In Jin Moon
1. Good Morning brothers and sisters. Good morning Chicago! I'm delighted to be with you this beautiful Sunday morning.
2. We are having quite an exciting weekend here. Last night we had a wonderful ballroom social and I heard it was a great success. Our community came out and really celebrated this wonderful time together in Chicago with different ministers that were there, District Pastors who came to participate in the fellowship of this weekend, and the beautiful second generation who were really the highlights of the evening.
3. As a mother who has five children of her own I am always thinking about, "what can we do as a family and as a movement to really inspire these young people to have a vision of what they could be – and the kind of contributions they could make to society and really change their world for the better." I thought long and hard about this over the years and I know that our True Parents have also thought about this for many many years.
4. When our True Father and Mother came to this great country of America in the early 70s Father had a great vision for this country. Father knew that America was providentially prepared to really work together with the Messiah, to really share in the breaking news – and over the years and over the centuries our Heavenly Parent has blessed this country to be that country of prosperity, not for itself and not for its own power and glory, but so that it can really be that nation, that agent of change on behalf of the world.
5. When I was a political science student taking my first introductory course, one of the things that had a profound influence on me was meeting my political science Professor. The first day of school he defined for all of us what power meant. And he said, "Power means the ability to influence." And so I thought long and hard about this incredible power to influence. And when Father and Mother often talked about the providential responsibility of America, and because it is a powerful country, in a way God has blessed this country with tremendous power and prosperity – and so I have often wondered what could America do to really transform the world and really usher in a true and meaningful dominion of true love. I believe, in a way, Father and Mother were so right in thinking that America has been prepared as the providential country on behalf of the world – because it has the responsibility to exercise its power, or to exercise its ability to influence, ability to influence the world – not with the ideals of capitalism and ideals of superficial living, but truly being inspired and being true to its own Christian heritage that started and landed on the shores of the Eastern Coast of America – that allowed the pilgrims to try their best to build that beautiful city on a hill.
6. In a way America has that incredible spiritual and Christian heritage that it comes from. So if we can really truly tap into that spiritual heritage and understand that, without God, power, or the ability to influence the world, has no direction. In a way being powerful and being blessed with so much prosperity is like trying to contain a mass of plutonium. When power is not the harnessed and it is not focused, and it is not steadied with a purpose and mission at hand, it can create incredible destruction and havoc on anybody that comes near it. But, when something like plutonium is harnessed, the strength is harnessed and division is focused and its stride, or the progress that it makes is consistent and steadied with a definite purpose and definite goal – there is an incredible amount of good, an incredible amount of the right kind of influence that can be exerted on to the world to effectuate a monumental change, to make this world into a better world than we have now.
7. I don't know how many times different people have come up to me and said, "You know, we have so many problems in our world today. We have the problems of family breakdown. We have the problems of young people not being focused, not being goal oriented – just wanting to waste their precious lives away." We have so many people who do not value this thing called life, this opportunity to really give back to God through our living. How grateful we are as His and Her children. So many people have attempted to ask this question themselves and as fellow pastors and ministers and reverends, they have talked with me at great length, "how do we really inspire these people? How do we get them to want to be better people? We try our best as pastors. We try our best as ministers. We try our best as educators. But, how do we do that?"
8. When the band sang earlier "One World One Heart," it doesn't matter where we come from and life, what we want is a safe and a loving and a peaceful world for our families and for our nation and for our world. We wanted a place where we as humans can rest assured that if we send our children to public schools that we will not have to battle the horrors of suicide bombers wanting to blow themselves up at school or have the fear of one of these students being so outraged against society because they felt fragmented, they felt neglected and ignored, that they decide to take violence into their own hands and cause havoc and destruction by killing their classmates.
9. What do we do in a situation like this? How do we create this one world and one heart? And over the centuries different philosophers, different thinkers, different educators, and different pastors and religious leaders have really tried to answer, "How do we go about building this one heart, one world?" Well, the most incredible thing about our True Parents is – you know many of us, many of the great thinkers, or many of the great educators and teachers have tried to tackle the problem dealing with the effects of society – in a sense trying to deal with, for instance, things like teenage pregnancy by giving them condoms and trying to teach them about sex education – not realizing that just dealing with the causes is a Band-Aid solution. What we really need to do is go back to the root of the problem and address the reasons or the causes as to why we may have an epidemic like teenage pregnancies or an epidemic like suicides.
10. I was told by one of my friends that every 14 minutes somebody in the world intends to take their life. And I was told that every two minutes somebody in the world is being raped. This is the state of our modern-day. This is the state of our modern world. So how do we go forward in creating this culture or environment where everybody wants to be a part of that "one world one heart?"
11. The great thing about True Parents is, they come as the Messiah, they come as the living paradigm of true love. They are not coming to address the effects of the ills of society by providing a Band-Aid solution, they come to address the root of the problem starting with the beginning, the Fall of Man. They come to teach us that we cannot deal with the effects of the ills of society if we don't address the inner questions or the inner qualities of this thing called a divine eternal son and a daughter of God. We have to inspire the divinity within each and every person as that unique and eternal and loving son and a daughter of God before we can attempt to change the world.
12. In a way, the message that our True Father and True Mother bring is a message of incredible hope. But they also tell us that we must go and start from the beginning. We must address the fall of man. We must address the questions as to why man and woman were led astray from God. In like fashion our True Parents, through this incredible year of OSDP (Original Substantial Divine Principle) workshops, where they were sharing the breaking news with over 3000 ministers – can you imagine? They were inspiring all of these Christian ministers to really go back to the root, go back to what America was all about. America was founded on the love of God and if we want to address the problems of teenage rebellion, of people not being guided or directed, people dealing with so many addictions of all sorts – then we must tap into the divine spirit within. We must start a revolution of heart by moving the spirit. In a way, our True Father and Mother are saying, "you cannot be the agent of change for the world without being the agent of change starting with ourselves, you and me."
13. And so, we as Unificationists, or we as people of faith, really realize that we are standing in an incredible time, a threshold. We are standing at the threshold of a grand new millennium and depending on what we do, the kind of choices we make today, we literally, physically, have the capacity to blow our world up many many times, if we continue to go the way we have gone, thinking only in terms of our self-interests, our greed, and thinking only about external power and might.
14. If we can truly understand that we, you and I, fundamentally we are all spiritual beings. We are all beings moved and inspired by the spirit. Then, instead of seeing power as something that controls, that maintains, that, in a way, totally represses the soul to be a certain way, we realize that as that divine being, when it is properly harnessed, when it is properly focused, when it is properly studied with the mission and a guide such as our True Parents, then we have infinite power to not just influence each other, but to influence the world.
15. And likewise America, as that great nation, has the responsibility as that nation who has been prepared to exercise the right kind of influence, to exert upon the world, to really inspire all the people towards greatness and towards a peaceful millennium.
16. The interesting thing about being a senior pastor is, I get to travel all around the world, and one of the things I realize is that no matter where you go you cannot escape Hollywood movies. And no matter where you go you have MTV and VH1. And no matter where you go you can always listen to American music. It's amazing how I can go to Moscow and sing a Beatles song or sing a Rolling Stones song, and everybody sings along. I can go to Nigeria and sing a Janis Joplin song and everybody sings along. I can go to Japan and sing a song from 3 Doors Down, and everybody sings along. In a way America has any credible power over the world in terms of its culture, in terms of its entertainment culture. And I know that a lot of the young people watching programming like MTV and VH1 – shows like My Crib, where you get to kind of take a tour of all these big singers with their mansions, with their superficial wealth, with their cars and with their toys and with their swimming pools and Jacuzzis and with their women and with their men. I know a lot of young people are thinking, "I want that. I want to be defined as part of the millennials or part of the "show me the money" generation."
Janis Joplin
17. And there is a great deal of influence that goes out to the world by saying, "the only thing you need to do is use your God-given talent to be successful and do whatever you want." But the thing is, most entertainers don't realize that – when they have the opportunity to be successful it's because they were given a special talent, or they were able to tap into their creativity, which does not come from them, which comes from God, which comes from the divine. So regardless of how incredible your talents are, in a way God put that in your care so that when you can be successful, and you're in the position to be able to harness that power to influence people around you, the young people coming up after you – that you can do so responsibly. But because of our media culture and because of this insistence on superficiality and, money being the end goal of everybody's life, that lots of young people struggle as to what is the meaning of life, what is the purpose of life. Is anything more important than getting rich and having that mansion, and having that car, or having that right kind of wife or right kind of a husband? In a way this is the kind of culture that the young people are growing in.
18. And so when our True Parents come to this country, and our True Parents really worked with the first generation to, not be addicted to this superficiality or the commercialization of what America has become, but to really return to the beginning, return to the reason why America was founded and the reason why America was great. Our True Parents were not teaching a message of power and might. They were teaching us, they were moving us, inspiring us, by teaching us about true love – that the most important thing is love, that the most incredible language is love. In a way, all of us, each and every one of us, you and I, we were born to love and to be loved. And, in that way our True Parents inspired our spirit. And that is what made all of you decide to change your life.
19. I don't know how many brothers and sisters have come to me over the years and said, "You know, I was a 22-year-old Ivy League student in college. I was hopelessly lost. I did not have a vision. I did not have a goal in life. I was totally disillusioned by my government, totally disillusioned by my family – I wasn't sure if I wanted to live. But meeting you, Father, meeting you, Mother, meeting you, True Parents, changed my life, because you inspired my spirit, you moved my spirit, you allowed me to experience the power of true love – and that's what made me decide. I own this decision. This is the reason I decided to become a part of your family and to become God's child.
20. The Good Book talks about in Zechariah chapter 4:6 -- not by power – nor by might but… it says, "Not by power, not by might." Not … not, but by the power of the Spirit. It's this spirit that moves and changes all of us.
21. When I really contemplated and reflected on this passage – God is telling us, as the parents – and you know we have beautiful children – you met some of them yesterday at the generation piece choir. Many parents come to me and asked, "what can I do to really help harness the talents or the strength that my child has, and really help them focus and really help them steady their dedication, their persistence, or their efforts, so that they can become a great person? What do I have to do? Do I have to turn into a militant strict father who basically monitors my child 24-7? Do I have to turn into a mother who basically turns into a prison warden, following the child around, saying, "don't smoke, don't do this, don't do this?" In a way everything is a list of don'ts. In a way we are imprisoning our children under our care, under our fear, under our power, under our might. But you know what, sooner or later if that is the only thing they experience in the family, they are going to go off to college, and if they have not been moved by the spirit, if their spirit is not moved and they did not have the opportunity to decide for themselves what kind of a human being they want to be, the minute they leave our prison they are going to do whatever they want.
22. So I encourage the parents, let's look at ourselves and let's look at our community. We have so many fears as a community because this gift of a child is incredibly precious, perfect, pure, angelic beings sent to us by God our Heavenly Parent, put in our care, really asking us to experience that parental heart that God has for you and me, so that we can truly understand how valuable we are to God our Heavenly Parent.
23. Many of us see the world around us, see the school shootings, see the violence, see the addictions and destruction. And so many of us, we are consumed with fear of what might happen to my child, that we don't realize we are not giving them the tools to be a healthy and a competent and a responsible human being – by always being there, by always being almost like a prison warden – "let's keep our child in a bubble, let's keep our child under our watchful eye, let's keep our child by telling the child these are the list of things you cannot do."
24. But here at Lovin' Life what we are really encouraging parents to think about is to learn from our mistakes. We have done a great job of really uniting with our True Parents over the years and for the last 40 years or 50 years we have been in the wilderness, really fighting for our survival against all the winds of persecution and the abuse, and the misunderstandings that were whirling around our community. We were in battle gear. We were hunkered down in our trenches, basically saying, "We somehow need to survive."
25. So the mentality of the world, and this is something that has followed us even as we have transitioned into the age of settlement – this is the time when the mentality, that of survival, must change and transition into the mentality of prosperity. In a way, we were meant for greatness, we were meant to love life, we are meant to live a fulfilled and satisfied life, loving life.
26. And so a lot of our habits from the wilderness era still travel with us to this day. Many parents I have talked to about the list of things we have given to our children – all the things they cannot do. But I said, "you know what, in this age of settlement we must really, not just think about mere survival, but think about the prosperity of our family, our community, our society, our nation and our world – we have to start thinking, not just how do we survive, but how do we raise healthy, competent, and responsible young adults."
27. This is the time to shift our thinking from the list of all the things we cannot do – all the things in the life of denial – to something that is much more profound and much more inspiring.
28. I remember when I was a mother and my children were three and four and they desperately wanted to go outside and play in the rain, in the storm, in the snow – it did not matter. But of course, I, being consumed with anxiety and worry about them, I would always say, "please stay in. Do this. You cannot go outside today. Why don't we do this?" And I would try to inspire them. But I realized that, when I told them you cannot go outside and play – I realize that simply telling them, "that they cannot," was not good enough. The more I told them they could not, the more they wanted to go outside. I even got to the point that I was hiding their boots because I did not want them to go out in the middle of a blizzard. But guess what, they put on their sandals and still went out.
29. So, as a mother, I watched these little creatures with great fascination. I told them, I exercised my might, I exercised my control and power over my children by saying, "I am your mommy. You are going to become sick. You cannot go out. You cannot play in the snow. You cannot build a snowman." But I realized that, the reason they were fighting me so much and working all these ingenious and creative ways to get out there anyway and do what they wanted to do, is because I didn't give them an inspired reason as to why. I didn't move their spirit. I was just telling him what to do. I was telling them what they cannot do. I did not inspire them with all the things that they could do.
30. That is when I realized, even in my own life of faith, growing up in this movement – and I feel that I have a special role to play when it comes to our relationship with first generation and different parents, because joining the church, owning up to that decision because you are moved by True Parents, making that decision for yourself because you had a conversion experience – is vastly different from somebody who is born into this movement. In a way, everything was given to us. Everything was given to me. I didn't realize how valuable True Parents were until I decided that they are who they are.
31. My education was very much like the many many second-generation that grew up in this movement. We were given diamonds when we were toddlers, and we were told this is a very very precious stone. This is an incredible thing called true love. Take care of it. Take care of it, love it, treasure it.
32. Well, anybody that knows children when they are two or three, they don't know the difference between a crystal and a diamond. You give a child something sparkly and they will think it's a toy. They won't know how to distinguish between a diamond or a crystal. They will have fun with it. My daughter loved to throw my diamond ring into the toilet. These are the things you realize, that when you try to give a child something that they are not ready for, that they don't fully understand, they are not going to treasure it as much.
33. In my life of faith I was brought up to think True Parents are True Parents. I've been to Divine Principle lecturers, and my memory is, from the moment I could sit down. And I realized that, by the time I got to be a young teenager, I had heard so much of this stuff. So much diamonds were thrown at me that, in a way, I did not realize its value. In a way, I had to search and go on this long journey where I decided to study all the different religions of the world – and came to realize that there is something incredible in the Divine Principle. There is something incredible in the concept of our True Parents. And that's when my spirit was moved and that's when I decided, "I want to be an eternal daughter of God."
34. Just as the first generation had that conversion experience, we have to allow room for our second, third, fourth generation, who were born within the movement to come to a point in their life where they make their own decision as to who or what they want to be, because they have been moved by the spirit. No amount of power, no amount of might is going to do the job. We have to somehow reach these young people and move their spirit and make them inspired to want to love and to be loved. And that is how we change the world.
35. So when our True Parents, and when the good book says, it's not by power or might but it's by the spirit – in a way we all seek to be inspired by each other. We all seek to be inspired by God and we all seek to be inspired by our True Parents. But you know, I as the senior pastor, know that my job as a senior pastor is not to cause the congregation to be addicted to me. My job as the senior pastor is to empower you with the spirit of God, with the spirit of true love, give you the tools to be that healthy, competent, responsible human being so that you and I can go out into the world and make that change, be that agent of change. If I am the pastor, just wanting an audience, every Sunday, because this is how I get my fix – I would not be doing my job. In a way, my job is to live for the sake of others. My job is to raise you and all the brothers and sisters and your children up to be the kind of inspired people that they were meant to be – somehow move your spirit so that you can decide what kind of people you want to be.
36. Likewise, we as parents of children, have to think proactively – not always think about how we react because of our fears, fears of the world, fears of what might happen to our children. There is an old saying in Korea – don't give a child money, give them a book, don't give a child food – teach them how to plant and harvest the field, don't give a child money – teach the child the added value of working hard. In essence what this proverb is trying to say is, sometimes out of our love we do too much for our children.
37. There is this one mother, a typical Asian mother, incredibly sacrificial, sacrificing herself for her family, for her husband and her children. She is your typical Asian mother that never leaves the kitchen. She works day and night. She provides for the family, she cooks and shops for the family, she cleans, does the laundry for the family. She works so hard, because her heart is really that one of love. She wants to serve her children. But, she does her job so well, so persistently, so consistently that her children never had the chance to wash dishes, never had the chance to take out the garbage, never had the chance to learn how to launder their own clothes. So here she was, being consumed with this victim mentality, "I am a victim in that I have to live a life of denial and misery." And in a way she put this upon herself, because her heart was really pure in that she wanted to live for the sake of others and she was so giving, so giving, dying for the sake of others, that she didn't realize that, by her dying, she wasn't being the proper kind of mother that would raise healthy, competent, responsible children. In a way she did such a good job of being a servant, she forgot to be a mother. She did such a great job of being a servant she forgot to be a wife.
38. And so this is the situation that I come across many many times. And instead of her thinking and realizing, "I have four children. If I shared my responsibility and I delegated the responsibility…" And you know what, in the beginning the child is not going to clean up as well as her, the child is not going to iron the shirt as well as her, but with due persistence and effort and dedication the child will grow up to be better and actually learn the heart of living for the sake of others too, and be grateful for their father and mother, but also feel confident that they can do these things, that they are well-versed when it comes to cooking a meal, when it comes to doing the laundry, and build that kind of self-confidence in believing "I can be a responsible person." And that is what creates winners in the end.
39. You know, a great deal of sociologists and a great deal of psychologists have studied – what causes or what makes winners? And they took the worst slums of America and the most difficult areas all around the world – in the slums of India, and the difficult cities, violent cities like Harlem – and these psychologists and sociologists studied why is it that so many kids go astray and so many kids succumb to the destructive environment of their area? What is the single most important thing that allows some kids, coming from the worst situations, worst environments, to become great human beings, become that agent of change – what is it?
Florence Nightingale and some of her nurses
40. And the results are quite fascinating. As I said earlier I grew up with a list of things that I could not do. I can't date. I cannot go out dancing. I cannot drink. I cannot do all of these things. But nobody told me what I could do. Nobody told me that, "You know what – you can party all night long, but what does that leave you in the end? Maybe you might want to sacrifice going out every night. But you know what, find your passion. Develop your God-given talent. Tap into your creativity. Find out what you were born for. And if you apply yourself you can be the president of the United States. You could be the Florence Nightingale. You could be the Mahatma Gandhi."
41. Nobody told me these things. I was consumed with the feeling of being a prisoner in my own home, in my own society, in my own movement, because I had a list of all the things that I could not do. But I've often thought, that if somebody had told me what I could do, not the negative, but taking a proactive stance in my life, guiding me in such a way and telling me all the things that I could do – you could date 10,000 people, but you know what, if you save yourself as that beautiful – like the birthday gift or the Christmas gift that we all look forward to at Christmas.
42. You know I would be the first one to say, when someone gives me a gift, what I want is a beautiful packaged box and inside something that is meaningful, or something that is precious. And usually the expectation is for something new. And if somebody had told me, "the reason why we wait and we prepare ourselves for the blessing is because we want to give that person who we want to love eternally, the greatest gift that we can give, which is the gift of our lives." If somebody had told me in that way, it would have been much more inspiring than telling me, I cannot date and I cannot have sex and I cannot go out with all these people. In a way, if somebody had told me that – "if we can wait, because we are these divine eternal sons and daughters of God, and as a parent, God as our parent, what he would wish upon all of us is to be eternally happy with somebody that understands how incredibly valuable we are, and how infinitely profound we are, somebody that understands God as our Heavenly Parent, somebody that understands you and me as this precious gift of love from our Heavenly Father, something that we need to treasure, something that we need to share with a grateful heart." That's what would have inspired me, and inspired many many young men and women to make the right kind of choices.
43. In essence, when I was thinking about Christmas presents I was thinking, "there is a relative of mine that is quite famous for giving Christmas gifts." And the reason why this relative is quite famous – this person loves to package old gifts, put it in a box – but you knew the toys that were given to my children were old, because it comes in its original package, but because it has been opened it has been scotch taped. When you would look, for instance at a toy, the tires are worn out, the antenna is missing – this is the kind of a Christmas gift that my children did not look forward to. They very much were hoping, "If I get a gift, I wish it was brand-new."
44. Likewise, had somebody told me and the young people – "getting somebody precious is like receiving the greatest present, the greatest birthday or Christmas present of your life." And we all want to receive a brand-new present. Nobody wants a used present.
45. How wonderful would it be if we could inspire the youth of our movement to want to be that great gift to our future spouse – by really preserving ourselves, really working on ourselves to be that responsible, healthy, and competent human being. So that by the time we are called by God and our parents to attend the blessing we can experience the full magnitude, the full profundity, and the incredible responsibility that is laid in our care as we move towards the next level for the next phase of our lives.
46. I realize that in many respects the things that I went through as a member of my family is very much the same thing that our children are going through right now. And so, this is really a time when we must be thinking, "How can we really move the spirit of these young people." And the way we can move and inspire these young people is by giving them a clear vision of what they can be, by giving them a clear vision and dream that they can work on – by telling them that nothing is impossible. And it is that kind of a message that moves the spirit, that makes the child want to be that agent of change.
Seijin Tranberg
47. You know we have a great example in CARP, this young brother named Seijin Tranberg. He got into college and he was totally inspired by this vision that you can be the next president of the United States. He said, "well, why not me? I could be the next president of the United States." So he decided not to just go to college and stick his nose in the books, but he decided that he wanted to be an agent of change on his campus, he wanted to be somebody that can exert the right kind of influence to his colleagues, to his student body, so that they can be inspired catalyst onto the world. So he went as a proud Unificationist, he went as a proud second generation. He shared his faith freely and naturally. He talked to the kids about some of the things that we are dealing with, especially in Japan.
48. As you know I have spoken about this time and time again. We have the issue of faith breaking in Japan. My brothers and I, starting last year, really felt called by God to put an end to the faith breaking issue that is taking place in Japan. You know, Japan is one of the great superpowers of the world, but it's still refuses to understand that we Unificationists, as the citizen of that great country, have the right to exercise our religious freedom, to make our own choice in regard to how we want to exercise our faith. And so many of our brothers and sisters over the last 30 years have been abducted and kidnapped against their will – and this issue of faith breaking came to our attention when one of our brothers, Mr. Goto, was released after being held captive by his family, by the de-programmers for 12 years and five months. We are not talking 12 months and five days, we are talking 12 years and five months. And many many brothers and sisters have suffered a similar fate. And many sisters, during their time in captivity have suffered, not just mental, physical, but also sexual abuse. And so, as a woman I feel an incredible outrage towards what is being done to our dear sisters in Japan. And the government of Japan has to recognize the atrocities that are taking place. And if they are professing to be one of the great superpowers, governed under a constitution that was instituted by Gen. Douglas MacArthur after World War II, that guarantees religious freedom for all of its citizens – then our brothers and sisters should be afforded the right to choose.
49. And they chose how they wanted to live their life of faith, because they were moved by the spirit, they were moved by our Heavenly Father and Mother, they were moved by our True Parents, they were moved by our community. And they realized that they have a chance here at doing something that Jesus Christ did not have a chance to do many many thousands of years ago. They realized that this is the time of the breaking news when our True Parents are here. They realized that this is the time when we can make right the fall of man by truly grafting on to the heavenly lineage and become one family under God. These men and woman made their choice because they were moved by the spirit – unlike what people think, that it's Rev. Moon's power and might that brainwashed them. No! They were moved by the revolution of true love, they were moved by the spirit, they were moved because they realized a vision that they can substantiate in their lifetime.
50. This is what moves people to greatness. And what the sociologists and psychologists realized is exactly that – the kids who succeed out of the worst slums and out of the most difficult families, abusive, sexually abusive families, but somehow they turned out to be winners.
Oprah Winfrey
51. A great example is Oprah Winfrey. How does a woman coming from that kind of a background have the desire and the willingness to become what she dreams of? It's because she was tapped by the spirit with the vision of what she could be.
52. And when you study these findings of successful kids that managed to rise up from the difficult puddles or the muddles of life and really become a great person, you realize that first and foremost every one of them had one adult in their life that encouraged them to dream, that encouraged them to have a vision of what they would like to accomplish. One member of the family, one teacher in the school, one minister that they were incredibly fond of – but one mentor who really encourage them to dream, encouraged them to have a vision.
53. Then they realized another component to this winning combination is that every child who succeeded out of the most difficult financial, emotional, mental states that they come from – had a certain level of responsibility that was awarded them. So, regardless of how difficult a family situation was, somehow by a relationship with this one person in their life, this person not only encouraged them to dream and to hold on to that dream, but had absolute belief in them, and that they will become a great person. And they had the trust, the willingness to trust the child, to take on small responsibilities, a little bit at a time, and then constantly expanding their responsibility as a child reaches and accomplishes the short-term goals that were set by this person. In a way, it wasn't the control, or the might, that this one person exerted over a child that turned the child to greatness, but it was the trust, it is the belief in that person that allowed that child to also believe in him or herself and make, and have the desire to want to become that great person. And the trust that was given to them, which they never had in their family – young kids coming from financially difficult homes, broken homes, emotionally difficult homes – trust is not something that is given. It is not found, but this is what translated into a child feeling incredibly competent. Not arrogant, but confident as a person. It taught them by being responsible, "I can do this. I can take baby steps. I have someone who trusts me to be responsible. And even though I may mess up every once in a while, this person is entrusting me to be that responsible person." And it's the belief in knowing that you believe in the other person that the child wants to live up to that trust, live up to that relationship, live up to that responsibility – and that was another reason why these children succeeded.
54. And the third reason a child succeeded, these psychologists and sociologists realized, is again – the proactive constant praise, not flattering, but praise, constructive praise that is reinforced throughout their relationship that allowed this child from the most hideous and most destructive environment, to rise up from the ashes like the great Phoenix and soar high like an eagle.
55. This is the power of the Spirit. This is the power of the Spirit as it moved amongst you and me. So can you imagine if we can truly be a community where, looking upon our True Parents as the living paradigm of true love – and the incredible thing about True Father is, he doesn't say, "Come and listen to me and be my hostage." He says, "Go out there into the world and be that agent of change. You can be a great person."
56. And despite our failings along the way Father gives us incredible responsibility. Father gives many many leaders responsibilities that many times I feel should not be given, because we don't deserve it. But Father and Mother infinitely trust, and of course they get hurt along the way, but continue to trust and believe in the person, "That person will be a great person because that person was born to be a great person." And father continues to give us the responsibility of raising the future of our movement, the future of our world.
57. So we as parents have an incredible responsibility. In a way, partaking in this building process that will create a new generation of peace, kids who are inspired about life, kids who are moved by the spirit. Not because we exercised our power and might, not because we gave them a list of all the things they cannot do, but because we inspired them with all the things that they could do, that they can be, and that they are.
58. This is the reason why our True Parents are incredibly important to us. Because, when I read these findings I said to myself, "this is what Father teaches us and this is what he always encouraged us to do." He encouraged us to have a great role model. Find a great role model in life who you can have a relationship with.
59. And I was so lucky because in my difficult teenage years the principal of one of the schools I attended, for some reason, singled me out. When I was graduating from middle school, in my school we had an award, not just for academic excellence, but an award was given to the most gentlemanly boy graduating from middle school and the most ladylike person graduating from middle school. Because of this principal I was given this award. I saw myself anything but a lady. I was a total tomboy. I did not like skirts. I only wanted to wear pants. I did not like dolls. I wanted my plane, my tank, my bike. My parents wanted to buy me a beautiful pink bicycle with a flower basket on top, and I said absolutely not, I would like a motorcycle. For somebody like me to be given this award, it was almost like an oxymoron. "This person is the least ladylike," at least that was my perception of myself, but just the fact that somebody gave me this award and said, "you are the most ladylike person." I started thinking, "is that possible? Is it possible that one day I would wear a dress? Is it possible that I want to stay and sew and cook?"
60. It was this person's belief in me. He must have seen something in me. And he is the one who told me when I was 13, "You know what, one day you are going to go to Harvard. And one day you are going to be a great woman of faith and of life and you are going to have many many people in your life who will love you and you will have a chance to love and be loved. He made me think of a life that I never really thought about. My parents were always so busy administering to the brothers and sisters of the world that, in a way, we felt totally ignored and neglected. But that one person changed my life, in the sense that he believed in me. He saw something in me that I myself did not see. And he gave me the kind of responsibilities – he said, "Look, In Jin, if you want to be great these are the things you need to do. You have these choices in life and you have another set of choices in life. It's your choice. You need to decide." He believed in me and he made me a responsible person. He wasn't afraid to push me out there and say, "There are a lot of temptations out there, but you need to make your own decision. You are fully capable of making the right choice."
61. It's that trust that made me want to live up to the trust he had in me. When I made small successes in my life, he encouraged me, he reinforced me with positive reinforcements, "This is great. This is wonderful. You are so ahead of the game. You are going to be phenomenal." He gave me a dream of what I could be.
62. And that is when I realized the power of being a parent. We, as a parent, we can exercise power and might, but the most important thing is somehow developing relationships with our children where their spirit will be moved, and where they are put in a situation where they decide who they want to be. And that what is going to guarantee whether a child is going to be a winner – a success at life or somebody who is constantly searching and fighting.
63. Really our job in life, as parents, is to encourage and constantly reinforce our kids and our community and each other – that we can be God's eternal sons and daughters and that we can be that great person. And even if we may not see it for ourselves at the moment, know that Father and Mother, our True Parents, see our divine potential in all of us.
64. But just as a brilliant light bulb cannot be a brilliant light bulb without an energy source, it's our decision as that brilliant light bulb to plug ourselves into the socket of that incredible spirit, incredible power of true love that our True Parents are wishing to share with all of us.
65. As we move as blessed central families, the incredible thing about our True Parents is that, "Listen, you guys are my children, but you guys are not my children forever. You guys are parents too." You know the great thing about our True Parents is, for many many years we prayed in the name of True Parents. But before we came to pray in the name of True Parents many of us, as great Christians, as faithful and devout Christians, prayed in the name of Jesus Christ. Because, Jesus Christ was a symbol, a role model of something that we could tap into, could have a relationship with, someone who believed in us eternally and forever and consistently – that made us feel like Jesus trusted us to be responsible, Jesus is constantly reinforcing us through his good message. He wants us to be good people, and so we are. In a way, we as good Christians, pray in Jesus' name because that was the way we connected to our Heavenly Parent and that was the way we connected to our divinity. And when we met our True Parents we prayed in the name of True Parents because we realized that True Parents are the living paradigm of what Jesus wanted to fulfill 2000 years ago – in the form of a man and a woman.
66. And so for many many years, we prayed in the name of True Parents. But what does a father and a mother do? We don't want our children to glorify always our name, for ever and ever. We as parents want our children to be healthy, competent, responsible young adults who are confident in who they are as God's eternal sons and daughters.
67. So when you see the transition that we have made into the present state where our True Parents, having given us a blessing and opportunity to really go through the journey of creating ideal families, say, "All the foundation has been laid and now you need to start praying in your own name." In a way our True Parents come to give each and every one of us our eternal and profound dignity as that eternal son and a daughter of God. And Father and Mother are saying, "Yes, when you were a child you had to pray in my name because you didn't realize Heavenly Father, Heavily Mother, Heavenly Parent was a diamond. You just thought they were crystals or something sparkling. You didn't realize who they were, so you had to pray in the name of True Parents until you realized what was given to you in terms of your divinity, in terms of your infinite worth – is the most precious diamonds in the world."
68. And so it is truly our True Parents blessing to empower every one of us, as that spiritual being, being moved by the spirit, to really find and reclaim our dignity as an eternal son and a daughter of God by connecting to that heavenly lineage so that we no longer have to be in bondage to sin and to the Fall and everything that took place before. But our Heavenly Father and Mother is saying, "Look forward! Look forward! Be proactive! Be responsible! Be that agent of change! Be that eternal son and a daughter of God! Be that child of great and eternal dignity!" This is what our True Parents are asking us to do.
69. So brothers and sisters, I always say that the job of all of us is not just to teach the Divine Principle but to understand the magnitude and the gravitas of the time we are living in, the time when we can share in the breaking news of our True Parents and really share the good news and the breaking news of the Blessing with our fellow man so that we can truly come together as one family under God.
70. So brothers and sisters, this is a time when we should not be looking for our personal Jesus. We are the Jesus we are looking for. We are the True Parents we are looking for. This is a time when we should liberate God from thousands and thousands of years of people constantly asking God, "please exercise your power and might into my life and change my life." How many people have prayed that prayer? I have, at times. But this is the time when God is telling us, not by power or might but by the spirit. It's the spirit that runs through us, it's the spirit that is blowing in this windy city of Chicago!
71. We have to realize, we are the answer, we are the change we want to be – says Gandhi. And we have to realize that God will always and will forever be by our side. Because you know what, God is always finding little ways to make sure we feel His love. God is always making ways to make us feel His and Her love every day. And what God is saying is, "You guys! You guys are beautiful! You guys are incredibly powerful because you guys are moved by the spirit! You are the agent of change! Imagine what tomorrow can bring if you decide today what kind of a person you are going to be."
72. So God is asking us to own the game! Own our game! And yes we are a little bit different. But we are unique. We are incredible sons and daughters of God, and the world is just waiting for your beauty to unfold and shine like a beautiful light bulb onto the world.
73. And so if we can realize that God has given us everything that we need, and the only thing that we need to do is to harness our strength, to focus our vision, and to steady our stride so that we are consistent, we are steadfast, we are persistent, and there is nothing that we cannot accomplish.
74. So in this beautiful city of 'She-Ca-go.' She, is a little bit of the feminine spirit of our True Mother with us today, together with our True Father – and the great thing about our True Father is that True Father is a He who always lifts up that She, always lifts up his wife. And so following their great example, if we can truly be united with our True Parents and understand our responsibility as parents to this beautiful generation peace, that we have a chance to really change their life by becoming that incredible role model, proactive role model that encourages a child to have vision, to dream, that believes in a child to be responsible, and constantly reinforces words of love, and care, and tenderness. This is what is going to create winners out of our future generation. And as the future generation, that is going to change the world.
75. So brothers and sisters, just as the rocket has three stages – you first generation, sacrificial brothers and sisters, were like the first rocket thrusting into space! The second generation will take it that much higher to a place that we have never been, or we have never seen or experienced before! But if we continue the good work, the third and the fourth generation is going to reach the moon and back! And the moon that God has placed in our lives through the form of our True Parents is a glorious moon, and this moon is telling you and me, "Go out there you eternal sons and daughters …
76. (Sorry missed the final line)
Notes:
One World, One Heart
by Gil Roschuni
One world, one heart; one world, one heart
And one strong love to lead.One world, one heart; one world, one heart
The light of Truth to set you free.The lightning flashes across the sky,
To light the path of those who try.One world, one heart; one world, one heart
And the ancient serpent is thrown down.One world, one heart; one world, one heart
Can't you hear the trumpet sound.And many stars fall from the sky,
And they all wonder why.One world, one heart; one world, one heart
Into the age of fitting in.One world, one heart; one world, one heart
Bringing the old world to an end.Can't you hear? Please heed the call.
The call of Love meant for all men.One world, one heart; one world, one heart
Bringing the old world to an end.Zechariah, chapter 4
1: And the angel who talked with me came again, and waked me, like a man that is wakened out of his sleep.
2: And he said to me, "What do you see?" I said, "I see, and behold, a lampstand all of gold, with a bowl on the top of it, and seven lamps on it, with seven lips on each of the lamps which are on the top of it.
3: And there are two olive trees by it, one on the right of the bowl and the other on its left."
4: And I said to the angel who talked with me, "What are these, my lord?"
5: Then the angel who talked with me answered me, "Do you not know what these are?" I said, "No, my lord."
6: Then he said to me, "This is the word of the LORD to Zerub'babel: Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the LORD of hosts.
7: What are you, O great mountain? Before Zerub'babel you shall become a plain; and he shall bring forward the top stone amid shouts of `Grace, grace to it!'"
8: Moreover the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
9: "The hands of Zerub'babel have laid the foundation of this house; his hands shall also complete it. Then you will know that the LORD of hosts has sent me to you.
10: For whoever has despised the day of small things shall rejoice, and shall see the plummet in the hand of Zerub'babel. "These seven are the eyes of the LORD, which range through the whole earth."
11: Then I said to him, "What are these two olive trees on the right and the left of the lampstand?"
12: And a second time I said to him, "What are these two branches of the olive trees, which are beside the two golden pipes from which the oil is poured out?"
13: He said to me, "Do you not know what these are?" I said, "No, my lord."
14: Then he said, "These are the two anointed who stand by the Lord of the whole earth."