In Jin Moon
1. Good morning brothers and sisters. Happy Sunday morning. Once again, happy birthday to Joe Young.
2. It also happens to be the birthday of the new grandchild in the true family. My younger brother Kook Jin and his wife welcomed a lovely boy; his name is Shin Joo, in Korea on June 30 at 5:15 AM in the morning. So congratulations. We are pushing almost 50 when it comes to the grandkids of the True Parents! So, he is a lovely and welcome addition to our community and our family.
3. And it just so happens that it's also the birthday of our musical director here, Joe Young. So we'll have a great deal of fun making fun of him all day long.
4. But it's really a wonderful Sunday to celebrate the completion of the District Pastors that have really given their hearts and their testimonies, sharing the pulpit together with me. I think it gives our country and our community a great taste of what the first generation was like and what it felt like or what the experience was of going through the conversion experience of discovering God and True Parents in our community. And having lived their life thus far, and I thought, how wonderful would it be if the whole country got to know these people, not just in name but also in terms of a face and in terms of their story, their testimony. And a chance for all of you to kind of get to know the people that I have had to work with for the last three years and counting.
5. I really want to thank the American movement for supporting them and really loving them because you know a lot of them were quite nervous about coming to New York. And they weren't really sure what the reception would be like. But you, the members, brothers and sisters were all so kind and supportive in your attendance to their testimonies. It gave them a great deal of strength.
6. Having gone through the Manhattan Center stage and the experience of the Lovin' Life pulpit, they can kind of experience a little more of what the production team goes through in preparation for service to really share with the country and the world now, the beauty of our community. And so I want to give the District pastors a round the applause.
7. The unsung heroes that really make loving life what it is, all the people you do not see onstage but are here many times awake all hours of the morning and through the night in preparation for all of you and for all different ministries in different districts. I would also like to give them a round of applause.
8. And then, for me, this kind of an experience of sharing together, with the District pastors sharing together, was an incredibly fulfilling experience. Because, you know, when I started Lovin' Life -- when you start something new, whenever you introduce a new concept or a new vision, it's usually met with a wall of defiance. "What is this crazy woman going to do now?" But the incredible thing is regardless of what people might have said about the ministry, you know, "she is building another mega-church, another cult of personality. She is promoting herself and only herself", and so on and so forth.
9. And many people said: "you know she is building the kind of pulpit that if something were to happen to her, you know, God forbid, and heaven calls her early and if something were to happen to her everything will fall apart". But during this time while the District pastors each took their turn you know, the American movement did not fall apart. In fact I thought the American movement grow a little bit more in this year. The motto happens to be the ownership, brothers and sisters, men and women of God, of infinite value, of divine value, truly owning the game, truly owning our lives, becoming responsible, becoming that adult. Not the dependent child that just knows how to follow, but really taking up the mantle, taking on the platform that, you know what, each and every one of us was is meant to be a leader.
10. We've been great followers, but you know, we have a senior pastor that's starting something new, that may seem to be, seemingly might be, might sound crazy. You know, holding Sunday Service, Sunday worship in a movie theater, of all things, God forbid.
11. But the incredible thing is, you know, the ministry is a kind of a medium through which we can reach people. And, during that time when each district pastor took the pulpit, we really proved to all the nay-sayers that this is something, this is a system in place. It's a medium, it's a powerful tool. It's a medium that has been implement and created. It's not dependent on a personality; it's not dependent on a person, but it's a way through which we can communicate with each other, with our community.
12. And it's something that's going to go on whether the senior pastor is here or not, whether the second generation gives way to the third generation, whether the third generation gives way to the fourth generation; is it is the system that is in place, that can work. And so, for me, as a senior pastor of Lovin' Life, it's an incredible feeling that we've accomplished something together as a movement.
13. In the short three years that we've worked together, and I really believe that, in this year of the Dragon, this is the time of the mythological creature that augers in great fortune. When we can expect great things to happen, things that we could not really envision could be taking place.
14. In terms of our real life, you know, we can always believe, we can always kind of have a vision of what could be, not what is. This is the year when we can start to see what is and so it's really not just about, you know, our ministry doing well; it's not just about inviting different people to hear the breaking news, but this is really the time when we ourselves need to become whole. We need to kind of wean away from a kind of dependency. You know, religion is not supposed to be an addiction; it's supposed to be a medium through which we can help people become more become healthy, become vibrant and empowered men and women of God. Through which we can gain the kind of life in which we are really loving life. That's what it's all about.
15. When I thought about the great news of a new addition to the True Family, a new grandchild -- and a big one at that: 3.5 kg, almost 8 pounds! Huge! It's like a huge bomb placed in my younger brother's family. But I was thinking; I was remembering the day that I had my last child, Paxton. And I remember the first thing I did after giving birth was call my father. And I telephoned my father and I said, you know I just gave birth to a son. And father said, do you have a name for him? And I said, no; I was kind of hoping that you could name him. Without missing a heartbeat, he said okay, Shin Hyung.
16. He was ready. But as the parents he wanted to make sure that he wasn't owning or seizing that moment. He wanted to make sure that he wanted to ask me did you or have you thinking about anime and of course with the daughter's heart you want your parents' involvement you want your parents to participate of this wonderful time. And I thought it was really cute when he said okay here it is and he gave the name Shin Pyung, which means faith and peace, so we always call him a peaceful one in the family. And he's really a kind of like a peacemaker and in a family of three other brothers and one sister there are lots of dynamics going on but Paxton is always consistently the peaceful one and he just quietly goes about his business.
Ariana Moon – December 11, 2011
17. And I was thinking, oh my goodness, it just seems like yesterday that he fell into our laps and now he's 15 years old and he just took the SATs last Saturday. And so you realize that time goes so quickly. I remember that, after talking to my parents, I called my kids. And I talked to Preston, I talked to Paxton, and I talked to Ariana. And Ariana had already heard that she has another brother. So she refused to come to the phone because she had made me promise that I was going to give her a sister.
18. So she was terribly upset and, you know, news travels fast in our community so even before I had a chance to inform her, she heard. At the minute I called my parents it's all over; everybody knows. So she already heard and she refused to come to the phone. So then I asked her nanny, you know you don't have to bring her to the phone, but could you bring her to the hospital. Thank goodness for this wonderful nanny she was successful to bring the girl to the hospital but I heard she had quite a bit of a struggle.
19. And when she got to the hospital, she refused to get into the elevator, so her daddy had to go get her and bring her to the maternity floor. And when she got to the maternity floor she refused to walk down the aisle to come to the room where I was, because she was not going to welcome another brother. She wanted a sister.
20. She was just six years old at that time. He said, please come, you have a beautiful brother. And she was just so adamant, in the typical Moon family tradition, very stubborn. So the nurses and the nanny literally had to drag her down the hallway.
21. And then she flung the door open and there she stood, this six-year-old girl. I said, Ariana, please come in and say hello to your brother." I don't want a brother". I said, "You know, I can't very well send him back to where he came from. So can you help mommy a little bit, can you help me welcome him to the family?" She said no. Then I said, "Ariana look, he's got puffy hair!"
22. When she was little she was made fun of quite a bit because she was going to the nursery in Korea, but she had the yellow hair. She had blonde hair and so people called her yellow hair and she was kind of pale skinned so everyone thought this is kind of strange, you know, an oriental girl with blond hair and pale skin.
23. And so I said "this one has puffy hair like you", so she slowly approached the bed. She just wanted to see. I said "But this one, unlike you, has really black hair. You know you have blond hair, but this one has really black hair. Do you want to come and touch him?" She came closer, and after some time, she came to touch his hair. Then I said, "Do you want to hold him?" And she said, "No". I said "Okay. Do you want to just touch his toes, see his hand?" " No." But I kind of put Paxton's hand on her hand and then, once they made contact, then it was a matter of a minute before she said "so what is his name?" And I said "well, your grandfather gave him the name Shin Hyung so I'm going to call him Paxton." Paxton in Latin means peace. And so she said "Okay. Paxton. So you can't send him back and ask for a refund and ask for a sister?" I said " no, he is here to stay and I really think it would mean a lot to him if you just gave him a hug". So that's how it started.
24. But now Ariana has graduated from college and is leading the ballroom ministry, really being a vibrant part of our community. And she is watching Paxton becoming 15 years old. It really makes me realize, "wow, life goes by so fast". And you know, it makes me ask myself "what do I want to leave behind, when I go, what do I want to leave behind for my descendants?"
25. And I thought it was quite interesting that, in a way, our True Father in all his wisdom, really gave us the answer. And, for those of us who read the autobiography, Father talks about how when we ask ourselves what do we want to leave to our descendants, there are two things that he says we need to leave behind. In his autobiography, he says: number one is tradition; it's the custom or beliefs that are handed down from one generation to another from our parents to us as children. And the second thing he said, is education.
26. And I thought it was kind of interesting how, in a way, True Father very much wants to leave tradition and education for the sake of his descendants. And he says education is incredibly important because education is really something through which we can gain wisdom for living.
27. You know, this is the way we gain experience. We need to be constantly growing; we need to be constantly learning, we need to be constantly open to opportunity so that we work together with life, we work together with our families in an integrated fashion, so that we're not just in a box or not just strong bones of tradition, not just handing things down to generations after generations. It becomes more of a reciprocal relationship; it becomes a system of give and take.
28. There is a strong foundation and roots of tradition that is handed down to us, but instead of it having to be something that is forced into us, in a way, Father emphasizes the importance of education in which, the ones that are handing down are also in the position of learning together with the ones that we're sharing with. So, in other words, the teacher also becomes the student and the student also becomes the teacher. And so, Father envisions a very dynamic relationship in the course of this journey called life.
29. And for me, I thought it was quite funny how all throughout my life, you know when I was growing up, the pejorative term of "Moonie" was quite rampant and widespread – in the 70s and 80s. And they used to call us the brainwashed zombies. And I thought it was so funny that the cult they said was full of brainwashed zombies – meaning totally force-fed, totally indoctrinated in the same kind of message, in which you never grow, you're literally petrified in the zombie like state – that in the church that seems as a bunch of zombies is actually a church and a movement that emphasizes the importance or the primacy of education.
30. Who, in their lifetime, has created and supported and empowered more schools? You know, ever since the beginning, Father has given incredible amounts of investment and donation to creating schools all around the world. We have the very famous Little Angels cultural arts school in Korea. We have the University of Bridgeport. Father just gave us permission for the Barrytown College which will be a four year program at UTS. And the numerous nursery schools, primary schools, middle schools and high schools and colleges and PhD programs and so on and so forth. In Korea we have the Sun Moon University. What kind of a leader has given this much investment to these schools?
Sun Myung Moon and Hak Ja Han circa 1971
31. So, in one sense, this is a man and this is a woman, our True Parents, who really encourage the divine human being – men and women – to be our best. They want us to continue to learn, to continually be that child, that incredibly excited child, that learns through every level of life. One of the things that we can always take as a constant is that the things that come with the passing of time always change. But certain things must remain the same. So they emphasize the importance of having that incredibly firm roots or traditions.
32. But, in terms of growing together, we must learn how to change our perspective, our opinions, because sometimes our loved ones, our parents, our spouse can be the most painful, but the most rewarding, lessons in life. And that's why Father talks about the family really being kind the place where a great deal of work needs to be done in order for all of us to become great human beings.
33. So when our True Parents and the great leaders of our movement have always told us that the goal of our lives is to create ideal families, I always joked to my friends. I said "gosh, our True Parents have given us lots of homework." Creating ideal families means I would have to deal with lots of different things that life puts in my path in order for me to achieve building this great house or this thing called an ideal family.
34. So when the Bible says, in Hosea, Chapter 2:15, "make the valley of Achor a door to hope", the way I understand it is, the way our True Father wrote in his autobiography, when he spoke about the importance of leaving tradition and education behind. He goes on further to say, when a new knowledge, for instance, can be well integrated in the course of our lives, it gives birth to an original culture. This is what True Father said in his autobiography. In a way, when the tradition and, through the process of education, a new knowledge, for instance, like the tradition of Christianity. Based on the tradition of Christianity, our True Parents bring the completed message. They bring the breaking news, they bring the news of the Blessing of the True Parents, of the need for humanity to become one family of God. In a way, that new knowledge can be seen as the Divine Principle, as the gift of the Divine Principle that our True Parents bestows upon the world.
35. So, when the tradition of all the religions, all the cultures, all religious traditions can really be integrated with this new knowledge or the new message or the breaking news or the divine principle that our True Parents are bringing, it gives birth to an original culture. And, I think the word 'culture' is incredibly important here because what we're trying to do here in Lovin' Life, in terms of re-branding our movement in terms of re-branding ourselves, is to create an inviting and healthy and empowering culture for our families to live in so that we can continue to educate ourselves, continue to grow together and become the kind of family that we would like to build – an ideal family, one family under God.
36. In a way, we have lot of work in front of us. But if we can do this together – understanding where we come from, but also realizing that the past needs to be transitioned through the present to the future in order to guarantee a world of peace for our future descendants and our children – then we realize that we have a great deal of work that needs to be done.
37. In creating a culture where we can truly love life, as that eternal and divine sons and daughters of God, really live out the original intention that our Heavenly Parents, our God up in Heaven had when He and She created all of us – you know, they created children because they wanted to experience a parental heart, they wanted to experience joy and they wanted to experience the kind of love that a parent has for a child when you see that child grow up – what does that original culture look like?
38. Well, to me, as a mother, if we think of ourselves in terms of a parental heart- people who have children, who want the best for our children, really want them to be happy and to do well in life – the parental heart of truly wanting to uplift not condemn, truly wanting to empower, not emphasizing the feelings of worthlessness or where we fall short, and really being able to be happy for the sake of our child – instead of feeling like " well, I certainly didn't have what you have now; You know, the first-generation was a life of sacrifice, was a life of suffering. How can I be happy for you?"
39. But a true parental heart is a heart that, regardless of what we went through in our lives, whether it was suffering, whether it was denial, whether it was incredible amounts of pain, regardless of the kind of a place that we've gone through or come from, a parental heart is always one in which we want our child to have better; we want our child to be happy and not feel the same kind of pain that we felt and therefore they should feel. A true parental heart is: you want that child to be better, you want your child to be happy, happier than we ever were.
40. And so, this kind of a parental heart, I think, is something that is incredibly necessary in terms of moving our movement forward. You know I often think talk about our movement having gone through the wilderness years, that the 40 and 50 years in the past. And I was just talking to a group of Japanese sisters yesterday and they were sharing with me how incredible a responsibility Japan had to bear. For many decades they kept up the responsibility of being financially responsible for our worldwide movement. So, a lot of things, a lot of pain, a lot of suffering has taken place in Japan. In really 'living for the sake of others', they understood that to mean 'dying for sake of others'. Many families were sacrificed for the sake of Providence and many parents sacrificed their children for the sake of Providence – in that they were never really there.
41. But, at this time, we're stressing the importance of loving life. Last week Rev. Francis talked about how in the beginning it was all so confusing because it felt like Lovin' Life was a party ministry. You know, we have galas, we have dancing, we have concerts, we have get-togethers. And I think, for a lot of the first-generation, hard-line, hard-core brothers and sisters, who have this kind of mentality, 'we are in the trenches, we're fighting this war, we are in this mission, we must be miserable. We have to feel the pain, you've got to feel it to our bones in order to realize we are really living for God. In a weird way, we're living a sacrificial life, but here comes in this crazy woman and this ministry that wants to celebrate life. You know, here we were in the trenches, living a celibate existence, a life of denial and here comes this crazy woman saying 'you know, we forgot that the word 'celibate' is actually 'celebrate'; we need to love life, we need to let our children know it's okay to be happy, it's okay to not feel the pain every day. And perhaps, because daddy and mommy felt the pain of digging the trenches, digging that strong and invincible foundation, you don't have to do it again.
42. You know, it's like each generation, just because we dug the trenches, we dug the foundation – through rat infested holes and through all the guck and quagmire – that we would expect the same of our child. If our children dug the same foundation again and then, our grandchild dug the same foundation again, we are never going to get there, in terms of building an ideal family – in that we become repetitive foundation- building ministry and we don't fulfill or complete the task at hand – by saying, "Whoops! Jesus Christ dying on the cross was not the completed picture. It's our True Parents, its Jesus together with his bride who were supposed to be the True Parents, that we have now."
43. So now is the time to build the house on the invincible and strong foundation that we've sacrificed, that we slaved over, that we painstakingly prepared for the future generation. So that we can continue to educate each other, learn from each other, grow together, and instead of saying "feel my pain in your life child." We say, "you know what you guys need to stand on our shoulders, build on top of what we've already built, run with it, go as far as you can go. Many of us have given up our education to serve and sacrifice for the Providence, but you, child, you take the foundation that is laid for you gratefully, with a grateful attitude, and standing on our shoulders, being that excellent internal and external child of God, run as far as you can go, jump as high as you can go, and touch the moon. Because, we've already introduced the Moon in your life."
44. So, brothers and sisters, as we transition from the wilderness mentality, or the trench warfare mentality, to this new life where God is really wanting all of his children, all of her children, to celebrate life, to really love life. This is the time when a lot of old skins are going to be shed. For those of us who feel very very comfortable in our own skin, it's going to feel a little bit uncomfortable. Because, it's going to be like an old grandma or grandpa in the sweltering heat of summer – and a grandchild comes up to the grandpa saying, "grandpa, it's time to take off your cardigan and feel the warmth of the sun on your back. It's okay, take off the cardigan." It's really the love and gesture of a young child wanting to participate and experience life together, the warmth of the sun, that allows the older generation to kind of turn around and say, "this is the cardigan I've had on all four seasons, all throughout my life. You're asking me to take it off? Well, I will do it for you. I will take off my cardigan for you and I will run with you and I will jump with you. Maybe not as high and not as fast but I want to do these things because I love you and I want to bring you joy, just as you have brought me joy." This is the kind of culture of heart that we need to develop.
45. Many times in the past, in the name of tradition we had lots of old habits. Habits are not the same as tradition. Habits are things that we kind of pickup along the way that have helped us through life and it's become a part of our lives. Habits and traditions are very different things. The older generation, or the moms and dads in the audience, have to be able to distinguish between the two.
46. As the senior pastor, I get a lot of SOS e-mails always asking me, "What is the best way to deal with my child? What is the best way to create a culture of heart in a family, so that the father and the child and the mother and the child can have a healthy relationship?" And I always remind the parents, it's our desire that we discover something new. You know, many of us kind of trampled upon it, trampled on the breaking news of our True Parents. Many of us were invited in, many of us were coaxed in, but because we understand the message of the breaking news to be so profound, so significant in our lives, we want so much to give that to our child.
47. I remember when I was little. Here we have True Parents for the first time, and here come a bunch of kids we call the True Children that make up the True Family, but you know, nobody had a manual. We did not come with a manual from God that told our parents or our caretakers, this is how you take care of this specimen called the True Child. Most of things that we buy in stores or any new development in electronics always comes with a manual – how you turn the power on, how you activate it, how you operate it, and how you use it efficiently to accommodate or to accomplish the goal that you need to accomplish, or that I need to accomplish. But we were not born with a manual. And most children are not born with a manual on how to raise perfect or good children.
48. And so the first generation did their best. And the first generation, out of their desire and enthusiasm for the new message, did what they really thought was the best thing. And, for me, that translated into – the minute I could start walking and talking and the minute I could start sitting, that Divine Principle lecture series started very early on. I don't remember a time when I was not sitting at a workshop. And I do not remember a time when I was not being taught the lectures, that really is college-level material.
49. You know, Divine Principle, the black book is college-level material stuff. But here I was being taught this when I was four, five, six, and all through my teenage years. So, you grow up hearing what seems to be mumbling. Because, you don't really understand it. You don't understand subject-object, 4 position foundation, foundation of faith, foundation of substance – what the heck does foundation mean when you're four years old? So, you know, sexual organ, the Fall of Man, Chapter 2 – Chapter 2 is the most important chapter. And so you're thinking, "what the heck is the Fall of Man?" So, it really becomes like a rote mumbling.
50. Some of my friends are really into the latest craze today, audio books. I know a lot of you love it, but I have something to tell you. Because I was raised on these lecture series – I remember when I was going through my teenage years and I discovered rock 'n roll and I discovered pop music – and any chance I had we were creating transistor radios – we made our own radios because many times we were not allowed to listen to these things. But, what we were allowed to listen to were Divine Principle lecture series in the car. And so, when we went for long drives, "Chapter 1, Principle of Creation." And it was never a beautiful woman's voice, it was always a patriarchal male voice, "Chapter 1, Principle of Creation, Chapter 2 – the Fall of Man."
51. We grew up listening to this, so we learned very early on how to sleep through these things. And so the minute it went on in the car we would fall asleep. So, fast forward 40 some years, and my friends, sometimes when we go on little trips they love to listen to audio tapes. And they find it amusing, the minute they start, "Chapter 1," I just cannot stay awake. The only thing I remember is "Chapter 2, Chapter 3, -- did we get to chapter 5?" But all the other stuff was like rambling and mumbling to me, because that's how I was raised.
52. So you realize that when you try to feed a child something when they are not ready, when they don't really have the capacity, or they don't have the mental capacity or the physical capacity – I think all of us who are parents we know that, regardless how well-meaning we are, if we tried to force feed or introduced a new fruit to a child before their body is ready – guess what? They develop allergies. Because we love them, because we love this cantaloupe, we really want to share this cantaloupe with our child. But we give that cantaloupe a little too early, before the stomach has a chance to mature, what it does is it actually repels it. It creates an allergic reaction in their bodies and the child can never experience the beauty or the deliciousness or the succulence of biting into a cantaloupe.
Cantaloupe (Musk Mellon)
53. And that's what it's like many times. We, out of our love for our children, want to share the best cantaloupe, we want to share the best news with our children, not realizing that we've conditioned them to fall asleep on Chapter 1 and to develop an allergic reaction to something that is so precious. I like to use the analogy, it's almost like throwing a bunch of diamonds to a pig sty and expecting the pigs to realize that this is a very very valuable thing, it's not just some sparkling things in the pigs sty, but its worth something.
54. In a way, when a child is not ready physically, emotionally, and mentally, then we realize that the parents actually help in creating an allergic reaction to something that we want to share. So, I think a lot of first-generation, a lot of parents are confused when – here we are wanting to share the breaking news with our family and the only thing that our children are going through and manifesting are allergic reactions to church, or allergic reactions to this new message. And whenever the parents are confronted with this kind of situation I always try to calm them down saying, "that's okay, you know every child is a handiwork of God. Every child is a gift from God. Every child has infinite and divine value. They do not come with a manual, and we all tried to be the best parents we can, but many times we fall short. And that's okay as long as we are willing to learn and educate ourselves through this journey called life, grow together and really gain the kind of wisdom for living that we will have at the end of our lives."
55. So, instead of getting panicky, and instead of thinking, "Oh my goodness, I want pure children, I want great children. But, here is my child going through an allergic reaction phase or a rebellion phase." I always like to remind the parents, before we were born into the world, before we came into being as that person that we know ourselves to be, you know our mother had to go through a period of contractions, and incredible pain and suffering. We have no idea that we are doing this to our mother. We just come into the world very happy to greet the first breath of air. And we're, "wow! This feels good." But we don't turn around and look at our mother and realized that she looks totally wasted, because she has gone through a life and death struggle. Because, that is what it takes to bring a new life into this world. And, in essence, that's what it takes for parents to help bring a child into a new level of consciousness and understanding who they are as Gods eternal sons and daughters. It's not a natural process. It's a very painful process.
56. And so, like giving birth in order to exist as me and you, in order for us to develop an identity of ourselves as something being independent of our parents, and yet very much a part of our parents – just like the way, when a child is born – we are born of our mothers, but the minute we come into being we are no longer attached to our umbilical cord. We breathed on our own, we learned to walk on our own, we learned to do things on our own. In a way, if the umbilical cord has never been cut, and there are a lot of families that I see in our community where the umbilical cord has never been cut, then the child never learns to read on their own, never learns to walk on their own, never gains a sense that they are their own person. Yes, we come from our parents, but we all need to be our own independent person. In a way, every child of God needs to own our own game, meaning we have to be the owners of our own life, to feel totally healthy, empowered, and worthy.
57. And so, when the old habits are being asked to be washed away in rain, because now we have our True Parents, the living waters of our time. And it is kind of interesting how they chose their primary residence in Las Vegas, the time of the desert, the town where it's just dying, it's thirsting for the living water. In a way, our True Parents put themselves down smack in the middle of sin city saying, "You know what, we've got to clean this town, we've got to bring leisure, good leisure, back into the lives of healthy families. We need to encourage everybody to have a great time. Spend time with your family, go out for dinner, go out and see the shows together." That's what our True Parents are encouraging us to do and I think a lot of our old generation are thinking, "have our True Parents gone senile? They want to celebrate life, what's the matter with them? We are supposed to live a life of celibacy or denial. We are supposed to be miserable. How can the Messiah be enjoying life?"
58. The Messiah is here to show us how to enjoy life because that was the original intention of God our Heavenly Parent. Every parent who has had a child wants our children to be healthy, vibrant, empowered individuals, and we want them to be happy above all else.
59. So, the living water comes to give us strength, to help us take root in our tradition. But they come to wash away a lot of old habits that are not healthy, towards a life of loving life. A lot of negative thinking that is not healthy, in order to create a loving and inviting and healthy family, a lot of judgmental attitudes that we have – you know, "you are a second gen, you are Jacob, you are first gen, you are a new member, you are whatever." How about concentrating on the fact that we are God's sons and daughters. And, how about concentrating on the fact that we are all divine infinite valuable human beings. And how about concentrating on the fact of not being so judgmental that we cannot progress into the next level and the levels thereafter. Despite what we go through in terms of the birthing pains or the growing pains – and my goodness our community and our families have gone through so much pain growing together – so much pain of parents realizing, no matter how well-meaning we are, our children are going to sometimes trip and fall, they are going to nick their knees, they're going to have to be taken to the emergency room every now and then.
60. You know, there might be a crisis point in every child's life, but instead of thinking, "Why is my child such a basket case?" many times God gives us a chance to experience a time of Cris–is. Because, this is the time when God is asking us to become seasoned sailors. You know, calm seas do not create seasoned sailors. It's the stormy weather, it's the backbreaking work on the seas as a sailor that gives a person, a man and a woman, a position called a seasoned sailor.
61. In a way, life, and different times of crisis in our life when we feel we are losing our children, our children are rebelling, our children are having an allergic reaction to our faith, "Oh my goodness! SOS Heavenly Father!" These are the times when God is asking all of us to be like what Christ is. Crisis, a time of crisis is when we should be asking ourselves, "What is Cris-is? You know, Christ – is what, at this time of cris-is?" How should we be like Christ? How should we be like our True Parents? How should we engender a culture of heart in this extraordinarily difficult and painful time?
62. In a way, the time of "Christ-is" (crisis) confronts us, helps us confront our own demons and pushes us to be more Christ like and more True Parents like, in developing that parental heart of uplifting, not condemning, of empowering – not belittling, and wanting the best for others, sincerely being happy for our children for what we have not gone through in our lives or what we don't enjoy in our lives.
63. And so, I don't know if you've heard the wonderful news that's been going around on Facebook. My dear elder son just got matched to a beautiful daughter of God Lym-Hwa It's kind of interesting because when I first met her I didn't realize that she was the daughter of my first?-teacher. Right before coming to America one of the first missionaries to Korea, this sister named Lynn Kim came to, quote-unquote, prepare the True Children for America. She taught us the simple things like "hello, thank you." And she taught us how to use a fork and knife because we had only been using spoon and chopsticks. I remember her being such a wonderful lady. She was very soft-spoken, very kind, and she remembers one of the first things that we asked her to do was to be our patient because I wanted to be her doctor. So she said that one of the first things that she did to help invite the child into the classroom was to allow me to use a stethoscope on her to take her heartbeat.
64. I realized that, in a way, life kind of comes in circles. God brings different people in your life for a different purpose. Nothing in life is coincidence. Nothing in life is serendipitous, but everything has meaning. There is the hand of God mysteriously working behind everything that happens. And so, just the way this child came into our community and just the fact that my son and now Lym-Hwa can be beautifully on their way to the Blessing – nothing makes us more happy.
65. I can remember talking to Lynn, telling her after I had spoken to my parents – Parents gave their grace and their blessing. Lynn said to me, "you know, the first generation, we went through so much, but what we want for our children is for them to be happy, it's for them to really want to take ownership of their lives, ownership of the blessing, and really be happy." And I said, "what, you're not one of these mothers that basically say, "we suffered, so you're going to suffer. We went through the picture matching and it was just awful so you're going to go through the same thing?" And Lynn said, "No, no, no that was just first generation." She still talked "indemnity and restoration." And I said, "Maybe we can introduce new words to the vocabulary like celebration and happiness and loving life." And she said, "Yes, yes that would be so lovely." And I said, "Lynn, show a little excitement here, it's okay!"
66. This is my memory of beautiful first generation brothers and sisters, totally having given up everything for the sake of the Providence, but still so beautiful, so calm, so poised, not negative, not complaining, not bitter, but still finding meaning in how God works through all of our lives, to realize, "you know what, we go through a lot of difficult things in our lives, but God never leaves us." If anybody left anybody, it's we having left God – for thinking that God was not there. But if we travel on a little longer we realize that life is a series of cycles and what we thought was just a burden of mystery, we realize that God had something right around the corner. As long as we kept on believing, as long as we kept on rooted in something as wonderful as our tradition.
67. As I go forward in building the kind of community that I would like for my kids, and I think what we all want for our kids, and I think in a way that three years that we've spent together in this ministry, we realize that our kids are incredibly precious. They have all that it takes for them to be great. You know, last Sunday you saw a clip of a valedictorian speech, but that was just one out of many second generation and first-generation really making waves in their lives. I just heard from Sammy Fleischer that she graduated the top of her class and gave a beautiful speech to her graduating class on the different people that have inspired her.
68. And so we realize that our kids, it's not that they were lacking in any way, they just needed to be reminded how incredible they are and how precious they are and how everything has been, in a way the work of foundation, that's why it looks so dark and gloomy and it looks so wet and damp. Building that basement foundation was awful hard work, but that was not what Heavenly Father envisioned for our future. Heavenly Father wants to see some really beautiful buildings go up, houses go up, skyscrapers go up. And we realize that once we remind our child, that once a blessed child – always a blessed child, once a divine son and a daughter of God – always a divine son and daughter of God. And despite all the nocks and nicks of life, you know what, we need to keep on going. We need to keep on being on track, we need to keep on the path that is going to ultimately lead us to a position where we owned the game.
69. As we swim through the past of old habits and let it lie, washed away in the rain, this is the time to also really think what our mission is. Mission, during the time of the wilderness, was survival, but our mission now is to not just survive, but it is to prosper, it is to substantiate, it is to make real, it is to feel love, not just teach about love, not just talk about love, but we need to experience love by rubbing up against each other.
70. But we also need to take the time out to think that our life is a little bit more than just going to Cheong Pyung for 40 days. Going to Cheong Pyung for 40 days is a luxury. Spending time with your family in the quagmire of difficulty and suffering, when your child is going through an allergic reaction or when our child is going through a rebellious phase, that's work! That's dealing with creating an ideal family. Running off for 40 days and not having to deal with our family is a luxury. And sometimes we need to do that. But instead of keeping ourselves somehow grounded by always seeking an escape route we need to, kind of, get ourselves in the groove, in the groove of being a family, which goes from one extreme of extreme exultation to experiencing utter devastation. Life encompasses it all. And that's what make us greater, richer, and deeper as human beings, and allows each of us at the end of our lives to have a certificate of wisdom of living, having gone through the education of life that many times is thrust upon us, whether we like it or not.
71. So, instead of concentrating on all the things that need to be done, that are way in the future, many times we are thinking of liberating our ancestors and we throw lots of money and investment of donations in liberating our ancestors while we forget our responsibility of liberating each other and liberating our children.
72. So, they need to go hand-in-hand. As much as we want to liberate our ancestors we must not be irresponsible in not realizing that in order to liberate our children, to really fully allow them to exercise all their God given talents they need our investment, they need the financial resources. We need to invest in our children, that is the way we invest in the future of the world. It is not being selfish. It is being responsible. It is actually owning our game. In a way it's not asking God to take care of our families, it's we as adults saying, "You know what, I'm going to be financially responsible. I'm going to be spiritually responsible. I'm going to take care of my family, I am going to build an ideal family by dealing with each and every day, no matter how difficult it is, all the things that need to be dealt with in order for us to grow together and educate ourselves in becoming that wise son and daughter of God."
73. So, think about where we come from. Think about our tradition. Think about liberating our ancestors, but do not neglect the present and the future by realizing that just as important as it is to liberate our dead ancestors, it is just as important to liberate our families, liberate our children, help them to become excellent internal and excellent external son and daughter of God. In that way, this is how we build a beautiful house, this is how we build a beautiful society, this is how we build a beautiful world that ultimately we can call one family under God.
74. So brothers and sisters, we are incredibly blessed to be living at this time with our True Parents. They are the living waters and through them, and looking at them and admiring them and learning from them, we can really educate ourselves to be True Parents ourselves and thereby become the tribal leaders that really can bring forth a new revolution of heart in each of our tribes, in each of our districts, in each of our communities.
75. So, Lovin' Life Ministry is a medium through which all of us can take delight in the active work of faith. And I use the word active with emphasis, because this is no longer just follow, just an inactive form of worship. God is asking us to participate. God is asking us to take ownership – be that legitimate and vibrant and a divine son and a daughter of God. We need to do more than be inactively following. We need to be our own leaders, we need to take charge of our own horns of destiny and make a difference. Because what you can contribute to the Ministry and to our community will be so different from what I can do. But if we put all of our strengths together – God have mercy!
76. I know that if one crazy woman can do what we have done together as a family, I know there are lots of you out there who are a little more crazy than me. And I'm always so inspired by so many outside of the box ideas that I get along my way, but that's what I love. I love weird people! I love people who are different, people who are willing to stick out their necks and say, "hey! We are different, we are strange, but hey, that's us."
77. I don't like following fashion. I don't like following what's already been done. I look to start what hasn't been done. And that's the weird thing about weird people, and in our movement we have so many. Every one of us is so wonderfully weird. So why not stress a little bit of that wonderful weirdness to the world and help create a dynamic and vibrant community that our children can thrive in and really engender and bring forth and invite the culture of heart where we can really be happy for one another.
78. A couple weeks ago I met a friend of mine. He grew up with this dear old friend. So many things are happening for my friend now, in terms of career and marriage and family. And the other friend that grew up together is going through kind of the doldrums of his life. And they are the best of friends, they've been through everything together. But it's so difficult for that friend to be happy for his friend, for his newfound life, that this friend has. And you realize that one of the most difficult things in life is really to be genuinely happy for another person when you are feeling quite miserable. But this is what I mean by the culture of heart. The parental heart is such that no matter how miserable we are, we always want the best, we always want our child to be happy and inspired and uplifted and great. And that's what a culture of heart is all about.
79. So brothers and sisters this is the culture of heart that God wants for all of us, that our True Parents want for all of us, that I certainly want for my child and I would think that you would want the same for all of your children. So, if we continue to work together in this incredible year of the Dragon there is nothing that we cannot accomplish.
80. So next week I will be going to Japan for the next youth concert and I will be taking the band with me. But please continue to worship together as a family. So, whether I am here or not, we are always working together to build this one family under God.
81. So, be the kind of a person that owns the game and knows that our movement is the most incredibly successful movement thus far in the history of religion in the time of the founder's life. So think about what can be accomplished if we continue on this track of building excellent children, excellent future, there is no limit to what we can do. So we've all been hit by the Moon, so let us continue to enjoy being in this embrace of the glorious moonlight together with our True Parents and let's show the world that we can reach the moon and go further.
82. So God bless!
Notes:
Hosea, chapter 2
1: Say to your brother, "My people," and to your sister, "She has obtained pity."
2: "Plead with your mother, plead --
for she is not my wife,
and I am not her husband --
that she put away her harlotry from her face,
and her adultery from between her breasts;3: lest I strip her naked
and make her as in the day she was born,
and make her like a wilderness,
and set her like a parched land,
and slay her with thirst.4: Upon her children also I will have no pity,
because they are children of harlotry.5: For their mother has played the harlot;
she that conceived them has acted shamefully.
For she said, `I will go after my lovers,
who give me my bread and my water,
my wool and my flax, my oil and my drink.'6: Therefore I will hedge up her way with thorns;
and I will build a wall against her,
so that she cannot find her paths.7: She shall pursue her lovers,
but not overtake them;
and she shall seek them,
but shall not find them.
Then she shall say, `I will go
and return to my first husband,
for it was better with me then than now.'8: And she did not know
that it was I who gave her
the grain, the wine, and the oil,
and who lavished upon her silver
and gold which they used for Ba'al.9: Therefore I will take back
my grain in its time,
and my wine in its season;
and I will take away my wool and my flax,
which were to cover her nakedness.10: Now I will uncover her lewdness
in the sight of her lovers,
and no one shall rescue her out of my hand.11: And I will put an end to all her mirth,
her feasts, her new moons, her sabbaths,
and all her appointed feasts.12: And I will lay waste her vines and her fig trees,
of which she said,
`These are my hire,
which my lovers have given me.'
I will make them a forest,
and the beasts of the field shall devour them.13: And I will punish her for the feast days of the Ba'als
when she burned incense to them
and decked herself with her ring and jewelry,
and went after her lovers,
and forgot me, says the LORD.14: "Therefore, behold, I will allure her,
and bring her into the wilderness,
and speak tenderly to her.15: And there I will give her her vineyards,
and make the Valley of Achor a door of hope.
And there she shall answer as in the days of her youth,
as at the time when she came out of the land of Egypt.16: "And in that day, says the LORD, you will call me, `My husband,' and no longer will you call me, `My Ba'al.'
17: For I will remove the names of the Ba'als from her mouth, and they shall be mentioned by name no more.
18: And I will make for you a covenant on that day with the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, and the creeping things of the ground; and I will abolish the bow, the sword, and war from the land; and I will make you lie down in safety.
19: And I will betroth you to me for ever; I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love, and in mercy.
20: I will betroth you to me in faithfulness; and you shall know the LORD.
21: "And in that day, says the LORD,
I will answer the heavens
and they shall answer the earth;22: and the earth shall answer the grain, the wine, and the oil,
and they shall answer Jezreel;23: and I will sow him for myself in the land.
And I will have pity on Not pitied,
and I will say to Not my people, `You are my people';
and he shall say `Thou art my God.'"