In Jin Moon
Bridgeport, CT
1. In Jin Nim greeted everyone. It's been a couple of years since she last visited Bridgeport.
2. Ever since our True Parents began investing in Bridgeport and in the University in 1992 we have been hearing glowing reports about what our community has done in the state of Connecticut -- to hear all the different renovations and improvements that have taken place on the campus is really an exciting thing.
3. This is an incredible opportunity for the love-life team (Lovin' Life Ministries) to come and celebrate the Sunday worship, not just together with the Bridgeport community but with all our brothers and sisters around the world.
4. First, In Jin Nim gave her heartfelt thanks to the Lovin' Life (Lovin' Life Ministries) production team who were up all night working through breakfast and up to the Sunday worship. They have done a phenomenal job. Hopefully this can be as close to a Lovin' Life Ministries as possible, technologically.
University of Bridgeport
5. In Jin Nim brings greetings from our True Parents. They are always praying and thinking about this great providential country, America. When our True Parents first purchased this University in 1992 they had great plans for this University. As you know this University sits in the center of the town of Bridgeport. In many respects In Jin Nim's father was hoping that this could be a harbor or port city – to create all sorts of bridges to link the world and bring it into this one glorious unified family of God. In Jin Nim knows that her father is hoping that this University will grow to be the representation of all that is wonderful and good about the American people and that it can be a symbol to inspire and empower the American youth – to really be that great young American, young great men and women of God that her father and mother pray for fervently each and every day.
6. It is truly In Jin Nim's honor as the senior pastor to spend time with us. Whenever she feels called or invited to come and share the pulpit with our brothers and sisters all around the country, she feels that it is such an honor for her, because it is her wish that whenever the Lovin' Life Ministries team travels, that they can share with us a bit of the breaking news – what an incredible time it is to be living at the time of our True Parents.
7. For In Jin Nim, as a woman pastor, just the fact that the living paradigm of what true love is all about is composed of a man and a woman – is incredibly exciting for her. As you know our Heavenly Parent sent their loving son, Jesus Christ, 2000 years ago, but because the Israelites were not prepared heartistically, in terms of their faith and understanding of who Jesus was, that he was the son of God sent to give us the good news, to share with us the message of true love and hopefully enlighten the consciousness of the people in his time to really be that eternal son and daughter of God. If the Israelites really understood the fullness and magnitude of Jesus' mission they would've realized that the purpose of Jesus' coming was not to die on the cross. In fact he had a wonderful mission, a glorious mission, a fulfilling mission that was cut short because the people did not realize who he was, and people were not there to protect the son of God and to realize that he was really the hope for all of humankind.
8. Because Jesus never really had that opportunity to find that beautiful wife, to complete the original purpose, or the original intention of God as to why he created Adam and Eve, man and woman, in the first place. Jesus never had the chance to build that beautiful family with that beautiful wife. He never really had a chance to fulfill what we call the Four Position Foundation in our movement, this thing called a family – with God at the helm and man and woman representing both sides of the hemisphere, coming together in heavenly matrimony, creating and inviting beautiful children into their lives and thus create the building block of a beautiful family, society, nation, and world. This is what Jesus Christ was supposed to do, this was his mission. His mission was to marry, to find that beautiful wife and to create a beautiful family.
9. And In Jin Nim is sure, just like all of us, in Jesus' attempt to create this ideal family he went through all sorts of obstacles, trials and tribulations, all the same issues that we deal with as parents, as brothers and sisters, as siblings, and as members of the extended family – all the issues he would've dealt with in attempting to build this ideal family. He would have had to deal with all the different things, and in so doing, provide a living paradigm for all of humanity to say, "Well, if Jesus can do it, so can we." And if Jesus can deal with these issues and overcome them and grow deeper and wider and taller in the process, and stronger – then so can we. And then we would have had this great working paradigm as an example for everyone to be inspired by and to aspire to.
10. But because we did not have that in the family of Jesus Christ the last 2000 years of Christian history have been a very very lonely and desolate one. If we wanted to be true believers, be that great subject for a servant of the Lord, or servant of the son of God, we thought that we had to deny everything. We had to reject the world. We had to isolate ourselves in a convent or monastery or cloister and the only thing that we could do was to work on our individual salvation. That was the best that we could do with the model that Jesus left us. And so a great many Christians, men and women, have lived a life of total sacrifice, of total denial. They never had a chance to build that beautiful family, that original mission of Jesus Christ, because we were following this solitary life of sacrifice and we felt we had to do the same.
Sun Myung Moon and Haj Ja Han, November 1, 2011
11. Fast-forward 2000 years and here we have with us this wonderful man and a beautiful woman by his side called the True Parents. Our True Father is great in that, yes he is that second coming, yes he is the son of God returned, but no matter how great the son of God is, the son of God alone cannot be the True Parents. You need a female component or a female partner, there by his side. And so for the last 2000 years the silence and the suffering of woman in the life of faith, of woman in the life of the church, was finally answered in the existence of and in the person of our True Mother. We realize that we don't have to be voiceless, we don't have to be faceless, we don't have to be a woman standing with so many burdens of guilt and fear and insecurity. We realize that we can be that eternal daughter of God, that we can reclaim our dignity as that beautiful child, beautiful daughter of God, and together actually build something beautiful with our spouse, that is called a family.
12. We realize that women have equal value. Yes men and woman are different, but before God they have equal dignity, they have equal value. And therefore it is no accident when our True Father propelled our True Mother forward in the early 90s starting with the creation of WFWP and she as the international chairwoman really toured the world and preached the breaking news. This is a great time for woman, not just to liberate themselves from men, but to liberate the world. "We should not be defined as the opposite sex, but we need to do better. In fact we need to work together with our brothers, our fathers, and our sons, and inspire them -- to become that handsome, confident, wonderful, eternal son of God.
13. In this beautiful example of our True Parents we see the completed picture and we realize that, in order to aspire to want to live a life of faith it doesn't mean that we have to lock ourselves up in our houses, lock ourselves up in a convent or monastery – we realize that we can lead an active moral life, and be that internally excellent as well as externally excellent person. We realize that the harder thing to do is to deal with our problems, not to ignore or neglect, not to eschew our problems but be in the thick of it. Deal with our problems and do the hard work of actually building that relationship, building that church, building that community, building this campus, and build an ideal world.
14. We realize that when we look at our True Parents and when we realize that that was God's original intention, to really provide a living paradigm of what true love is about and help us understand that the picture that Jesus left us – is like watching a movie halfway. It was not the completed picture, in that we never saw what happened after Jesus got married, had kids, raised a family, raise a community that thought more about others than themselves and encouraged all different nations to heal ourselves and to really work together as a local community, as one family under God. In a way, what Rev. Moon is famous for is the very thing that Jesus Christ would have done 2000 years ago.
15. In a way, if you ask people, "what do you know about Rev. Moon?" The first thing they will say is, "mass weddings." It's one of those things – people saying "Mansei!!" And lots of people getting married together. And if you don't understand the Korean, Mansei, it does sound quite monstrous. Thousands of people getting married together in huge stadiums around the country – all going "Mansei! Mansei!" And for those who lived through World War II the atrocities of the Nazi regime are still very much on our consciousness. It looks rather militaristic, but if you understand what Mansei means in Korean, it means 10,000 years of peace. So when a couple gets married we don't want to wish them just a happy decade or two, we want to wish them a happy millennium, a happy 1,000 years. When the community comes together in these marriages of thousands and tens of thousands to gather in stadiums they are all wishing each other "10,000 years of peace!" And that is what our movement is famous for.
16. If Jesus had a chance to finish his movie, to finish the story, he would have done the same – 2000 years ago. And he would've encouraged all different races, different religious backgrounds, different belief systems, different cultural backgrounds, different national interests – he would've asked all the brothers and sisters to lay down their barriers, to really come together and love each other as one family. Jesus Christ would have done the same thing that Rev. Moon has done. He would have very much encouraged international marriages. How else are two countries going to come together. Two countries come together and truly learn to love each other when they come [together] in matrimony.
17. This morning when In Jin Nim was in the green room waiting to come into the hall she had her beautiful niece and niece's tall beautiful half German half Korean husband. "We in the True Family, would make fun of them -- they are so lovey-dovey." In Jin Nim and her siblings like to watch them – they hug each other. He was stroking her hair. It is a beautiful thing to see. So, just in this couple, both Germany and Korea are represented -- it is international unity. This is what makes our movement special.
18. One of In Jin Nim's friends who works as a pastor in a Christian church, he said, "the interesting thing about your movement is that, when I come to your service I don't just see white people, I don't just see black people, I don't just see Korean people, but I see all different colors. I see all different races. I see all age groups. I see grandpa's with their grandsons. And it is a feeling that you are worshiping together with the world." And that is the beauty that True Parents bring.
19. We have a great deal to be proud of, and to be excited about. One of the things that In Jin Nim has been dealing with at HQ, together – working with her two younger brothers in Korea, the international president Dr. Rev. Hyung Jin Moon and Kook Jun Moon who runs the Korean Foundation – they have been engaged in this fight revolving around this faith breaking issue that is taking place in Japan. Our movement has come a long way, especially with the new generation coming to the forefront and stepping up to the plate and getting involved in their faith, getting involved in their communities, and even at headquarters it is so wonderful to see young faces.
20. But, one of the things we've been fighting, we've been working hard on, is this faith breaking issue that we are fighting in Japan. In the early 70s and 80s and through the early 90s, the American movement have had to deal with the misconceptions and the misunderstandings when it concerns the Unification Church. We were very much branded as this monstrous parasite infecting society, taking innocent young minds and turning them into brainwashed zombies. This was very much perpetrated by organizations like CAN (Cult Awareness Network). We have had to fight the good fight, but with the due process of law and with the Constitution at our side we could win and we could bring our cases to court and seek justice. And we were able to win a lot of legal matters concerning our members who had been abducted and kidnapped and held against their will.
21. But the same thing has been taking place in Japan. But Japan still refuses to recognize our movement as a church. Many of our Japanese brothers and sisters, especially the sisters, that have been abducted or kidnapped – they suffered unspeakable atrocities during their time of captivity. And the thing about what is taking place in Japan – at least here, when we were putting up the fight for religious freedom, we had good friends, good ministers and pastors all around the country who came to our True Parents' defense and our church's defense – and fought together with us for our liberties and our rights as citizens, --- But in Japan, it is actually the government together with the Christian ministers, that are partaking in this abduction and kidnappings that have scarred a great many brothers and sisters.
22. One year ago the story of Mr. Goto came to In Jin Nim's attention. He was held in captivity for 12 years and five months. His family had to fork over $1.5 million to this organization that deprograms people – just to hold him captive. But because of his unbreakable faith, even though they starved him almost to the brink of death, he refused to renounce his faith. And so even those captors finally had to surrender and say, "There's nothing more we can do with this guy." And they threw him out with a pair of shoes, half naked, onto the street. And thank goodness, while he attempted to crawl to safety, the second person he approached on the street happened to be a sister of our faith and she was able to take him to our hospital where he was able to recuperate. And when he did, he came to America to tell us his story and to ask the American brothers and sisters, "please help Japan." To exert the right kind of pressure through the American government so that the Japanese government can recognize our church and allow the citizens of Japan, our brothers and sisters, to exercise their right that is guaranteed in the Constitution, implemented there after World War II by Gen. Douglas MacArthur. It guarantees religious freedom. It is not being adhered to. It is being ignored. And in the process over the last 30 years many of our brothers and sisters have been abused.
23. And many of our sisters have not just been physically and emotionally abused, they have been sexually abused as well. One sister in particular, during her captivity, she was raped consecutively 33 times. You can well imagine, anything as dramatic as rape, once will do you in. But this poor woman had to suffer, grin and bear it. And she was from a community, a culture, that looks down on your personal problems. And so she felt like she had no voice. She had no way to get her story heard. A couple of the sisters who were victimized only wanted to meet In Jin Nim in secret because they did not want their identity to be shared, even within their own community. They suffer in silence.
24. What they want to see more than ever is to see our faith recognized as a legitimate faith and for them, as Japanese citizens, to be allowed to exercise their freedom of worship. All of these people are over the age of 21. They should be allowed to decide for themselves how they want to exercise their life of worship. There is even one sister who was abducted who was in her 60s. Her family abducted her because they claimed she was brainwashed.
25. This is the kind of thing taking place in Japan and even this year there are brothers and sisters continually being abducted, kidnapped, and abused.
26. When In Jin Nim heard that this Sunday would be a chance to spend time with the Bridgeport community on the Bridgeport campus – she did a lot of prayer, thinking, "Campus is a place to where children, who graduated from high school, may leave home for the first time." They're going to take time to explore who they are, come to an understanding of their identity, what they're going to do with their lives, discover their passions, apply themselves into their passions, and look towards a great career.
27. But this is also a chance when you have a huge group of people coming together wanting to change the world. In the 60s when the civil rights movement took over the American consciousness – the civil rights movement started in the churches, but it was the college campuses that really allowed the American people to really realize what is going on. And it was the students on college campuses that turned it into their own social activism. They made it their mission, and in so doing helped the civil rights movement accomplish many of its goals.
28. It's the same thing with the issues we are dealing with, when it concerns the faith breaking issues. In Jin Nim is talking about ignoring the religious liberties of these men and woman. We're talking about the sexual abuse, physical and emotional abuse, of these men and woman! Their human rights are being violated even as we speak! And so the consciousness of what is taking place – we become aware of what is going on through the churches and through the pulpits, but we need the help of the young people in all the different college campuses of the world to turn it into something of social activism – to make it their mission to say, "do we really want to grow up in a world where our human rights are violated – and that's okay? ---
29. We need to start asking the kind of questions that many people don't want to ask. Many times we are just too tired, [stuck] in our own ways, we've become fixtures in our own careers and in our lives. But, sometimes it takes the young people who are there, who want to be that agent of change, who want to change the world – and really do something about it in terms of creating a world that is better than the one they were born into.
30. When In Jin Nim thinks of college campuses – and she just had a meeting with the directors of CARP – she said, "this is an incredible time for different CARP organizations all around the country to highlight the human rights violations that are taking place in Japan and all around the world and really help the student body recognize that we as members of the campus, as citizens of this country, have a duty to uphold. We have a duty and responsibility to our country, to our future, to the future of our kids, to the future of our world – and we need to do something about it, instead of just waiting for the politicians and the good pastors and ministers to do the work for us – how much more wonderful would it be if we become our own agents of change.
31. Gandhi once said, "be the change that you want to see in others." In other words, don't wait for the world to change. You can change the world by changing yourself. I can change my world by changing myself. You can change your campus by changing yourself.
32. This is a place where people come to gain knowledge. But we need to do better than just be somebody who is sucking on the straw of knowledge and enjoying it for our own self. If we do have the opportunity to gain knowledge, we have to think about – how can we share what we have learned with others? How can we learn from what we just learned, and think of ways to make our world better, our families better, make our community better, make our nation's better. How can we as the new young generation really help create this one family of God so that we can overcome the barriers of hate, overcome the barriers of religion, overcome the barriers that divide us all.
33. And when you really ask yourself, "why is it that so many people are so afraid of Rev Moon?" If you genuinely ask yourself (In Jin Nim has asked herself) and if we ask others "why are you so afraid of Rev. Moon?" Honest people will tell you a couple of things. They'll say, "[He doesn't talk right. He sounds funny]. He doesn't look like the blue-eyed blond haired pictures of Jesus Christ we have seen. How can he be the Messiah? He doesn't look right." And, "he does more than to just share the glorious words of love. He provokes us and stimulates us to be better. Many times he comes off like one of those Chinese village teachers who teaches, pushes people to be better, forces them to do things they never thought they could do. Because he knows that we can be so much more than the limitations that we put on ourselves.
34. We realize that many times we fear what we do not know. And when the fear button is pushed all sorts of insecurities come out in many different ways. Many times we can hate that person. Then that person is a little bit strange and scary, but at the same time intriguing, and it stirs something inside of us. That person is provoking us to feel something. Mmmmmm – dangerous.
35. But when people are willing to surrender to the way that God works through the Providence – God works in mysterious ways. He does not always send us exactly what we are waiting for. He keeps his promise. He sent his son again. We have our second coming in are True Father, but he is not necessarily what we thought he would be. "He is not Jewish, he is Korean! Why Korean!? Why an Asian man? Why somebody who speaks Korean? He speaks great Japanese, but what about English?" Or maybe he just doesn't look right to lots of people, as to what a religious man should be.
36. Our True Father is a universal man. True Parents come to fulfill --- many times we've been preconditioned to think that a person, or gifts from God, can only come through a certain package. But if we can put aside our fears, if we can put aside our own limited expectations, and open up our hearts, and allow God to work in mysterious ways – then we realize, "Wow, that weird, that 'Hi Hitler' thing, actually means 10,000 years of peace. Wow, these people, seemingly like brainwashed zombies, are actually doing something really phenomenal! They are really wanting to commit themselves to God, to humanity, and to each other. They are deciding to love the world's first and then joining together as a family. Wow! How beautiful. They are living the life, living for the sake of others. Instead of me me me! Give me the money, show me the money, make me rich, make me not hungry – instead of the me me me – these are idealistic, inspired young man and woman who really want to serve the world as God's chosen servants. They want to serve humanity. They want to serve their nations. They want to serve their parents and their community. Wow! How beautiful and wonderful!"
37. You realize that when people are willing to take that great leap of faith, come to our gathering, come to our worship and really spend time together – people realize that our movement and our family is one of the most beautiful things that they have ever seen. Where else do you find extraordinary kids that are respectful of their parents, that understand the need to have inter-religious dialogue, that understand the need to respect different faiths and cultures, that understand the need to rise above our own understandings of things for a common purpose. Where else do fine young men and women – not driven to succeed because they are following the philosophy of show me the money, but because they are inspired to be great eternal sons and daughters. And success and prosperity is a byproduct of their lives. Where else do you find these kinds of people?
38. It's a beautiful thing, and so we should not be afraid to share this wonderful news, this breaking news with the rest of the world. Probably one of the most wonderful gifts we can give to each other is the news of our True Parents and the news that, instead of living our lives in this fallen lineage we have the chance to graft onto the true lineage and become part of the heavenly family. Through our True Parents, they were able to indemnify the fall of man, and by uniting together with them, in working together, we can build a beautiful world, we can build a holistic world, a world that is fulfilling, that is satisfying, the world that is enjoyable, a world that is beautiful and loving.
39. In a way, God wants us to love our life. The greatest gift that God gave to all of us is this chance at living this life, living out this life. And, in one sense life is incredibly short. But in another sense it is incredibly long. And really, what we need to think of as that eternal son or daughter of God, "what are we going to do as great man and woman of God, as citizens of this great country to truly take it a notch up or a step further – so that every generation that comes after us – slowly starts building a beautiful world."
40. At Lovin' Life Ministries, when they get together and think about – "what are we going to talk about this time, how are we going to inspire, how are we going to share the breaking news?" – we ask ourselves and we brainstorm around the room many times about different ways and methods – and our Lovin' Life Ministries has unrolled in the last year or so this thing called the Launch-Pad. We are not here to share the news, just to share the words of Rev. and Mrs. Moon. We are here to do the actual work of building the kingdom, of building that family – which means, regardless of the great blueprint that our True Parents have for the world – before you can build a great mansion, or cabin, or great condominium, or great skyscraper, you have to have a blueprint, and our True Parents have provided us with a blueprint. But regardless of how wonderful the blueprint is, it will never come to fruition in that glorious skyscraper, or beautiful condominium or mansion on the Hill or that beautiful log cabin in the woods – if we don't build it, if we don't work together.
41. [We have] different people with different skills. We need plumbers. You need electricians. You need people who know how to hammer the nails right. You need people who specialize in building the frame. Before that you need people who know how to build the right kind of foundation for the house or the building that we are building. You need all sorts of different people with different skills, to come together and really build that great monument, great house, or great building.
42. Building one family at a time, it takes teamwork. You can't build a family on your own. If you don't have a partnership with your spouse, if you don't have an understanding with your kids that – we are a team, we are one building block, and we are going to try our best to be the best, the strongest building block that we can possibly build. One family at a time. If we don't do that, regardless of how great the blueprint is for the family, the family will never be as great as it can be.
43. Likewise when we are building a ministry, this ministry is not just about HQ. It is really about creating the kind of communities, it's not just about receiving Father's words and memorizing Father's words and being really good at reciting them from time to time – it's not just words. We have to make the words flesh. We have to apply the words into the reality of our lives. And therefore building a ministry is like building a huge family. You cannot do it alone. We need everyone from Seattle to work together with HQ. We need everybody from the Bay Area to work together with HQ. We need everyone from Atlanta to work together with HQ. We need everybody to work together with each other in order to really fully experience what a beautiful house or community that God envisions for all of us.
44. We have to realize that God has a great vision for our time. God has a huge and a beautiful house that he wants to welcome all of humanity in. God has a blueprint in his hands and what he is asking, by asking different people to be leaders, different district directors, different state leaders, different co-directors of Lovin' Life Ministries – God is asking all of us to work together, to build it one family, one community at a time. And the great thing about having different district pastors and different Lovin' Life Ministries co-pastors all around the country is that we have the same message, but the different pastors are cognizant of the needs of each community. This is a wonderful chance to have the same vision, inherit the same vision, apply the same vision – but because God made us so gloriously unique, men and women, different ages, different interests – then the way it is expressed in a community can be in many, many different ways, truly representing everybody in the community who participates.
45. If we work together through the Launch-Pad, through our District Pastors, and through the different things that we are doing at HQ, sooner or later we are going to start realizing that we are changing our world, we are changing our movement. Look around you, the Sunday service you used to go to three years ago is vastly different from the one you are attending now. The Summer Camps that we are developing for the children are very different from the summer camps that the older blessed children have gone through. The leadership training module that we are creating for future leadership is very different from what we had before. In fact we didn't have any before. And the educational curriculum that we are rolling out month after month is incredibly different than what we had before. We never really had an educational curriculum.
46. And therefore certain things, like providing brothers and sisters with a blessing manual – "who would have thought that would be something people might want to have." These things that are necessary in terms of applying the Principle into our daily lives so that we can make the word flesh. This is what we are doing here at HQ, to really inspire and empower each man and woman of our movement to be their best.
47. This is a time when we need to understand that we are going through a transitional phase in our movement from the first generation to the second generation on to the third generation. Each generation has its pros and cons. Each generation has its great habits and not such good habits. And what we are trying to do is not to throw the baby out with the bathwater – we would like to keep the baby, but we would like this baby to grow up healthy, holistic, organic, and inspired. We would like this baby to grow up into that inspired, empowered, young men and woman that are really going to be that bridge to connect all the different interests, passions, careers, nations – all around the country. These are the people that are going to be the agent of change, who connect the dots for all of humanity.
48. So if we work together. Many times we are thinking, "Where is the grand picture? Where is the grand vision?" The vision is there and sometimes we have to have the courage to trust the leadership. "I know it has not always been easy. But, I need your trust. You need my trust. We need to work together. As the senior pastor, when I ask each District Pastor to connect the dots – they might be thinking, "what is she putting us through? Kindergarten? Asking us to connect dots, asking us to work together." Yes you work for UPF, yes you work for WFWP, yes, you work for CARP. But, you know what, if we really want to fight the faith breaking issue we need to work together. And ACLC when I go to Capitol Hill you are coming with me. We need to harness the power that is already there.
49. A great example is – our True Father laid an incredible foundation in New York City. We have the Manhattan Center, the New Yorker, and 43rd St., what we now call the Learning Center. These are three incredible monumental assets that our True Parents have prepared. But before, every entity was working independently and against each other. The CEO of the Manhattan Center did not talk to the CEO of the New Yorker, even though they shared several floors in the building. And 43rd St. was more like a tomb. There was no life. But when Father envisioned these three assets of our movement – it is like a Trinity, to come together as a holistic body. The Manhattan Center is the cultural gem of midtown New York, it is artistic, it is feminine. The New Yorker is a great example of Art Deco building. It is massive. It is very masculine. The learning center is a great place, like a birthplace for future leaders to come out of. It is like a family. You have a mom and a dad you have a place where children can hang and grow and be inspired. When these three assets start working together then we start seeing the magic happen.
50. In Jin Nim said [to the New Yorker CEO] -- here you are trying to sell rooms, individual rooms one at a time, but if you and the Manhattan Center work together think of the vacation packages you can offer your guests. When they come and stay at your hotel, they are not just staying at the hotel but maybe they could get a discount on some phenomenal concerts that are taking place in the Manhattan Center. We are talking about working together. We're talking about connecting the dots, about creating a synergistic relationship so that what we have together is much greater than what we were independently.
51. This is the incredible thing about being a unified family. Manhattan Center, New Yorker, 43rd St. – is just one example in the city of New York. But our True Parents have prepared huge assets all around the world and especially in America in the beautiful brothers and sisters who have really hung on, who have been with our True Parents all these years. If we can harness all of our strength together then we can really build something exciting and something phenomenal.
52. As a senior pastor, In Jin Nim's vision is to raise that beautiful generation of peace. And by generation of these she means young men and women who understand that they belong to one family of God, in that they know we all belong to our Eternal Parents. And as eternal sons and daughters of God, they have a responsibility to have a purpose in their lives to really treat this most important gift of our lives and give back something to the world, really honor our God through the way we live our lives – by leaving something beautiful behind in the form of our children, inspired children. Not depressed, not uninspired, but inspired and empowered children.
53. And generation peace young men and women, they would really be compelled to live a life of compassion, thinking about others, caring about others. How many people can you meet in New York City who are willing to go out of their way to give you a warm hello. Our modern day is quite cold and quite fragmented and compartmentalized. But we need to be the people that care.
54. We should not be, regardless of what a great church or a lawyer we are, who look down on the less fortunate the less educated. We should be the kind of lawyers that want to do great work to raise up society to be better than us.
55. And then we also need to be the kind of people who want to live a life of altruism, living life for the sake of others. We will not be satisfied in being happy ourselves.
56. This reminds In Jin Nim of a conversation she had with a young girl who is going through some difficult times. She said, "In Jin Nim you are doing Lovin' Life Ministries. That is good, but I want to do my own thing. I want to be left alone." And In Jin Nim asked her, "How much do you want to be left alone?" And she said, "I don't need the world, I don't need my parents, I don't need anybody. I just have me. That is all I need." And In Jin Nim asked her, "regardless of how independent or how fabulous or how capable you are, do you not need to go to the grocery store?" And she looked at her, "what do you mean?" In Jin Nim explained, "every time you go to the grocery store and you have that opportunity to come back and prepare something for you, for your siblings, or whoever else you like on your list, you have to realize that there is somebody who prepared that food, who harvested that grain or that vegetable that you like so much. You are dependent on other people, regardless of how independent you want to be. You can never ever really be independent. If you use public transportation then you are dependent already aren't you? You are dependent on the public transportation, on the person who is running the system. If you want to see a movie then you are dependent on Hollywood to produce the movie. You are dependent on the theater to show your favorite show at your favorite time. So regardless of how independent and how alone you want to be, we all need each other."
57. Many times we think that we are --- special. All I need to do is to take care of my family. "The work that you are doing is great, but I am going to concentrate on my family and that is the only thing that matters." But the thing about the world is that, regardless of how well-meaning we all are in thinking that we are only going to take of our own children – if we don't partake of building a better world, a safer world, then we are not being great parents – in that sooner or later the world is going to affect the children, our precious children. Therefore instead of thinking of our family is just that one dot, the only thing we need to think about. "You guys can do the work I am going to just concentrate on my family." That is really not a smart thing to do. Because there is no way you can keep the world away from your children, if they reside and participate and grow in the world.
58. We, as a parent, have a certain level of duty to be our own agent of change in wanting to create a better world for our children. And therefore living a life of altruism is actually a very rewarding way of taking the best -- and then we realize that, especially on campus, we have the opportunity to be not just internally excellent but externally excellent.
59. We need to ask ourselves a tough question, "Why do we want to be externally excellent?" Is it because we want that quick fix, we want that hot shiny new car, we want that beautiful woman, or that handsome man, we want that mansion with a swimming pool." Is that the reason why you want to be externally excellent? In Jin Nim works with a lot of rich and famous people in New York City who do have their mansions, have their swimming pools and the Jacuzzis – and you realize at the end of the day, regardless of what they have, and many people who are not internally excellent know that they are missing something in their lives, that they have to try to fill their lives with all these superfluous things that make them feel like they are somehow accepted or respected by society, living at this incredible address up on the Hill and therefore should be respected, they should be honored, this is the mark of their achievement, "this is the reason why everybody greets me in such a way, or I belong to a certain club and therefore I am a worthy person."
60. We need to ask ourselves why do we want to be externally excellent. We want to be externally excellent because our lives are a gift that our Heavenly Parent gave to us. We have the duty not to just be beautiful internally, but to really manifest that in everything that we do externally.
61. A Generation of Peace will be kids who are solid in their faith, who are solid in their understanding of who God is in their life, who True Parents are, who they are, and how they should live their lives. Their lives should be full of purpose and yet at the same time, if they consistently be the kind of awesome people that they are, regardless of what they do, their success and prosperity become the byproduct of the kind of people that they are.
62. In Jin Nim realized that as a mother and as a senior pastor, one of the greatest missions that she has is really in raising young kids and to inspire the second third and fourth generation to be the best. She is also hoping that the parents can work together with her, because regardless of how well-meaning she is, she cannot do the job without us. This is a great opportunity to ask ourselves, "yes doing the homework, connecting the dots can be monotonous, sometimes grueling work, tedious work, but every now and then – take a step back. Meaning, every now and then, for the last three years at HQ we have been connecting the dots. Every now and then take a look and ask yourself, "is our movement different from what it was three years ago?" "Are we making improvements? Are we going in the right direction? Are we losing our second and third generation like the way we have been for the last 20 years, or are they being inspired, and not just inspired are they committing themselves to their live of faith, becoming more involved in their active life of faith." Ask ourselves these questions, and when we do, when we do take a step back every now and then, to look at the big picture, we realize that what seemed like tedious grueling difficult work, actually was a process that we have been going through and are going through, to create this incredible tapestry, incredible painting – worthy of being hung in the Smithsonian Institute. This beautiful picture of a loving family, of a loving society, a loving community, of a loving nation, and take pride in knowing that we've done it together.
63. "So brothers and sisters, the first three years have really been a time when we've been digging our foundation, inspired by the blueprint that we see before us, that God has shared with us. And all we need to do is to keep on building on that foundation. Develop trust, develop and love as we go forward, and before we know it, we take a moment to step back and look at our community and our movement again, you'll come to realize, I will come to realize, that we have something exciting, something beautiful in each other."
64. "The band earlier, sang, "I want to know what love is" and probably more than any place on earth college campus is a place where young people ask, "I want to know what love is." And many times we think that love is something we have to find out there. We have to search long and hard. It is not something that is tangible that is nearby. "I want to know what love is, want to feel what love is." What God is telling us is, "you are the love. You are the love. You are the agent of change on the world." I want to feel what love is, but in order to be that agent of change you have to realize that we are the love that we so long for, we so strive for, that we have searched long and hard for."
65. "If we can just change our way of thinking, to realize that we are the whole package. God has prepared us well. If we realize that the only thing we need to do is to tap into our own divinity and to decide today, "Wow! I am the love I want to be!" Decide today that we are going to be the love unto the world, that peaceful world."
66. "Brothers and sisters, be that bridge, continue to connect the dots, and know that there is a beautiful picture at the end of the rainbow and all we need to do is to really stay vigilant in our unity with our True Parents and persevere with a new determination, that there is really nothing that we cannot accomplish once we decide to do so."
67. So you are the love! God bless!
Notes:
I Want To Know What Love Is - Mick Jones, Foreigner
I gotta take a little time
A little time to think things over
I better read between the lines
In case I need it when I'm older
Aaaah woah-ah-aahNow this mountain I must climb
Feels like a world upon my shoulders
And through the clouds I see love shine
It keeps me warm as life grows colderIn my life there's been heartache and pain
I don't know if I can face it again
Can't stop now, I've traveled so far
To change this lonely lifeI wanna know what love is
I want you to show me
I wanna feel what love is
I know you can show me
Aaaah woah-oh-oohI'm gonna take a little time
A little time to look around me, oooh ooh-ooh ooh-ooh oooh
I've got nowhere left to hide
It looks like love has finally found meIn my life there's been heartache and pain
I don't know if I can face it again
I can't stop now, I've traveled so far
To change this lonely lifeI wanna know what love is
I want you to show me
I wanna feel what love is
I know you can show me
I wanna know what love is
I want you to show me
And I wanna feel, I want to feel what love is
And I know, I know you can show meLet's talk about love
(I wanna know what love is) the love that you feel inside
(I want you to show me) I'm feeling so much love
(I wanna feel what love is) no, you just cannot hide
(I know you can show me) yeah, woah-oh-ooh
I wanna know what love is, let's talk about love
(I want you to show me) I wanna feel it too
(I wanna feel what love is) I wanna feel it too
And I know, and I know, I know you can show me
Show me what is real, woah (woah), yeah I know
(I wanna know what love is) hey I wanna know what love
(I want you to show me), I wanna know, I wanna know, want know
(I wanna feel what love is), hey I wanna feel, love
I know you can show me, yeah