how incredible they are. You work hard, but you also need to play hard. And, you stay on the path and before you know it you turn around and you say, "Oh my God, we won the gold medal at the choir competition!" "Oh my God! I know what I want to do with my life! Oh my God I haven't really given my passions much thought, but now I have, now I have a clear goal, now I have a clear focus." In a way, our kids are more well positioned in terms of knowing what they want, understanding that we are not going to ask this question – "is the world going to change us or are we changing the world?" They know the answer. We are going to change the world. And we are going to be that agent of change!
23. In Japan, when I met a lot of the blessed children, you know they are so heavily burdened by the weight of this suffering of the first generation. They see their parents who have given up everything for the sake of the Providence. Here in America we have an understanding that tithing is 10%, and a higher percent if you can allow it – being financially responsible people. But in Japan they've been tithing 120 or 200%. And the children coming up the ladder, watching their parents literally wither away, living this miserable life – basically they say, "No, I don't want this, I don't want to be a part of this community." Not realizing that what they saw was really the time of the wilderness. And right now we are in a transition stage where we are turning the corner and looking toward ushering in that era of the settlement. And, it's during this transition time that we've lost a lot of our children, because we were so mission oriented, we were so focused on what needed to be accomplished. We didn't take the time to really take root and think about how we are going to prepare for this incredible harvest. We didn't really give much thought, what kind of parents we are going to be, how are we going to be raising our children, how are we going to prepare a child that is not going to be changed by the world but is actually going to be the change in the world. We haven't really thought much about it.
24. So a lot of the second generation in Japan, and also in Korea, but also in the United States, have really dealt with and struggled with this world. This world that "I have come to hate." From many of the young people I hear this all the time – "I hate my life! I don't love my life, I hate my life! I don't love the world, I hate the world! My life has not been good to me. The world has not been good to me. The world has been incredibly cruel. The world has been incredibly unkind, the world is incredibly ugly. It's not beautiful. I hate the world!"
25. But we realize that, when we think of our community as that community where the foremost philosophy is really living for the sake of others, in a way we are supposed to be loving others, were supposed to be loving life and really being in service to others – we realize that the young people's understanding of not – kind of not loving the world by claiming or articulating their hatred for the world, is really something that needs to be grown out of, needs to be helped out of.
26. Because, I think a lot of people think of the word hate and think that the word hate is the opposite of love. But if you really think about it, hate is not the opposite of love. The real opposite of love is selfishness. And when you hate something you are hating something because it's really about you. " The world was unjust to me. The world was unkind to me. The world is not beautiful, it's ugly to me. The world is cruel to me." In a way when we kind of hate the world, basically we're saying, "it's not we who are going to change the world, but it is the world changing us, it is the world causing us to hate, it is the world causing us to be selfish."
27. But if we are to really live a life of altruism, living for the sake of others, we kind of have to start with ourselves. It's very difficult to love another human being if you don't love yourself. You've gotta take care of yourself so that your living, you're actually thriving, you're prospering – and in so doing your living your life in gratitude and therefore you are extremely inspired to be helping other people.
28. We see that when we are dealing with the young people who feel like the world does not understand them and therefore they are going to hate it, in essence what they are doing is they are practicing selfishness in their lives, because they're not thinking, "I need to be the change, I need to be that agent of change, so regardless of how my life is – beautiful or not, it's really up to me, I become that secret ingredient, or I become that loving ingredient that changes the world."
29. When you look at these young people who are kind of in the throes of hating the world, or hating my life, hating my family – again, it's all about me, me, myself, and I. You realize that they're kind of going through what I call, "digging it" and let me explain what I mean digging it.
30. There are a couple of things that a child does when they feel like they hate the world. Number one they become extremely disillusioned about everything around them. They become disillusioned about themselves, they become disillusioned about their family, friends, the world, their school, and everything. In a way, everything is wrong. In a way, everything is out there and is flooding this person's psyche, this person's world, and this person is drowning in this disillusionment. Because, the person has no focus. It's really not clear as to why they are many times depressed or many times disillusioned. It's an amalgamation of a lot of factors, but they cannot really pinpoint exactly what it is. Many times the children, are in a way, hating the world or exercising what I call selfishness, because they are disillusioned.
31. And another thing that you see in a child when they are going through hating the world is this thing called escape. You know a lot of young men and women escape to fantasy worlds, they escape to virtual worlds. Many times when you play these video games you suddenly, instead of being an unknown X or Y. or Z. in a sea of people, when you play these games you can create your own character, you can create your own identity, you can create your own reality, and you realize that, unlike the real world where you feel totally outweighed by everything in your life, in these virtual worlds you realize that you can almost be like God. You create everything. You control everything. You become a master of the universe.
32. So when a young person is going difficult adolescent and teenage years, we ourselves are so insecure about who we are and what we want to be, in a way these kinds of virtual worlds create a safe haven for lots of young people, because it's a world they can control. It's a world where they are masters of the universe.
33. And a lot of young people, don't just escape into virtual realities, but many times they escape into what we consider to be the spiritual life. In a way, this world is so ugly and so cruel and so unjust, it's awful. But the other world, the spiritual world, seems like a world of peace where everything is beautiful, where things are not ugly, where you feel like you can control your life – because it's a perfect world that is waiting for us. So a lot of young people have this constant temptation in wanting to escape their reality into the virtual world or into the spiritual.
34. And so, we, being a movement that emphasizes the importance of the spiritual world must not forget also to emphasize the importance of the physical world and doing the work that needs to be done in the physical world. Because sometimes the spiritual world is too attractive. Why wait? Why suffer it out? Why struggle? Why not just leave? Why not take my own life – be my own master of the universe and escape to the other world? In a way, this is a constant temptation. You realize when you look at young people, not only are they dealing with disillusionment and the desire to escape, but many times there is almost like this finality that they want in their life, they want a solution, they want an answer. In that way, by feeling like they are responsible, they suddenly decide to give up. They don't want to do it anymore.
Sun Myung and Hak Ja Han
35. If we were to look at our True Father's life, since today is Father's Day, and we ask ourselves, "what was father thinking when he asked himself the question, "is it the world that is changing you or me or us, or is it you, me, or us that is going to change the world?"" Well when you look at our True Father 's life and realize that he has gone through a life of extreme severe incredibly difficult persecution, six times being thrown in prison, so much misunderstanding, so much accusation – in a way this is a man who legitimately has a right to hate the world, that legitimately as a reason to not love the world. But, when you look at Father I'm sure he has felt the feelings of disillusionment, I'm sure he's felt that he wanted to escape sometimes. We all do. I'm sure he felt, maybe that he wants to give up. After all he is human. The great thing about the Messiah being human and not some kind of super alien who doesn't experience these feelings, is that when we look at our True Father 's example and realize that he's a man. He can feel disillusionment. He can feel a desire to escape. He can feel a desire to give up, but this man is not disillusioned. He doesn't let disillusionment get to him. He remains focused instead of being disillusioned. This man might want to escape into perhaps the virtual reality or even the spirit world. But this man is committed to the work at hand. He is committed in the work of substantiating something that God longed for in this reality. And even though I'm sure True Father wanted to give up many times – all of us do. I wanted to give up. And life is too difficult. Spirit world looks much more attractive, the virtual world looks much more attractive. The work at hand is incredibly difficult. You want to give up.
36. But what does father do? Instead of giving up he laughs, he relaxes, he takes those three breaths. He relaxes and gears up and deals with building an ideal family. And so you realize when you look at Father's example, this is a man who could hate the world, that could really live a life of selfishness – "I deserve to feel this way, I deserve to feel negative, I deserve to criticize everybody around me day in and day out." But he doesn't. He remains focused. He remains committed. And in that relaxed, natural – you know he is such a natural man. It does not matter if you put him in front of a president or if you put him in front of a homeless person, he is himself. He is natural. There is nothing artificial about him. He will always wear his polyester 70s, what I call Saturday Night Live really big collared shirts in front of presidents and in front of homeless people. Of course my mother thinks it's ghastly, and she wants him to be up on the fashion phase. But this is a man – it doesn't really matter what he is wearing. He is his own person. He is that natural self, that relaxed person. That's why we all love him.
37. If I were to ask the first-generation, "why did you join this church? Why was my father such an attractive leader for you or a father figure for you?" Well, I think a lot of people never knew you could laugh at church. Did you? Or even joke or have fun about love. You know, all these stories True Father gave – when I was talking to some of the mothers, one of the required things you have to do when you home school your kids is sex education. I told the superintendent of Lexington, "You don't need to really worry about that because in our church we are very open. And starting with their grandfather we talk openly about these things. So they are pretty well-versed in that, you don't have to worry about that."
38. In that sense we are an incredibly relaxed community. It's a very different type of service than a Catholic mass. Isn't it? We are not sitting down, standing up, singing hail Mary's, and everything is so serious. One of the things about Father, you realize that he is laughing all the time. And he is singing all the time. And now he is dancing all the time. And so even just by looking at the man, "what?! He laughs?! He dances?! He sings?!"
39. Isn't that what we do at Lovin' Life Ministries? In a way we are carrying on the best of the tradition. But, in terms of moving forward, yes, a lot of old habits are falling by the wayside. But that does not mean that all hell is going to break loose and there's going to be chaos. There is an extremely clear center and core, or our spiritual core.
40. But in terms of our movement, as a human being, we need to be more natural. I don't know about many of you, but I remember when growing up there was a certain kind of physicality that you had to carry around if you wanted to be respectful towards somebody. You couldn't look at a leader. You all had to listen like this (head bowed down). Or the way we moved was very – subject – and object – four position foundation. You know, like this (she gestured), like as … and I realized that … Jesus, our movement is full of Americans but they are all speaking Konglish and Janglish. What happened to the good English? There was this, almost like military… short … cut … sentences, no full sentences, no cadence in the language, no intonation. (She demonstrated) we… have to move … we have mission … we must fulfill… providential duty.
41. I don't know about you but that's not inspiring for me. I want to be able to talk to my Heavenly Parents. I don't want to pray to my Heavenly Parents – this mission… this week… this much … but now … that much. I don't want to talk like that. I want to say Father, Mother, can I report to you how my day was? And I want to be able to converse with God the way I would love to converse with my parents. And I think most parents want their children to converse in that way.
42. Do we really want to raise kids who say, "today … I finished … seven-day course of my homework … but next month …. I'm going to work on … Cain versus Abel … struggle of Cain versus Abel … I am going to make sure I'm not Cained out … I'm going to control my Isaac." Why do we have to do that? Why can't we be natural? Why can't we be relaxed? Be proud of who we are.
43. Hey, I'm a Unificationist. I don't have to speak like that to prove that I am religious, to prove that I am faithful. If you are really faithful or religious you don't have to prove it, just be yourself, be yourselves. Because that's what every parent wants from a child and that's what God wants from all of us.
44. So, in a way, as we move forward asking ourselves the question, "are we going to be the kind of people who are changed by the world or are we going to be the kind of people that change the world." What we realize is that a lot of the things we took for granted, for instance, living for the sake of others – that we understood in the time of the wilderness as – dying for the sake of others and suffering for the sake of others – we realize that, in a way, this is the time when we need to express ourselves – just like the way Rachmaninoff, one of my favorite composers.
45. He wrote this piece called Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini. It's a beautiful piece. It has 24 variations. But really the crème de la crème of the 24 variations is variation 18 where it sings a beautiful melody. Once you hear it you cannot forget. He wrote it … slowly, like singing. The incredible thing about Rachmaninoff, he was a brilliant Russian composer. And I have this thing for Russian music, and he happens to be one of my favorite. But, he wrote this piece, and there are 24 variations on the theme. So, as a composer he chooses a certain melodic phrase for a theme that he is going to play around with and express in 24 different ways. That's why, this piece for a pianist, is an incredibly challenging one. Because, how do you express musically 24 variations or 24 facets of our feelings or our expressions? So many times this piece is asked to be performed for international competitions because – anybody can be like a Terminator on the piano with no mistakes. But, what you want to hear is musicality. What you want to hear is that the fine language flowing through the fingers of the artist. And so this piece in particular is extremely difficult, because you have to play 24 variations in 24 different ways. You cannot play them the same. And so you have to be an extremely adept or capable artists or a master artist to fully express yourself in this piece.
46. But, in this piece, the melody that comes from variation 18, is that Rachmaninoff took the theme that he was playing around with when he was writing this piece, but on variation 18 what he does is something remarkable. He takes that theme and reverses it. He reverses it and he slows it down. So, he slows it down to the level where you can actually sing the harmony. He takes the original theme, he reverses it, and he slows it down.
47. In essence what we are trying to do here at Lovin' Life Ministries is be that memorable, indelible melodic line that will travel through time. What we are doing is, we're taking the original theme, everything that's good that our True Parents brought to our organization, to our communities, to our lives. But in essence, we're kind of playing around with it and reversing it. So, in essence, what a loft of the Japanese brothers and sisters thought – was that their life was a life of indemnity, restoration, life of denial, life of suffering, life of misery.
48. We are reversing it to say, that is not really the purpose why God created us. It's something that we had to go through in order to dig, dig the basement floor. But what God really wants all of us to do is to build something beautiful.
Somewhere in Time movie
49. So how do you build something beautiful from the original theme that Rachmaninoff came up with? You slow down. You sing that melody. And then it turns into a melody that one Hollywood producer put to his film called, Somewhere in Time. It's one of these romantic classics. I don't know why, but Koreans seem to love it. Every time I get on KAL to go to Korea, and I had to go back on Monday, you realize that this kind of romantic other worldly tale is something that is so beautiful to a lot of people. But, it uses this variation 18 from Rhapsody on the theme of Paganini by Rachmaninoff. And of course the movie Somewhere in Time is about this young successful playwright called Richard ---- who happens to come across this beautiful picture of a woman and falls madly in love with her. And he travels back in time to be with her. Pretty romantic, huh? It got me you know. I see it over and over again. He travels back in time to meet her, to be with her. But he realizes that he can't stay in that reality, because one of the things he brought with him is a coin from the modern day. When he flips the coin he realizes that it's 1970. In a way he is dragged back forward in time to his current reality that he no longer wants to be a part of. In a way, it's a tragic love story because he takes his own life so that he can be with his beloved. It's this whole notion that something beautiful cannot be had here and therefore we need to either die, or want something else to kind of experience it.
50. But what our True Parents, with the breaking news, are saying and sharing with us is that, "look, we as a movement have gone through the time of the wilderness. Yes, it was difficult. It was a life of suffering. It was difficult – digging a trench like basement floor all of those years." But we don't have to be otherworldly to try to build something beautiful. In fact we can do it in our lifetime as long as we remain focused like our True Father, as long as we remain committed to our reality, like our True Father. And, as long as we remain relaxed and natural in dealing with all that we have to deal with, to build ideal families. We realize that if we follow our True Father 's example we don't have to be other worldly – to have or experience loving life. We can actually create it for ourselves, starting with ourselves.
51. When we ask our question, are we going to be the kind of people who are changed by the world? Are we going to be the kind of people that are constantly tempted, that really don't know what we want out of life? "Whup, my friends are taking drugs, whup I'm going to take drugs. My friends are partying so I'm going to party. My friends are just taking off and not doing anything with their lives so that's what I'm going to do." Are we going to be that kind of people?
52. Or are we going to make something of our lives starting with ourselves, because we realize all of us are agents of change, we are all divine sons and daughters of God. We were put on earth to change our world, and that's the most incredibly exciting thing about it. It is that the world is waiting for us to change it – in a good way, waiting for us to guide in a good way, waiting for us to share the breaking news in a wonderful way so that we can really build a family of God. So that we can really be brothers and sisters, and not just talk about it.
53. When the Bible in Romans chapter 12:2 says, "do not be conformed to this world but be transformed." In a way, transformation – there is an implicit understanding that transformation requires growth. And, when we are conformed to something there is, kind of like, a sense that we have been changed, but then again we are kind of stuck, we are kind of petrified. But being that divine son and daughter of God we need to be continually growing. We need to be continually experiencing, we need to be continually learning. In a way, we need to be our own transformation, we need to work on ourselves and work on not being disillusioned, work on not always wanting to escape, work on not always giving up, but work on focusing and committing to the reality at hand, to the responsibility at hand. And, being relaxed in dealing with the different issues that come up.
54. And so, you realize, in a way, when God gave us this life – God promised us several things. In the book of Ezekiel 11:19 it says, "I will give them one heart. And I will put a new spirit in them." And it says, "I will take out the stony heart from their flesh and give them a new heart in the flesh." And if you think about this, what the Bible is saying – Ezekiel was a great prophet. He was sharing the prophetic message about God's unending and unwavering and unbreakable covenant with his children. And even the name Ezekiel means strong for God. In a way, the whole book is about being strong for God – this insistence on this extremely strong bond that the people have with God. And you realize that he was preaching and sharing this prophetic message against the pagan culture. So, smack in the midst, he wasn't escaping, he wasn't giving up – but smack in the midst of all the idolatry and all the sin that is taking place, he was teaching about the unending, unbreakable, unwavering covenant that God has with his children.
55. When God says, "I want to give them one heart." In a way, what God is promising is – I want to give my children one, or a new heart, or a unified heart. And, when he says that I want to put a new spirit – in a way he wants to give these people, he wants the people to be infused with an inspired spirit. In a way, the spirit of loving life, and a heart of a unified family. That's what God was promising.
56. And God was saying, "I want to take out the stony heart of the flesh." Meaning, the stone-like heart. The heart that cannot pump anymore, because it's hardened so much it can no longer beat, it can no longer feel, it can no longer be inspired. In a way, God wants to remove the hardened heart, diseased with disillusionment and the desire to escape and the desire to give up. And he wants to give us a new heart, a one heart, a unified heart – that is infused with the spirit, enthusiastic spirit of being grateful, a spirit of truly loving life. And he wants this to be the new heart in the flesh – meaning, he wants the heart that is responsive, that will be sensitive enough to the touch of God, to be in each and every one of us.
57. A lot of us in many many different ways have been hardened by the world, have been hardened by our experiences of the past in the movement. And many of us have wasted our time being critical, being accusatory, being, in a way, not the most positive people in the midst of our community. But God is saying, I want to take those stony hearts, those hardened hearts out. Because these stony hearts are not deserving of you and me, of my children. You deserve a unified heart that is infused with the new spirit.
58. This is what Lovin' Life is all about. It's about taking out the hardened stony heart that doesn't beat anymore, that is not excited anymore, that doesn't feel any more. We are just numb to our life. That doesn't feel enthusiastic or hopeful about the future, because we don't know what to expect. But what we are trying to do here at Lovin' Life is to say, life is exciting. Your heart is worth beating. We need to feel and love our children because they are our future. We cannot be numb to our families. We cannot be numb to our kids, because they are going to be the future of our world.
59. And, instead of just saying, "Oh, there is nothing that I can do." God is saying, "I am going to put a new heart in you and a new spirit. So do something about it. Be responsive!" Be responsive! Be sensitive! Be loving. And instead of hating, which is really about me, myself, and I – we are here to practice loving, we are here to practice uplifting, supporting, caring about each other.
60. Because, you know, life is tough enough as it is. We don't need to make it any tougher on each other. So we need to create a new culture of heart, a heart of a unified family. And how do we do that? Not by being disillusioned, not by wanting to escape, not by wanting to give up – but we do that by deciding to change the world, in deciding to change our selves and say, "We're going to be focused. We're going to be committed. And, we are going to be naturally beautiful children of God in dealing with all the things that we deal with to build ideal families.
61. On this beautiful Father's Day, what greater gift is there than to really thank our Heavenly Father and Mother – "Thank you for our lives. Thank you for giving us each other. Thank you for this incredibly supportive community. Thank you for introducing to all of us this culture of heart. It's beautiful. And the future is beautiful. And we are going to live our lives being that beautiful, empowered, divine, eternal sons and daughters of God."
62. So, brothers and sisters, and to all in America, is the world going to change us or are we going to change the world?
63. Thank you. God bless!
Notes:
Romans, chapter 12
1: I appeal to you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.
2: Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may prove what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
3: For by the grace given to me I bid every one among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith which God has assigned him.
4: For as in one body we have many members, and all the members do not have the same function,
5: so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.
6: Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith;
7: if service, in our serving; he who teaches, in his teaching;
8: he who exhorts, in his exhortation; he who contributes, in liberality; he who gives aid, with zeal; he who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.
9: Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good;
10: love one another with brotherly affection; outdo one another in showing honor.
11: Never flag in zeal, be aglow with the Spirit, serve the Lord.
12: Rejoice in your hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.
13: Contribute to the needs of the saints, practice hospitality.
14: Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them.
15: Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.
16: Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly; never be conceited.
17: Repay no one evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all.
18: If possible, so far as it depends upon you, live peaceably with all.
19: Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God; for it is written, "Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord."
20: No, "if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals upon his head."
21: Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
Ezekiel, chapter 11
1: The Spirit lifted me up, and brought me to the east gate of the house of the LORD, which faces east. And behold, at the door of the gateway there were twenty-five men; and I saw among them Ja-azani'ah the son of Azzur, and Pelati'ah the son of Benai'ah, princes of the people.
2: And he said to me, "Son of man, these are the men who devise iniquity and who give wicked counsel in this city;
3: who say, `The time is not near to build houses; this city is the caldron, and we are the flesh.'
4: Therefore prophesy against them, prophesy, O son of man."
5: And the Spirit of the LORD fell upon me, and he said to me, "Say, Thus says the LORD: So you think, O house of Israel; for I know the things that come into your mind.
6: You have multiplied your slain in this city, and have filled its streets with the slain.
7: Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Your slain whom you have laid in the midst of it, they are the flesh, and this city is the caldron; but you shall be brought forth out of the midst of it.
8: You have feared the sword; and I will bring the sword upon you, says the Lord GOD.
9: And I will bring you forth out of the midst of it, and give you into the hands of foreigners, and execute judgments upon you.
10: You shall fall by the sword; I will judge you at the border of Israel; and you shall know that I am the LORD.
11: This city shall not be your caldron, nor shall you be the flesh in the midst of it; I will judge you at the border of Israel;
12: and you shall know that I am the LORD; for you have not walked in my statutes, nor executed my ordinances, but have acted according to the ordinances of the nations that are round about you."
13: And it came to pass, while I was prophesying, that Pelati'ah the son of Benai'ah died. Then I fell down upon my face, and cried with a loud voice, and said, "Ah Lord GOD! wilt thou make a full end of the remnant of Israel?"
14: And the word of the LORD came to me:
15: "Son of man, your brethren, even your brethren, your fellow exiles, the whole house of Israel, all of them, are those of whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem have said, `They have gone far from the LORD; to us this land is given for a possession.'
16: Therefore say, `Thus says the Lord GOD: Though I removed them far off among the nations, and though I scattered them among the countries, yet I have been a sanctuary to them for a while in the countries where they have gone.'
17: Therefore say, `Thus says the Lord GOD: I will gather you from the peoples, and assemble you out of the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel.'
18: And when they come there, they will remove from it all its detestable things and all its abominations.
19: And I will give them one heart, and put a new spirit within them; I will take the stony heart out of their flesh and give them a heart of flesh,
20: that they may walk in my statutes and keep my ordinances and obey them; and they shall be my people, and I will be their God.
21: But as for those whose heart goes after their detestable things and their abominations, I will requite their deeds upon their own heads, says the Lord GOD."
22: Then the cherubim lifted up their wings, with the wheels beside them; and the glory of the God of Israel was over them.
23: And the glory of the LORD went up from the midst of the city, and stood upon the mountain which is on the east side of the city.
24: And the Spirit lifted me up and brought me in the vision by the Spirit of God into Chalde'a, to the exiles. Then the vision that I had seen went up from me.
25: And I told the exiles all the things that the LORD had showed me.