In Jin Moon
1. Wow! Such beautiful faces in front of me! How is everybody?
2. So much has been happening the last couple of weeks. We've had the Lovin' Life Camp and Dave Hunter and his team and all of the volunteers are doing a fantastic job with the high school kids and now with the middle schoolers.
3. And we've also had my younger brother (Kook Jin Moon) here, touring the country in eight different cities. He really came to provoke all of us to think about what freedom and responsibility really means. I am so proud of our American team for taking such great care of him. Everyone from Joshua Cotter on down to all the District Pastors and all the brothers and sisters who came out, really in support of True Family. I want to thank you.
4. We have been continuing our great fight on the issue of religious freedom that is taking place in Japan. As you know 4300 of our brothers and sisters of the past three decades have been abducted and incarcerated and have been abused during their time in captivity. So, a couple of years ago my brothers and I, we decided to really do something about it, and help put an end to the atrocities that are taking place in Japan and really American members and the American team that I have here in the United States, together with our friends in ACLC and different ambassadors for peace, they've done a phenomenal job of really accompanying me together, visiting Capitol Hill, visiting all the different Congressmen and Congresswomen and Senators – really imploring upon them that what is taking place in Japan needs to be stopped.
5. A couple days ago we had the Congressional briefing on Capitol Hill and we had an opportunity to really hear from such distinguished panelists such as Dr. Rhodes who was the former director of the Helsinki Human Rights Commission. We also had Tina Ramirez there who is the director of the Becket Foundation, and of course the lovely Ms Porter who is a longtime veteran of Capitol Hill and the founder of the Tom Lantos Commission on Human Rights and Religious Freedom. These people, together with us, are really highlighting the atrocities that are taking place in Japan and really helping us fight to put an end – so that we as Unificationists all around the world can be proud of our faith, can be proud of our True Parents, can be proud of our blessed life – so that every Unificationist in the world can be allowed the freedom to love life.
6. When we had talked about what is going to be the slogan for Lovin Life Camp this year, we all thought that "Rebel with a Cause" was a highly interesting and an inspiring slogan to think about. Because, really, what we are attempting to do in sharing the breaking news is to break the mold of what's been done before. And with the advent of our True Parents, the first man and a woman who have really perfected themselves and now stand in the position as the true example that all of humanity can follow. They are the ones coming with the great gift of the Blessing through which all of God's children can really graft on to the true lineage and leave the satanic lineage that has dominated human kind for thousands and thousands of years. In a way, having our True Parents here is an incredible blessing. It's an incredible time for us to exercise our freedom to really be responsible eternal sons and daughters of God.
7. When I hear the word freedom, I often like to say the way the Asian ear hears the word freedom – it's made up of two words in my ear; the word free and dumb. So there is a certain kind of responsibility when we are being free, not to do things that are not smart for us – dumb things. Many people think that when we are young we can pretty much do whatever we want, that we will live for ever. It doesn't matter what everyone else is thinking as long as we think that we are free and we are wanting to exercise our freedom.
8. But you know, at the congressional briefing Dr. Rhodes said something that is very important for all of us to think about as young people when we are contemplating on the word freedom. He said that, "my freedom ends where your freedom starts." Meaning, we are free, and we can be free citizens of this country in so far as it doesn't infringe on the freedom of others. So, in a way, the work that we're doing to really liberate our Japanese brothers and sisters is to allow them the freedom to exercise their faith without having the deprogrammers infringing on their right to freely exercise their faith in the way that they would like as proud Unificationists.
9. And so when we think of ourselves as a member of this community, the worldwide community really wanting to live under the banner of One Family Under God, what are our True Parents really asking all of us to do? Here we have the freedom to be that eternal son and a daughter of God, but Father and Mother have emphasized over and over again that you cannot really have freedom without an understanding of responsibility. In a way, we are free to live our lives in a good way – and not in a dumb way, by exercising our responsibility, by in a way, owning up to all that we were meant to become.
10. As a mother of five, when I gaze into the audience and I see these bright young faces, they are the promise of our future, they are our future. And whatever we can do to inspire them, to empower them, to nurture them to be that proud and confident son and daughter of God is really our privilege as parents.
11. But, we realize that in our desire to be and to create this one family under God, we realize that there's a lot of work that needs to be done. And that's why we need that true example of our True Parents. Because when we look at their life, when we look at their life of faith – True Father for over 93 years and our True Mother for over 70 years, there are a couple of things that we can learn from their good example.
Oscar Wilde
12. One of the things that always struck me about Father is that he is a man who never stops dreaming. In a way, in the words of the wittiest and the most amusing English writer that I like to call one of my favorites is Oscar Wilde, and he said something a while ago, "a dreamer" – or how I understand a dreamer is – a dreamer is a visionary, a dreamer somebody who thinks of something better than what we are faced with or what we are smack immersed in. And to me True Father is really that dreamer because he offers all of humanity a vision of how we can create this ideal world of peace, ideal world of true love. It's his dreams, and not just his dreams, but his actual work in substantiating that dream that has inspired me in my life. And so Oscar Wilde says, "a dreamer is one can fined his or her way by moonlight. And he is punished, because he dares to see the dawn before the world."
13. In a way our Father is this visionary that humanity has been waiting for. He is the man with a purpose, he comes with a vision and he teaches us by example. And he together with our True Mother dares to dream of a world that is better than we found it. Dares to dream of a world where true love reigns supreme. Dares to dream of a world where all of God's children have equal divine worth and value. Dares to dream of a world where we can contemplate, and not just contemplate, but do the active work of building ideal families – which is not an easy thing to do.
14. And, in a way, he is punished because he dares to see the dawn. He sees, he knows what needs to be, he knows what needs to be accomplished. And he is misunderstood because he can see the dawn before the rest of the world.
15. When I was coming back from my brothers Freedom Society Speech I bumped into one of the 2nd Gen – and one of the 2nd Gen said to me, "you know I really love Lovin' Life." And I said, "That's a good beginning." Usually when people come up to me it's full of constructive criticism or complaints, but this young person just came up to me and said, "I really love Lovin' Life!" Wonderful! And this person said, "But sometimes I am just really not sure if Father is the Messiah." And I said, "you too, Uh? Well join the club."
16. The fact that we ask questions every now and then is a healthy thing. It means that we are always reflecting, we are always wanting to grow, we are always wanting to explore and ask the very difficult questions that confound us or sometimes puzzle us, and dares to find, or be courageous enough to seek an answer.
17. And I said to this person, "we've all been there in our life of faith. We've all questioned – is True Parents, or Father, really the Messiah? How do we know he's the real deal? He is the real McCoy? How do we know he's not a fake? How do we know it's not a sham? How do we know it's genuine?" Well I said to this young man, "you know, 2000 years ago we had Jesus Christ and a lot of people believed in him. In the time that Jesus administered to the people, which was less than three years. Can you imagine? Jesus administered to the people less than three years? And that has changed the world." But think about it. In his time, there were people who believed – like the 12 disciples. And there were people who didn't believe. And there were people who believed, like Judas in the beginning, but was so certain that Jesus could not be the Messiah, because he was looking at Jesus through his physical eyes, not his spiritual eyes. So perhaps Judas started criticizing or misunderstanding Jesus Christ for breaking out in anger at the Temple, perhaps associating with people that were not of the best caliber, perhaps doing things that were revolutionary. In a way, Judas who once was a believer, was so certain and so convinced that Jesus was not the Messiah – that in the end he ended up selling Jesus for a chunk of change. And I'm sure Judas, if I had a chance to interview him at that moment, would have probably said to me, "yes, I initially thought Jesus was the Messiah, but because of A, B, C, in my mind he is not the Messiah and he is a danger to our society and therefore I shall sell him to the authorities."
18. In a way, Judas, in his own mind was being incredibly smart – he thought. "I have perhaps evidence, A,B,C as to why he cannot be the Messiah." He was so certain that Jesus was not the Messiah. But, what does human history reveal to us? Regardless of whether Judas was certain that Jesus was not the Messiah, the fact remains that Jesus Christ was the Messiah. He was the son of God who came to deliver the breaking news 2000 years ago, but was cut short because people simply could not unite or believe in this person that we call the Son of God.
19. So I said be careful to this young person in being so certain, in thinking that Father is not the Messiah. Perhaps God doesn't give us the Messiah that we want. It's not us who picks the Messiah, it is God. And in God's eyes God will work through the Messiah that He wants to work through. And as long as our True Parents are the messianic figures that God wants to work through, He will and She will continue to do so.
20. So we may have our questions, our doubts, or perhaps our ventings – that I am so smart, I am so well-versed that I know True Parents are not the Messiah. But just because you or I think so, doesn't mean that they are not the Messiah. And in this way we have to realize that, regardless of how awesome we think we are, we are always on the road of growth and learning. That's what makes human life beautiful. It's not static. It's not a petrified form of existence. We are constantly growing. And so during our growth don't be so quick to judge or to become arrogant, thinking that because of my reasons True Parents are not the Messiah. Because, even if you or I think that they are not, guess what? They are and they continue to be because God ordained and blessed them and anointed them as such.
21. And history is long. Our life is long. And humankind has many many different cycles that we need to, kind of, go through. But the incredible thing about our True Parents, our Father and our True Mother, is they are incredibly consistent. Our Father, once he made up his mind at 16 years of age, younger then you guys, when our Father met Jesus Christ on the hills of North Korea and Jesus asked him to please carry on my mission – Father was younger than some of you. But once he committed, once he said yes, Father never ever wavered. And our True Mother, once she has decided – she's never wavered. And that's why they are our True Parents and that's why we all aspire to be like them. And that's why they continue to be our guiding light in these difficult times.
22. But when they've come with this breaking news, you know, and we want to share with the world what the breaking news is, what is it? Yes it's the news that the Messiah is here. Yes it's the news that they bring the gift of the Blessing. But what is really our end goal in life. As human beings what do we want to accomplish in our lifetime? If you really kind of narrow it down to what is really important, it's really to love and to be loved. And it's to experience the building of an ideal family through which we can experience and build the Four Position Foundation, have beautiful kids like all of you, and work together – meaning we grow together, we cry, we laugh, we expand together as a family – to become that awesome family which will be an incredible cornerstone or the building block for an incredible society, nation, and world.
23. So, many times when I hear different people talk about, "what is the ideal world going to be?" Many times people are talking in terms of systems – "we need to create this kind of a system because that is the perfect system to have an ideal or one family under God." But the incredible thing about True Parents is that it's not the system that is going to create something ideal. It boils down to you and me. It's the individual. It's the kind of a person that we decide to be today that is going to determine what our world is going to be like tomorrow. And therefore mind over body, you know, victory over ourselves, work on ourselves in preparation to meet that beautiful spouse. And then when you meet the beautiful spouse, knowing that the other is fully committed with your understanding of what the Blessing is, and I cannot stress this more emphatically enough – because many times people don't come to the Blessing with the same sense of what they want. Many times people don't know what they want. But if we come to the Blessing with the same commitment, same understanding of what we want to accomplish together in life then we can start the work of actually creating that building block that will become an integral part, and an important part of the society, nation, and world.
24. And so the incredible thing about our True Parents, is that, yes we want to change the world, but how do we change the world? We change the world by changing ourselves. And as numerous scholars, and numerous psychotherapists and counselors and sociologists and psychologists have discovered – that our True Parents are really right. As Patterson (?) says, it's got to be the family. The family needs to be fixed in order for the world to be fixed, if you will. In a way, a lot of the ills of society and a lot of the ills of the world stem from the family. And so when Father and Mother says that family is where the true rubbing takes place, where we grow as people, where we grow as mature citizens of this world – they are not saying something that is meaningless. They are saying something that is extremely, extremely profound.
25. For me, when I think about the family, for me a family is kind of like a team. I'm sure at Lovin' Life Camp, you had different teams representing different tribes, representing different nations – and you kind of have to learn how to work together. And the most important thing about a team is the sense of a common purpose. We all have to have common purpose. And when you look at a football team or a soccer team or a dance team or even a Lovin' Life Tribe team – you realize there are a couple of things that come into play that make it a successful family or a successful team. And this is what our True Parents have been trying to teach us to their own example.
26. In a way our True Parents stress the importance of having a common goal. We all have to agree on what we want to accomplish in our world, in our lives – that we want to create this incredible Four Position Foundation, we want to experience building this ideal family. And guess what; building an ideal family is not easy. It needs cooperation. It needs commitment.
27. In a way, when I think about having a common purpose, or like a mission statement, I think of an example of cross training. We have the summer Olympics going on and you see all these athletes who are training their whole lives to compete at the Olympics, to compete for the gold medal. And you realize that they've given up their free time, they've really given up all the other things that they might want to do to really accomplish this goal. And, they together with the other team members, are there representing their country, representing the families that they come from. And you realize that, when you watch a team – there are a couple of things that come into play. They have a common purpose. They are there to win the gold, to represent their family, to represent their country, and so they are going to cooperate. They are going to commit to each other that they are going to put up the best fight that they possibly can. But in preparation for that common goal you realize that they've gone through many many hours of cross training.
28. What is cross training? It's slightly different from running or doing aerobics or doing lifting weights, or doing one type of exercise – in cross training you are exercising different parts of your body at the same time. So, in order to compete, or be at your highest fitness level, all of these athletes go through cross training. In a way it's like bearing a cross in order to train to be that gold medalist. But you're not just exercising one muscle, you're not just exercising two muscles. You are working on exercising all your different muscles, to kind of work together, to be that superior athletes.
29. In a way, family is kind of like that. In order for a family to be an incredible team – every muscle, or every member of the family needs to be exercised. Every member of the family must cooperate together with an understanding that we are committed to each other – to win the gold, or to win, or to accomplish whatever goal we set out to be. And then we realize that, if you want to be a really excellent team on the battlefield, if you will, or if you want to be a really awesome family – you have to have the same direction.
30. Just like the two legs work in conjunction with a body to point us in the direction that we are going. If we want to go straight both are legs need to go straight. If we want to go straight but our left leg is wanting to go this way (she points) and only our right leg is wanting to go that way, guess what, we're not going to get very far. In a way, we have to approach our common goal with the same direction. We have to be pointed in the same direction.
31. And then, this kind of begs the answer – what does same direction mean? Does that mean that we are all just legs? Does that mean that we are all the same? No! We are not talking about duplication here. The thing about the family, and the thing about the team, that makes it beautiful and incredibly powerful is that we are all different. We are all different. We are not duplicates of each other. A sibling is not a duplicate of another sibling. Or a child is not a duplicate of a parent. We are not like the Federal Reserve board where they print money. Human beings are not printable, like the way money is. Each human being is an eternal, and the divine, and the unique handiwork of God.
32. So, God is not asking us when we are in the effort to build the family, a wonderful family – be the duplicate of your parents, or be the duplicate of your sibling, that everybody in the family is the same. That would be really boring, actually, and quite tragic. And the beauty of the family is that everybody is different, everybody is unique. The beauty of a loving husband and wife is that husband and wife is different. It's male and female. It's male and female, two different people, but wanting to walk the same direction, towards a common purpose. Not being duplicates of each other.
33. And I think in a community like our movement we have to understand this unique handiwork of God in an individual setting, in a family setting, also in a community setting as well. We have to realize that each family is unique. Each family is a special handiwork of God. Each family should not be a duplicate of another. It should not be like printable Money – all ideal families with the same, act the same, behave the same, only have the same strength. If that is what an ideal world is, I don't want to be a part of that ideal world. It's boring. It's nothing special. But each family has its own dealings within the family that help make it become an ideal family, as each member of the family being different, not duplicates of each other, continue to rub up against each other to make everyone better.
34. Likewise, in a community like our movement, your family is going to be different from my family. Your problems are going to be different from my problems. But, the big question is, not are we the same duplicates of each other, but whether we are going in the same direction with a common purpose. That's what creates an incredibly powerful team and an incredibly powerful family.
35. Another thing that a successful, or a really awesome team and a family has, is this thing what I call common purpose – same direction, but different strength. What I mean by different strength is that in order to be truly powerful in our lives we have to kind of come together with an amalgamation of all our strengths. Every human being has strengths and weaknesses. We are not all perfect. We are working on ourselves in each of our lives. And we all have strengths and we all have weaknesses. The beauty of LLM, the beauty of loving each other and nurturing each other and empowering each other is to understand that we all have shortcomings. But at the same time, we all have incredible things that we can contribute to the betterment of the whole.
36. And so, the fact that we are not all Korean – can you imagine if our community was all Korean because our True Parents are Korean? We will not be strong, we will not have strength in diversity. But what creates our community to be such a vibrant community, and a strong community is that we have international presence here. Every culture, every race, every different kind of background is represented. And as long as we continue to really honor and celebrate our differences and realize that God gave us our differences so that we all have different strengths, thank God! If we all had the same strengths we are not going to be too powerful or too strong as the movement. But you know, some people like Heather Thalheimer, – she is better equipped to deal with the Department of Education. For instance, Philip Schanker, he is very equipped to deal with the Blessed Family Department. Somebody like Debby Gullery is better equipped to be a really wonderful Counselor. Someone like Tom Walsh is better equipped to work for Universal Peace Foundation. Likewise everybody that is represented in our community has incredible strengths, that when we can bring together and work together as a team – makes our team that much stronger, that much greater.
37. And so, can you imagine if we were putting together a soccer team and our True Parents started Wangoo Sports Festival and every year we are sending athletes over. And so, as the senior pastor I have to think every year what athletes I'm going to send over. Can you imagine if we are sending over a soccer team and in that team everybody is a goalie? That team is not going to do too well. Or everybody plays offense or defense. What if everybody only plays defense? Are we going to be a proactive or a successful soccer team? The reason why a soccer team is powerful is because you have a goalie. You have somebody whose strength is manning the ball. You have the offense player who is really great getting out there to make the plays happen. And you also have defensive players who are really great at protecting our goalie. These are different strengths. They are not the same. But when they come together that's when the magic happens.
38. Amongst all of you who are seated here at Lovin' Life Camp, you are going to realize that I am better at something than my brothers and sisters, my sister might be better at something than me. But instead of thinking, "oh, I'm not good enough, or that person gets all the blessing. How come I'm not good at that?" The important thing about life is that God made all of you just as special as the person seated next to you. All of you are divine beings with an incredible talent and incredible promise, and incredible blueprint. And it is our job as parents to help you find your passions and your talents. And it is our job as a community to help empower you so that you know you can be the best that you can be. But you seated here in the front should celebrate that fact that you are different from each other and realize that, perhaps what you are not good at is something that maybe the other might be good at, and by coming together and working together we can create an awesome team or an awesome family.
39. So, when I take time out to look at my kids – and I realize that all five of them are incredibly different – all of them are different. It's like the five nations coming together. It's like five different soccer teams coming together. They are all very different, and they all have their strengths and weaknesses. But I realize, just like a really beautiful jigsaw puzzle, they are so different, but when they can work together they create a beautiful picture. And I think that's what our Heavenly Parent up in heaven wants to see. In a way, celebrating our differences, celebrating our diversity knowing that our strength comes from our uniting with our True Parents – bringing all our differences united under our True Parents and our Heavenly Parent, understanding that we desire to walk the same path – not being duplicates or carbon copies of each other but finding what our calling is in life and being courageous enough to live it, not just talk about, but to live it, and own up to our destinies, which is there for us to grasp.
40. And that reminds me of something that I often think about. God bless my older brother Hyo Jin Opa who really founded the Manhattan Center here that you are seated in. My older brother was almost like a larger-than-life kind of a character. He was really fun loving, very loud, very masculine. He was very testosterone driven. And so when my father put my older brother as the head of CARP he envisioned what might be the best way to educate the Blessed Children. And he is so masculine, just so powerful that – and he is going through his growth stage too trying to figure out what he wants to do, what his identity is, what does it mean to be a true son of God, how does he want to, what kind of a leader does he want to be, how does he want to educate the Blessed Children – and every leader has their own idea as to what might be the best way to educate Blessed children. And my older brother was no exception.
41. One of the things that he used to do is, because he was so masculine it was almost like he was the boss. When the boss walks into the room, not just your head, but all of your body needs to know the boss is in town! So regardless of what you were doing, if the boss enters you get up. And you bow and you stand like this (she stands with her head lowered).
42. And I don't know how many countless meetings we had with Blessed Children where I would be going back and forth from my studies at Columbia University – and many times I would drive him to East Garden and around the pool there would be a bunch of Blessed children all standing like this (heads down) and my brother talking up a storm. And they're all standing like this. And I remember many times my brother would say we are all going out to eat something, why do you come? And my older brother's favorite food was Chinese food. And he is one of these types of people that has his favorite. So you can go to all the different restaurants but he is going to order the same thing all the time. You know we are going to have hot and sour soup, because that's his favorite soup. You know we're going to have fried rice, usually chicken fried rice. And you know we're going to have orange beef. So whenever he invited us to restaurants it was always Chinese, because that was his favorite. And it was always going to be hot and sour soup, chicken fried rice, and orange beef.
43. But this one day my brothers came up to me and my brother said, "In Jin, In Jin we are all going out to eat." And I said, "Chinese? I just had Chinese food maybe I will stay." "No were going to McDonald's." Okay that's different. French fries and big Mac every now and then that's a wonderful change. I said, "Okay I will come." And about 20 Blessed children came along so we were like a convoy in our cars and we all followed the boss to McDonald's. And the boss parked and we all parked around him. We all got out and the boss came out of the car and we all followed like this (with heads down). And we basically took over this poor McDonald's. It was almost like an invasion. And at that time when we had Blessed children workshops it was mostly Asian kids, because the American blessed kids were quite young, so it looked like Asian invasion taking over McDonald's. And so everybody was watching, what's going on, who are these people? My brother said, "Okay, who wants to eat?" And everybody raised their hand. And then he had one Blessed Child who was working, kind of like a right-hand person, "okay, go order 20 quarter pounders with cheese, large french fries, large coke." That was it. And so there were 25 people, mind you, but the understanding of BCs back then was, unite. You don't say anything. You eat what's given. And so, whether you liked quarter pounders or not that's what you're going to get. Whether you like large french fries or not, that's what you're going to get. Maybe you can't drink Coke but that's what you're going to get. And so I said, "I don't really want to drink Coke. Is it all right if I have filet of fish because I had a big Chinese lunch?" And I will never forget that day, because these Blessed Children who were seated like this (heads down) waiting for their quarter pounder and french fries to come, they all went (she raised her head in astonishment). "What?" And they looked at me and then they looked at my brother and then looked at me. And they were looking at me like, holy cow your head is going to be decapitated. And guess what, the boss decapitated my head. And the boss gave me a lecture on unity. And he went on and on and on – and I almost had an out of the body experience. Because, I was thinking "okay I am being decapitated here seated at McDonald's because I wanted a filet of fish, not a quarter pounder with cheese." I was asking God, "is this what unity is all about? Do we really all have to be duplicates of each other? Do we all have to be the same? Because, if that's the case I'm not sure if I want to belong to this movement." This was my honest feeling. But I was the younger sister and so I just respectfully listened. But I said, "Okay, I don't really have to eat." By the time it was finished I was not feeling well.
44. That example was something that kind of stayed with me throughout the years. And so in our efforts to really kind of be a unified family, be a unified community – there is kind of like this pressure to always be the same, always dressed the same. I think you guys look great in red T-shirts by the way (the members of Lovin' Life Camp were all wearing red camp T-shirt). It's wonderful to have a feeling of solidarity. But imagine if it wasn't just the red T-shirt. Imagine if you look the same, if you talked the same, if you liked the same things. Maybe some of you like Nine Inch Nails, but maybe some of you like Beyonce, maybe some of you like a Mariah Carey, maybe some of you like Jack White. You know, people like different things. And many times we like different things because it's a unique expression of who we are. And so unity doesn't mean that we are all becoming paper cutouts of each other like cardboard sheets of each other. Unity means coming together in heart.
45. In a way when Father and Mother come to teach the world and share the breaking news and really urging all of us to unite with our Heavenly Father to unite with our True Parents, to work together. They're not asking all of you to be carbon cut outs of our True Parents. Yes they are our symbol, they are somebody we should aspire to, but we need to celebrate our own uniqueness. You can contribute something to the movement that perhaps Father and Mother didn't have time to do, because you are different, because you are unique, because you are that incredible handiwork of our Heavenly Father.
46. And it's no different from, you know, my growing up in this church where everything was unison, everything was unison prayer, everything was unison singing, from the moment I woke up to the moment I fell asleep. And I often wondered am I allowed to sing something different. Do I always have to sing the 30 Holy Songs that I know by heart? Can I praise God singing something different? Can a new song become a Holy Song?
47. In a way, when you listen to music the thing that makes music beautiful, for instance – you have a certain number of keys on the piano. But when you play the same note all the time, it can have a certain kind of rhythmic beauty to it. Perhaps it's meditative, perhaps people like the constancy of hearing a certain note, but you hear it long enough and it's going to feel like Chinese water torture working on you – like a droplet of water slowly killing you away. But the reason why music is beautiful is that it's not only one note that's being played. In a way there is incredible strength in unison prayer. It's wonderful. You can feel the energy. You could feel the inspiration. Everybody saying and singing the same thing, it's wonderful. But sometimes strength does not equate to beautiful. Sometimes we need to hear a bit of harmony. And how is harmony created. Harmony is not created by playing the same note. Harmony is created by playing different notes together at the same time.
48. And so in music it's harmony that gives depth that gives expensiveness – the feeling of all encompassing like the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. It's so majestic. It's so all-encompassing because it's a full power of harmonic plays, of different people singing different parts, and coming together as that incredible choir. It's everybody's singing different notes at the same time that produces incredible harmony. And unison is strength, but we cannot run our movement just on the strength. We need harmony. We need the beauty of being able to be expansive, be able to celebrate our differences and yet work together. In a way, we have to be like a beautiful choir, each of us singing different parts, different notes – but sung together, become this incredible human experience or a divine experience through which we can share the breaking news with the rest of the world.
49. And so, when I think about having a common purpose. When I think about having a common purpose of each and every one of us having this opportunity to build the ideal families of our own – we really need to understand that in our effort to accomplish the goal we cannot lose sight of, sometimes, our own shortcomings in succumbing to our own arrogance in thinking that we know best. We have to, kind of leave ourselves open for God to work through. As parents, have to leave ourselves open for our children to work through. We can grow and learn through our children. And the children must leave themselves open and wide for the parents to work through.
50. And that reminds me of this one story. I was having a conversation with this one person. This person had a really incredibly difficult time with his father. They all wanted to accomplish the same thing. They wanted to be the best Unificationists. But they had different ideas about going about it. And the father was very adamant – you listen to me. And the son was very adamant. Perhaps the son was a rebel with a cause, wanting to do something different, wanting to maybe express himself being a Unificationists in a different way. They butted heads for so long. But one afternoon before the son was to go off abroad for his missionary work, the father and son came together and they had a melting of hearts and a sharing of hearts. The father, maybe perhaps said to the son, words that he never said before – "I'm really proud of you. I'm really proud that you are making this big step, you're going into ministry, you're really going to serve the world, your going to work on yourself and I'm just really proud that you turned out so fine." And perhaps hearing the father utter these words really melted the son's heart. And the son said, "you know dad, for a long time I've really wanted to rebel against everything that was you. You symbolized everything that I wanted to rebel against. But I realize at the end of the day, that you and I, even though we are different, different people, not duplicates of each other – I realized that we want the same things in life, that we are faced toward the same direction. Thank God we are different but we are pointed and looking towards the same direction." And the son said something that really liberated the father's heart. The son said to the, "you know dad, I have many times judged you, and in a way many times I have not forgiven you for the difficulties that I felt I've had to face in my life with you, but I realize that as I grew older that you were a better father to me than your father was to you. And for that I am incredibly grateful."
51. In a way, the child realized that despite the shortcomings of the father, this father lived his whole life wanting to better the world that his son, or his other siblings, came into. In a way, the father may not be perfect, and you know what – your parents are not going to be perfect in your eyes. But you need to understand that you are here because your parents had the courage to dream of a world that was better than their own.
52. As Oscar Wilde said, it is the dreamer who dares to see the dawn before the world wakes up to it. In a way, many times our parents dared to see the dawn. They see what you can be even before you realize what you are capable of. And therefore, they are persecuted and judged. In a way, Oscar Wilde said something else. He said you can be sure of one thing, we start out loving our parents then we end up judging the bleep out of our parents and we never forgive them for their supposed atrocities.
53. But we realize, that as we grow older, that they have tried their best to be a best parent to you. And likewise, regardless of what takes place in the family, we all have to realize that perhaps our parents are doing a better job than perhaps their parents are doing. And so our parents may not be perfect but at least we are facing the same direction. We are looking towards accomplishing the common purpose. We are different but we are faced the same.
54. And therefore it is of most importance as we go forward in our movement, and as we look towards the next millennium, that we learn to be thankful for this generation that came before us. Because without them none of us would be here. And of all the wonderful friends that you got to meet at Camp, none of them would be here without our True Parents and our True Parents would not be here without God. So, we have to have an incredible feeling of being grateful for the sacrifices that have been made, but at the same time realize that now this is our time. This is our time to be that rebel with a cause, dare to be different, to be courageous, to love – basically saying to the world – the world teaches us that money, power, and knowledge are the most important thing – but God and True Parents teach a that the most important thing is true love. The most important thing is to know how to love and be loved in the most beautiful and harmonious way. That's what we're all about.
55. And so, we have to liberate our parents. But the parents, at the same time must also be cognizant of the fact that perhaps we can learn some of our greatest lessons from our kids too and thereby grow together.
56. And that leads me to this passage in the Bible. In Isaiah 40:31 it says, "Those who await upon the Lord shall renew their strength." And how do they, how do we, renew our strength? We renew our strength in realizing that we are an international community and that we need to celebrate the differences and diversity's that exist within our community, realizing that when we combine our differences under the unity of our True Parents we become an incredibly powerful force of true love.
57. And if we can renew our strength, our strength that is derived by different people coming together in unity, in the spirit of true love – then we realize, the Bible continues to say, "We will mount up with wings like eagles." In a way, wings like eagles – eagles learn how to fly through trial and error. It's the mother eagle that pushes the young birds out of the nest. They fall to their death many many times, almost, before they learn how to fly. In a way, their wings are earned, in that a lot of effort needs to go into it.
58. So in a way we fly together. We mount up with wings like eagles, we are pointed in the same direction. And we shall run, not grow weary, and we shall walk, not growing faint. Meaning we will soar, we will do all that we accomplish not being tired, because we have the cooperation and the commitment of each other, different members of family, different members of the team wanting to work together to accomplish a common purpose.
59. And in that way we walk, we face the same direction, we grow together, we laugh together, we cry together, we learn from each other, and we empower each other, and we continue the good work of uniting with our True Parents. Because they really are the hope of humankind.
60. When you look at the true family, many people go "Wow! True family is so different!" Thank God we are all different. We are all different. But when we can come together with our strength, that's when we create an incredible team. And because we have such a wonderful coach in our True Parents we are here to be victorious. We are here to win. We are going to play some really good games on the field, because we are here to win and we're going to win the gold medal at the Olympics. And if we can empower the young people to realize that this time is their time, this time is their time to exercise their free-dom, to be responsible young and mature adults so they can truly work on themselves to become internally and externally excellent. Then the world is truly your oyster.
61. So, our True Parents, they are always praying for all of you. They know that you guys are awesome, they know that you guys are beautiful, they know that you guys are divine, they know that you guys, we, are the eternal sons and daughters of God. So, as we think about the big picture that's really think about how we are going to get to that big picture – by realizing that we have to be our own agent of change, and to really work on ourselves, and really express and develop the God-given strength, or perhaps our differences, that truly makes us incredible when we come together. And if we can do that, then our church will not just be considered a successful new religion, we are going to be a way of life for the next millennium. And people will truly understand what it means to love life, what it means to really enjoy living in the age of the settlement when we have the chance and an opportunity to do something, that in a way, Jesus Christ 2000 years ago did not have a chance to do – which is to create an ideal family together.
62. So brothers and sisters have a great week! Please celebrate our differences! Please celebrate our common purpose! Please celebrate our desire to look towards the same direction together and unify under our True Parents and our Heavenly Parent!
63. God bless and have a great week
Notes:
Isaiah, chapter 40
1: Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.
2: Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
and cry to her
that her warfare is ended,
that her iniquity is pardoned,
that she has received from the LORD's hand
double for all her sins.3: A voice cries:
"In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD,
make straight in the desert a highway for our God.4: Every valley shall be lifted up,
and every mountain and hill be made low;
the uneven ground shall become level,
and the rough places a plain.5: And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed,
and all flesh shall see it together,
for the mouth of the LORD has spoken."6: A voice says, "Cry!"
And I said, "What shall I cry?"
All flesh is grass,
and all its beauty is like the flower of the field.7: The grass withers, the flower fades,
when the breath of the LORD blows upon it;
surely the people is grass.8: The grass withers, the flower fades;
but the word of our God will stand for ever.9: Get you up to a high mountain,
O Zion, herald of good tidings;
lift up your voice with strength,
O Jerusalem, herald of good tidings,
lift it up, fear not;
say to the cities of Judah,
"Behold your God!"10: Behold, the Lord GOD comes with might,
and his arm rules for him;
behold, his reward is with him,
and his recompense before him.11: He will feed his flock like a shepherd,
he will gather the lambs in his arms,
he will carry them in his bosom,
and gently lead those that are with young.12: Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand
and marked off the heavens with a span,
enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure
and weighed the mountains in scales
and the hills in a balance?13: Who has directed the Spirit of the LORD,
or as his counselor has instructed him?14: Whom did he consult for his enlightenment,
and who taught him the path of justice,
and taught him knowledge,
and showed him the way of understanding?15: Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket,
and are accounted as the dust on the scales;
behold, he takes up the isles like fine dust.16: Lebanon would not suffice for fuel,
nor are its beasts enough for a burnt offering.17: All the nations are as nothing before him,
they are accounted by him as less than nothing and emptiness.18: To whom then will you liken God,
or what likeness compare with him?19: The idol! a workman casts it,
and a goldsmith overlays it with gold,
and casts for it silver chains.20: He who is impoverished chooses for an offering
wood that will not rot;
he seeks out a skilful craftsman
to set up an image that will not move.21: Have you not known? Have you not heard?
Has it not been told you from the beginning?
Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?22: It is he who sits above the circle of the earth,
and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers;
who stretches out the heavens like a curtain,
and spreads them like a tent to dwell in;23: who brings princes to nought,
and makes the rulers of the earth as nothing.24: Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown,
scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth,
when he blows upon them, and they wither,
and the tempest carries them off like stubble.25: To whom then will you compare me,
that I should be like him? says the Holy One.26: Lift up your eyes on high and see:
who created these?
He who brings out their host by number,
calling them all by name;
by the greatness of his might,
and because he is strong in power
not one is missing.27: Why do you say, O Jacob,
and speak, O Israel,
"My way is hid from the LORD,
and my right is disregarded by my God"?28: Have you not known? Have you not heard?
The LORD is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint or grow weary,
his understanding is unsearchable.29: He gives power to the faint,
and to him who has no might he increases strength.30: Even youths shall faint and be weary,
and young men shall fall exhausted;31: but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength,
they shall mount up with wings like eagles,
they shall run and not be weary,
they shall walk and not faint.