Sermon Notes, March 27, 2011

In Jin Moon

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1) In Jin Nim gave everyone a warm greeting (after an especially enthusiastic greeting from the congregation).

2) She got back really late from Las Vegas after spending time with True Parents (True Parents). They send us their greetings and their love.

3) Every time she spends time with our True Parents she is amazed at how much they love the American movement, all the brothers and sisters. As our True Parents continue to pray for the quick recovery of Japan -- you know our True Parents are always thinking how can we revitalize our American movement and inspire the American people to understand what a providential country this is -- that God blessed this country of America so that it would be able to play a very crucial role in the Providence, for the sake of the world. So, True Father and True Mother are always thinking about, how can America truly exercise its ability to influence the world in a good way, to bring about this understanding of peace and love and unity.

4) Every time she spends time with True Parents In Jin Nim is reminded how much America is important to them. Father is always thinking, "here I am in what is known as the Sin City of Las Vegas," (you know there is an ongoing campaign that "what happens in Las Vegas stays in Las Vegas,") but father is there because he wants to change that campaign around -- because what happens in Las Vegas, he wants the whole world to hear about it.

5) He has put himself down in the center of what is known as Sin City and he is injecting the spirit of our Heavenly Parent and an understanding of living for the sake of others -- practicing true love in our lives. Father and Mother want to inject a bit of heaven and transform Sin City into the Shining City.

6) Last time in Las Vegas Father went a step further, not only does he want it to be a shining city -- he wants Las Vegas to be the city of the Sun, giving out its warmth and light to the rest of the world. When In Jin Nim sees the transition that is taking place with Las Vegas, such as our understanding of Las Vegas from a Sin City to the Shining City on the hill and now Sun City.

7) The way our True Father sees things and likes to play around with the letters in the words, it is extremely interesting to In Jin Nim. When she thinks about Las Vegas being Sin City -- smack in the middle between the S and the N there is an "I". In Jin Nim has often thought that people who live in sin, who breathed a sinful lifestyle, are really living a life of Insanity. But with a bit of heaven, and changing it into a Shining City, and into Sun City -- instead of the insanity of living a sinful life, Father wants to take us to a place where the letter U is smack in the middle between the letters S and N. in a way we become the Sun, this brilliant light where we can truly live our lives, not in the insanity of a sinful existence, but in total and absolute unity with our Heavenly Parents and our True Parents.

8) When Father and Mother are asking all of us to tap into our divinity, to be that sun unto the world, what they are asking us to do is to be absolutely united with our God up in heaven and our True Parents, their physical representatives -- so that we can truly inspire and bathe the world in this beautiful loving light of true love.

9) When In Jin Nim thinks about our True Parents and the desires of our True Parents for Las Vegas to be the Sun City, and True Father has told her that Las Vegas is a place where everyone comes to make money -- how wonderful it would be, in light of what just took place in Japan, this tragedy, the aftermath of the tsunami unfolding day by day, on CNN and all the news networks -- how wonderful if Las Vegas, instead of being the sin city, could inherit God's heart by uniting with our Heavenly Parent and start to shine its brilliance unto the world by not being known as the city where people go to make money, to grab money for themselves, but the city that, with the nudge of our True Parents, can be a place where a lot of finances can be harvested for great works, such as helping Japan in the aftermath of the tsunami. This is the way our True Parents think all the time.

10) As In Jin Nim was flying back last night she was thinking about all the things her father shared with her and the other members of her family, and it was a very interesting flight. It started off like any other flight with the guidance from the stewardess, the usual routine -- the plane runs down the runway and you feel yourself lifting, and your body pulled down by gravity, and you are soaring into the heavens and you see the city that you left behind -- and the stewardess tells you in four hours and 30 minutes we will be back in New York City.

11) But on this flight there was a bit of turbulence. Parts of the flight got pretty bad. One of the persons sitting near In Jin Nim, to her right was big and burly, too big for his seat. He looked like an ex-Marine -- nothing could deter him, like a rock. He had a big physical presence. But when the plane started trembling and rattling -- there was some nervous laughter "that wasn't so bad." But it happened again and people looked around more quickly, looking up at the ceiling and outside the window, even though it was pitch black, and then you could begin to see the different characters of people come out. Because people were pressed against the possibility -- "what if this is the end? What if this is the last moment? What if these people looking nervously around are going to be the people to go with me to the other world." You see the fear and the uncertainty creep up. And this man who looks like an ex-Marine, strong and brawny, that nothing could scare -- he started to look a bit nervous. And as the plane continued to rattle he started to do the sign of the cross with his hand. It revealed that he was afraid. Later on he was moving back and forth in his seat, his face becoming more and more intense, and after a while the turbulence calmed down and the Marine did his last cross and settle down into sleep.

12) This experience made In Jin Nim think about a lot of things. She experienced a near life and death experience at sea when she was 12 years old, when she was certain she was going to die -- because she could not make out the waves from the sky, everything looked like it was headed towards the end. She remembers that time, her father held her hand and told her he was there -- and there was an incredible feeling of serenity and peace in the midst of all the calamity and chaos.

13) And so In Jin Nim thought, "okay, this gentleman seated next to her thought that he may be near his end." She thought, "what if this were her last flight, how would she feel about it? And when she thought about it she realized, if God were to take her then, at that moment, she would be so grateful for having the opportunity to have lived thus far." And she was overcome with the incredible sense of gratitude. This sense of gratitude became more acute when she thought about the good people here at the Lovin' Life Ministry and the good brothers and sisters of America that she has come to know a little bit better, and come to love. And she thought, if this is the last day, then she can go, knowing that she is extraordinarily grateful for the opportunity to have loved and to have been loved by so many people.(she expressed this with tears)

14) When In Jin Nim thought about this word gratitude, and she has often joked how gratitude sounds like "great attitude", two words. And being grateful is really having the right kind of attitude, or perspective, or approach to life. And one of the things that she realized in all of the winners that she has come to see in her lifetime, in and out of the movement, she realized that the majority of these people, including our True Parents -- they have this characteristic in that they practice this attitude of gratitude, this great attitude.

15) When you are trying to live a life as an ideal person, and she often jokes that life is great in that it really puts us to the test -- such as we say we want to be ideal, well it's going to make us deal with a lot of different things. Good, wise, men and women throughout the centuries have always talked about how you cannot have triumph without struggles. You cannot have victories without obstacles. And many times victories are made that much sweeter by having been defeated.

16) We know that when we are trying to live an ideal life, that there will be difficulties, there will be struggles. And implicit in the word ideal is the word, to deal with, we have to deal with a lot of these things. But because we know and believe, that we are the eternal sons and daughters of our Heavenly Parent, we know that as long as we keep on going, and keep on growing, and as long as we keep on learning -- that sooner or later we will be able to be a beautiful, brilliant light unto the world, and in the process leave something beautiful behind in the form of our children and our future generations.

17) When In Jin Nim thinks about the word gratitude, she reminds herself, "yes we have to maintain a great attitude, but that also means there is going to be a lots of great grating in the process." We are going to have to grate, we need to rub up against, like when we grate cheese -- we have to do a lot of grating to prepare ourselves to be that person that can maintain this great attitude and exercise this great attitude throughout our lives.

18) And the word gratitude is also a reminder to all of us, not to be "crate"-ful, meaning -- the word crate, it can be understood as a box that holds different things, like a wooden crate. But the secondary meaning of the word crate -- means, like an old decrepit airplane or car, something that is rotting away. So when we want to maintain a grateful attitude it is a reminder not to be "crate-ful" in our attitude, in that we must take ourselves out of this position where we put ourselves in, as this box that just holds lots of baggage, that holds lots of negativity, that holds lots of reasons not to believe -- and therefore weigh ourselves down into this existence where we turn into crates -- these old decrepit airplanes and cars that can no longer function the way they did in their prime. Maybe once we were like a Concorde Jet, like a great Honda Civic, or like a Ferrari (for sports enthusiast), but because we forgot to maintain this great attitude of gratitude we allowed ourselves to be living a crate like existence, not realizing we should be grateful for even the grating that takes place along the way on our road of self-discovery. Because if you really, really think about it, a great attitude comes in understanding that we have been tremendously blessed, and it comes from an understanding of who we are, that we are the eternal children of our Heavenly Parent up in heaven -- and thus we are divine. Our lives have been touched by God, in a way, we were meant to be loved and to be loved, we were meant to do great things, we were meant to inspire our generation, inspire our children in the world.

19) When In Jin Nim thinks about this "great" word, this gratitude attitude -- one of the biggest challenges we have in our lives of faith, trying to be a good mom, a good friend, a great sister and daughter, a son and a father, and so on -- is that many times life has a way of introducing more than what we planned for. We cannot plan everything. There are things that she never planned for. She certainly never planned to be married to a guy that they use to all call "fish-eye." This is more than plans. She had a great plan before she got married at 18, she wanted to be a medical Dr.. She thought that until the age of 30 she had clear sailing. "World of academia here I come!" She didn't have to worry about marriage. She thought that her medical career would guarantee that she would not have to deal with marriage until after she became a doctor. But of course True Parents and God had a different plan for her.

20) One of the things about life, regardless of how much planning we do, and how brilliant we think we are -- planning or outlining our life exactly the way we would like our life to be -- you know many times In Jin Nim comes across blessed children who have every half-decade of their life mapped out, almost to a "T", so that there's no room for anything else. She said to them, your plan looks great but what if, in the year two of your great plan God intervenes and says "I want you to go to Africa. I want you to work as a missionary in Africa." What would you do with your plan? Regardless of how great our planning abilities might be, life has a way of introducing things that we never planned for, or we never expected.

21) How do we maintain this heart of gratitude in spite of the fact that life will continually challenge us, it will continually provoke us, continually nudge us to grow and to expand and to deepen, whether we planned for it or not?

22) One of the quotes that In Jin Nim likes to remind herself when she is confronted by things she did not plan for, when life affords her something that is more than what she had planned for, she loves to look in the Good Book, at Jeremiah, 29:11 -- it says, "I know my plans for you, says the Lord -- for your welfare and not for your harm. For the future of hope that I see in you."

23) This is a beautiful, beautiful quote, because this is God telling us -- regardless of how great our plans might be in life, regardless of how many things we might want to do ourselves -- perhaps we want to go right but God tells us to go left, we want to go down but God tells us to go up -- this is a reminder that God doesn't always call us at our convenience. God calls us, sometimes, when we least expect to be called. Many times God asks us to do things that we do not factor into our plans. This quote is a reminder for all of us to do our part, our 5% responsibility of preparing our lives always to receive, but always leave a space for our Parent up in heaven. Allow God the space to work His and Her mysterious magic and do not be so locked into our plans -- that we have no space for God. Because, when we lock ourselves into plans so trenchantly and in a petrified manner -- God will test us and God will push us. God will encourage us to grow, and when that happens, that is our time to step up to the plate and heed God's calling and listen to the voice that is in our heart. And despite our plans, despite our goodwill, despite thinking we know better, we need to listen to that inner voice, to the voice of God.

24) In Jin Nim realized a couple of things, when she struggled with this word, trying to maintain this great attitude toward her life -- and many times when she thought about -- in order to maintain a great attitude we must do 1, 2, and 3. But sometimes a great way to think about it, is not to think about what a great attitude is defined as -- by 1, 2, and 3, but to look at it from another perspective -- look at the word, at what it is not. We know what a great attitude is, the heart of devotion and love, being grateful and thankful for everything we have. But sometimes it is good to think what a great attitude of gratitude is not.

25) Three things come to In Jin Nim's mind what gratitude is not. When we don't have gratitude in our lives, when In Jin Nim does not have gratitude in her life, when she catches herself being ungrateful -- she finds herself craving for things. Instead of thinking, "I have been given so much. I have been given this and that -- and God has taken care of everything for me." But sometimes when she is not feeling grateful -- she starts thinking, "What about that. I desire that. I'm in need of that. I crave that. I want that."

26) It's interesting when you look at the English language -- right underneath the word crave is the word craven. When you study etymology you find the French origin -- meaning to break, or the Latin origin -- which means to creak and rattle. When you are craven, when you are feeling not that good about your life -- craven can mean cowardly, someone who is always afraid. So when you're constantly craving something you are craving something because you feel like everything that you have will disappear, it has no value, therefore you're always wanting something else.

27) So we are lost in this constant sea of insecurity because we cannot find a firm footing. Instead of going through the feelings of craving things, craving more and more and more because we are so dissatisfied with our lives -- what we really need to be doing if we have this attitude of gratitude is to just be firm in knowing that we are God's eternal sons and daughters and that we don't have to be craving, we do not have to be afraid. We do not have to be a coward. We can be brave in knowing that God, our Heavenly Parent, walks along with us.

28) Just recently In Jin Nim had this really, really moving experience. You may have noticed that on the stage at Lovin' Life there was a member from the LA community. (In Jin Nim thanked the LA community for letting their guitar player come and play with Lovin' Life.) His name is Matt and he sent In Jin Nim an e-mail. When In Jin Nim asked him to come and play with Sonic Cult he was extremely, extremely inspired and excited. Friday was rehearsal and he came even though In Jin Nim was not there, and she heard they had a typically great rehearsal session. But he wrote her this e-mail that really moved her. First he thanked her and the Lovin' Life team for welcoming him to New York. And of course any great musician, or aspiring musician -- and when you think of Sonic Cult and the Lovin Life Ministry -- of course you want to be part of that band and play for our brothers and sisters all across the United States who join with us on Sunday mornings. There's a great deal of craving and wanting to stand on stage with the band. As In Jin Nim goes through the digestive processes of firming up who the band members are going to be -- there are going to be a lot of people who won't make it, and a lot of people who think they are good enough, but perhaps they are not. And, as the person who is responsible for the band, In Jin Nim will want to put the best players out there for our movement -- in a way the band becomes the face of our movement to the world. But trying to juggle different players -- it's almost like putting together a jigsaw puzzle. You have find the right pieces that fit -- to make the band work, to make it an incredible rocking band. And to do that takes time and many trials and tribulations. You have to try out a lot of people. Some people just click and some people will not.

29) And so a lot of good and bad feelings can be interwoven in this history of making Sonic Cult. But this brother's e-mail really, really touched In Jin Nim -- because he used to play with her brother's band, for four years. Every time her brother traveled to Japan he was one of the guitar players who played for her brother's band -- but he came (to NY) with a heart that whatever happen, it is an extreme privilege for him to be there. But what moved In Jin Nim the most about this man is that he wrote in the e-mail that his dream is to do exactly what he is getting a chance to do -- to perform for the Lovin' Life Ministry. In a way, as a musician he could not wish for anything else -- to be a part of what Hyo Jin Oppa's legacy has been at the Manhattan Center -- and to continue working on that legacy, together, with another member of the family -- is something that calls to him in his heart.

30) But he said, having gone through the rehearsal, he realized, "yes I am a good guitar player, but the other players' level is so high -- I feel like I'm dragging the band down." So, instead of trying to crave it so much, that he clings on to something like this, like a dead weight singer -- what he was saying to In Jin Nim (and she did not hear him at rehearsal, so she had no opinion) but his own opinion, his assessment, was saying "you need something better." And, in having this one opportunity -- which he thinks will be his last, has been more than he could wish for. This experience and the help he got from the other players in the band -- to fine tune his sound -- (you know guitar playing is not just notes -- it's creating that unique sound that will add something to the band) -- he was saying that what he'd learned on this trip is what he will take back to LA, and he would do his utmost to make LA a great satellite church of Lovin' Life.

31) He was an example, and he is an example, of somebody who is experiencing and practicing a heart of gratitude instead of being a person who is not practicing gratitude -- and therefore fall into the pitfalls of feeling this constant craving. He was saying, "Our church and our movement deserves better. I'm good but perhaps not good enough." And frankly he is better than some of the guitar players we have had on the stage. For In Jin Nim, to get this kind of assessment of his performance -- and what he wants for our movement -- that was absolutely extraordinary.

32) LA is incredibly blessed to have a brother like that. A brother who lives and practices this heart of gratitude. So, can we give Matt a round of applause?

33) When In Jin Nim things about what gratitude is not, the second point, she thinks about -- this phrase that her Mom used to tell the little ones. Her mom used to tell them when they were little, because as children they used to think just about themselves, "don't grab and brag." Meaning, grab the things to your mouth and then brag about how great you are.

34) This is something that was inculcated into all of their brains. As In Jin Nim has lived through her years and seen different phases of people's lives -- first and second and even third or fourth generation, she has seen how many times, if we don't maintain this heart of gratitude, this heart of living a blessed sanctified life, a holy sacred life -- many times we feel like life is tough, life is hard, nobody is going to do it for me, God is not there for me, so I need to grab and I need to brag. And In Jin Nim has seen this in the best of people, in a lot of second generation who have come to the Manhattan Center and looked at Lovin' Life and all the things that are taking place. And, the incredible thing about a camera is that a camera does not lie. So the people in the audience need to realize that you are on camera, and the second generation need to know this too. When the camera sweeps the audience, you know after every service they have to edit -- to make sure it sounds right for duplication -- they are always reviewing the different camera shots that play into what Lovin' Life becomes in the end.

35) And you can tell a lot by the way people stand, by the way they look, by the way they hold their head -- and a great majority of second generation are good. Their heartistic approach to Lovin' Life and our movement is good. But there are some who, when the camera catches them, you realize that they are here for the wrong reason. They may be here to take something back that they can criticize on their blog or on the internet -- or maybe they are here because there is a lot of opportunity and they want to grab it -- they're thinking, "How can I get myself on stage, how can I act the part to get in In Jin Nim's good graces, to get what I want. How can I grab it for myself?" But if we really understand that our lives are sacred and our lives are blessed -- our life is not like a toy store where we go and grab things for ourselves.

36) God determines who, how, and when He wants to use somebody. We can do the best we can, but God works through whom He and She chooses to work through. If we have this attitude of grabbing things from God, grabbing things from the community, "I want to be a great singer so how can I use this platform of Lovin' Life to my advantage?" If you approach it in this way your hearts will never be able to touch as many people as it was meant to touch. And the more you start grabbing, the more you realize you're just adding these sinkers onto yourself. So regardless of how talented you are, regardless of how succulent a worm you are at the end of the fishing pole, capable of catching this great, great fish with which you can have a fantastic feast for your family, movement, and nation -- if you don't realize and maintain that humble heart, a heart where you allow God the space to work and room to maneuver in your life so that wonderful things can take place -- then you will never catch the big fish you were meant to catch. You will never prepare that fantastic feast that you were meant to prepare for your family.

37) If we are bound and weighted down by all these sinkers that we put onto ourselves -- and you know sometimes when In Jin Nim sees good young men and woman doing that, she wonders what are they grabbing for? Our lives could end tomorrow. What is all this grabbing for? Why make ourselves rich and fat when really what we need to be thinking is how do we make others happy. How do we make others inspired? How do we give to others so that they can reach their potential?

38) If we cannot maintain this gratitude, this sense of thankfulness -- we have so much to be thankful for there is no room to grab or brag.

39) One of the things In Jin Nim noticed having met many good artists, singers, and entertainers, is that the really, really good ones don't have to brag. If you're good, everybody knows it, there is no need to brag. But when you see the young upstarts coming into the entertainment world there is a whole lot of bragging -- a lot of me, myself, and I, because they're trying to deal with all the insecurities that surround them and plague them, because they are so sure that if they don't articulate how superior they are nobody else will. That is why they're bragging.

40) But if we truly understand that all of us sitting in this room are eternal sons and daughters of God, that we are all divinely touched and blessed, there is no reason to brag. The only thing we need to do is to share the love and uplift each other.

41) When In Jin Nim thinks about another point that we can fall into if we don't maintain this heart of gratitude -- is this constant tendency of people to rate each other. It is almost like we rank each other, "I'm skinnier than you. You are fatter than me. I am smarter than you. You are better at sports than me," -- constant ranking of position. In Jin Nim remembers when she first took on one of the assistance for the staff, he asked, "What is my official position title?" She answered, "What official position title do you need? You are my assistant." He said, "What is my official position title?" She said, "You are my assistant." He said, "Am I your personal assistant, your executive assistant, your first assistant and director of the whole office?" And In Jin Nim told him, "If you spend less time thinking about your position and spend that energy thinking more about how you can help the people on the sixth floor, think about what kind of an input you could have in terms of helping HSA run better."

42) In Jin Nim was thinking about something that inspires her and she thought about Richard Branson, because she came back on Virgin Airlines. What intrigues her about this man is that he does everything you're not supposed to do in corporate America. In lots of corporations, when you are the CEO, you have to have a huge office. The size of your office is the measure of your importance. That is the unwritten understanding in corporate America. Well, Richard doesn't have his own office. Many times he meets people outside in different places. He asks, "Why would I have to have this great big office when I know that I'm the CEO, I already own my own company, all these different businesses -- the only thing that a great big office does is to show everybody how insecure I really am." And when In Jin Nim heard Richard say this, it reminded her a lot of her father. Father still wears his '70s polyester shirt that her mother has tried to burn throughout the years. He has been given magnificent offices, but he never wants to go in them. He is very happy sitting in a hut somewhere in the jungles of the Amazon forest where the mosquitoes, caterpillars, and bugs -- whether you put the man next to a king or a popper he is the same. The space that he occupies is not the measure of how important or how profound a leader our True Parents are.

43) Even In Jin Nim, when she came to HSA, they told her she needs the biggest office. And she asked, "Why? 10 other desks can fit in here. I don't need a huge office to show to the world how important I am, because compared to God I am nothing. Compared to our Heavenly Parent and our True Parents what am I? What right do I have to grab and to brag? This opportunity is an opportunity to serve, to serve -- meaning, if you have to operate out of a tiny little closet -- well, at least you've got a closet to work out of. And don't let that space define who you are."

44) The great men and women of the world, who know who they are, do not need great spaces to show what a measure of a man or woman they are. Even in our modern day, when we look at bodybuilders what do we say? Oh, overcompensating for what they do not have. That is a common understanding, right? And when you talk to these bodybuilders you discover that they had a tough childhood, they were taunted and called names. They have this incredible desire to build up the physical so nobody can mess with them or call them names, because they will tower over them, their physical mass will threaten their existence. It is because inside, many times, they are not secure in understanding who they are.

45) When In Jin Nim was thinking about our constant need to rate ourselves, she was reminded of this e-mail that Jaga sent. Last Sunday, In Jin Nim shared how sometimes we feel we are a pot full of holes, as if a machine gun took its rounds on us -- and Jaga wrote her this e-mail -- "please know that we are here, we love you, and we are here for you, we're happy to be working with you." And he also told his own story of dealing with this thing, this big overarching question, "Why me?" He was having one of those days at headquarters -- all these responsibilities and things that you have to do were like a monster weighing him down. So he went out and took a walk listening to his iPod, and the song came on "you are beautiful." And he is thinking, why me? Why me? Why is my life so difficult? Why do I have to do everything? Where are the other people that need to do the things with me? He was calling out to God -- why me, why me, while listening to this song. "You are beautiful." And as he was listening to the music he was looking at all the people who he passed by -- and the music shifted and changed in his ears from" you are beautiful -- to -- they are beautiful" and he saw this sea of people in New York City passing by, and he realized that he got a taste of what God experiences when he looks at all of us. He looks at all his children and says, "They are beautiful. My children are beautiful."

46) It was one of these moments in which, bling! the light bulb went off in his head, it was an epiphany of sorts, and you realize -- why me, why me? And In Jin Nim has asked that question too, and many times God has answered back, "Why not you? Why not you? Why somebody else? Perhaps it's you that's going to be that agent of change, who is going to inspire multitudes. Maybe going through what you're going through -- people can come to understand that you are trying to do something good and that you are making a difference. So why not you?" In a way that is exactly what God was saying to Jaga. "Why not you, Jaga?" Why not you, Mrs. Green? Why not you, Anne?"

47) These are the questions that plague us many times when we are not grateful, when we are not exercising this great attitude of being thankful to our Heavenly Parent. And if we really think about it we realize that everything that we go through in our lives, God says in Jeremiah 29:11 -- surely I know my plans for you, my plans -- not our plans. God knows His and Her plan for each and every one of us.

48) So, when God calls, please respond. When God says this is the time, this is a time -- people get ready, get on board. God is not calling everyone on board to get on the gravy train of HSA. Don't think about what you're going to get at HSA, at headquarters. God is asking us to get on board, not the gravy train, but the grateful train.

49) Even as we are saying our prayers for our Japanese brothers and sisters and for the country of Japan -- even as we say our prayers to our children, our loved ones, our True Parents, and our God, we really must know that we are blessed, that we have been touched by God, each and every one of us. And as long as we maintain this great attitude of being thankful for everything that we've been given. Not what we have been given, but who we are -- if we can concentrate on that, then the world becomes a very, very different place. The world changes colors right before your eyes when you see it, when you choose to see it in a different way.

50) We are here to experience true love, to inspire each other, to encourage each other, to be those great men and women of God. And if we start exercising gratitude each and every day then we can overcome these feelings of constantly craving things. We can overcome the temptation to grab and brag all the time. Because the only thing that bragging does -- is when you start to brag, it's like dragging yourself down by your neck or your throat. That's the only thing we're doing to ourselves. So instead of bringing ourselves down we need to think about -- how do we uplift each other. And instead of judging and categorizing and ranking and thinking what position we are in all the time, what we should really be thinking is concentrating on the fact that we are immeasurable, because we are eternal. We are eternal human beings. We cannot be measured by rank, by position, by status, by estimation. We are much better than that.

51) Instead of living a craving existence we need to start being amazed at our life and the opportunity given before us. Instead of practicing, succumbing to the temptation of grabbing and bragging all the time we need to understand that our life is really about living a life of constantly being prepared to receive God's blessing and God's miracles in our lives. So leave room for God. And instead of concentrating on where we fit, where we stand, where we rank -- we need to understand that we are an infinite and eternal being and what we need to do is to tap into this sea of true love that God and our True Parents want to share with all of us.

52) In the heart of unity, and realizing that we need our True Parents, as we go day to day, week to week, great things can be accomplished when we have the right heartistic attitude. Having the right heartistic attitude is like creating a receptacle for us to harvest all of heaven's fortune. And In Jin Nim has seen it time and time again -- many times people with this great attitude look like they have less, they look like they are not faring well, but in the end, if they maintain this great heartistic attitude, allowing God the space to work His magic, despite the best of our intentions, despite the best of our plans, then we can reap the heavenly fortune that God wants to share with all of us.

53) "So brothers and sisters, be inspired, know that you are going to be the agent of change and please tackle this new week with a heart of gratitude."

54) Thank you! 

Attitude of Gratitude

In Jin Moon
March 27, 2010

Good morning, brothers and sisters. How is everyone this morning? I just got back very late last night after spending some time with our True Parents in Las Vegas. Of course, they send their greetings and love to all of you. Whenever I spend time with our True Parents, I'm amazed at how much they love the American movement and the brothers and sisters. Even as our True Parents continue to pray for the quick recovery of Japan, they are always thinking about how we can revitalize the American movement and how we can inspire the American people to understand what a providential country this is.

God blessed America so that it can play a very crucial role in providence for the sake of the world. Father and Mother are always thinking about how America can exercise its ability to influence the world in a good way, to bring about an understanding of peace and love and unity. Whenever I spend some time with them, I am also reminded once again how important America is to our True Parents.

Father is always thinking about his vision for what is known as Sin City, Las Vegas. There's an ongoing ad about Las Vegas: "What happens in Las Vegas stays in Las Vegas." But Father is there because he wants to change that campaign around. He wants the whole world to hear about what happens in Las Vegas. He has put himself down in the center of what is known as Sin City and is injecting both the spirit of our Heavenly Parent and an understanding of living for the sake of others, practicing true love in our lives. Father and Mother want to inject a bit of heaven and transform Sin City into a Shining City.

Last time in Las Vegas Father went a step further. He not going to be satisfied with transforming Las Vegas into a Shining City, he wants Las Vegas to be almost like a city of the sun, giving out its warmth and light to the rest of the world.

When I see the transition taking place in Las Vegas as our Father works to shift the understanding of Las Vegas from Sin City to Shining City on a hill, and now to Sun City, I am fascinated by the way Father thinks and the way he plays around with the letters in words. When I thought about Las Vegas being Sin City, I thought that in between and N, there sits an I.

I've often thought that people who live in sin and breathe a sinful lifestyle are actually living a life of insanity. But with the injection of a bit of heaven and turning Sin City into Shining City now Father wants to go further and turn it into Sun City. Instead of the insanity of living a sinful life, Father wants to take us to a place where the letter sits in the middle, between the letters and N.

We become the sun. We become a brilliant light when we live our lives not in the insanity of a sinful existence, but in total and absolute unity with our Heavenly Parent and our True Parents. When Father and Mother are asking all of us to tap into our divinity, to be that sun unto the world, our Heavenly Parent is asking us to be absolutely united with our God in heaven and with our True Parents, God's physical representatives, so we can inspire the world and bathe it in the beautiful, loving light of true love.

When I think about our True Parents and their desire for Las Vegas to become Sun City, I remember that Father said to me: Las Vegas is a city where everybody comes to make money. How wonderful it would be, in light of what just took place in Japan -- this tragedy in the aftermath of the tsunami that is still unfolding incessantly day by day with all the news networks following it -- if Las Vegas, instead of being the sinful city, could inherit God's heart by uniting with our Heavenly Parent and start to shine brilliance unto the world! How wonderful would it be if Las Vegas became known not as a city where people go to grab money for themselves, but as a city that, with the nudging of our True Parents, is a place where a lot of finance could be harvested for great works, such as helping Japan in the aftermath of the tsunami. This is the way our True Parents think all the time.

Flying back late last night I was remembering all the things that Father shared with me and the other members of my family. Last night was an interesting flight in that it started out like any other, with the stewardess saying the door was closing, please buckle your seat belts. You know the routine of it all, right, when you've been traveling for quite some time. The plane runs down the runway, you feel it lifting, and you feel your weight dragging to the floor because of gravity. Then you soar up into the heavens and see the city you left behind. The stewardess said, "Four hours and 30 minutes, and before we know it, we'll be back in New York City."

But there was a bit of turbulence, and parts of the flight were pretty bad. One burly man to my right looked too big for the seat, the kind of person that nothing can deter how he's feeling at the moment. He was like a rock, a big physical presence. But when the plane started trembling and creaking a bit, there was some nervous laughter, and people looked around to see if others were just as scared. The first time people laughed it off, but when it happened again, people started looking around a bit quicker, then looking at the ceiling, and then out the windows, even though it was pitch black.

In times like this you see people's character start to come out because you're facing the possibility, "What if this is the end? What if the people seated next to me are the ones who will go with me to the other world?" You can see the fear and uncertainty creep up. This man who looked like a brawny ex-Marine who would be scared by nothing started to look nervous. As the plane kept rattling on, he started doing this [making the sign of the cross], so that was a clear gesture he was afraid. Then a little bit later on he was moving back and forth in his seat, looking around, his face becoming more and more intense. After a while the turbulence calmed, down and this man did his last hand movement before he settled down and fell asleep.

Watching this take place in the cabin made me think about a lot of things. I experienced a near life-and-death experience at sea when I was 12 years old. I was certain I was going to die because I couldn't make out the waves from the sky, and everything looked like it was definitely headed toward the end. But at that time my father said, "I am here." He held my hand, and there was an incredible feeling of serenity and peace in the midst of all this chaos.

Obviously the gentleman seated next to me thought he might be near his end, but I thought to myself, how would I feel if this was my last flight? I realized then that if God were to take me today, at this moment, I would be so grateful for having the opportunity to have lived thus far. I was overcome with an incredible sense of gratitude, which became more acute when I thought about the good people here at Lovin' Life Ministries and the good brothers and sisters of America whom I have gotten to know a little bit better and come to love. I thought, if this is my last day, then I can go knowing that I am extraordinarily grateful for the opportunity to have loved and to have been loved by so many people.

I've often joked how gratitude sounds like it's made of two words, great attitude. Being grateful is really having the right kind of attitude, or right kind of perspective on life. One of the things I have realized in the winners, in and out of the movement, I have seen in my lifetime is that the majority of them -- including our True Parents -- have the characteristic of practicing the great attitude of gratitude. When you're trying to live life as an ideal person -- and I've often joked that life is great in that it really puts us to the test if we say we want to be ideal -- life is going to make us deal with a lot of different things. Wise men and women through the centuries have often said that you cannot have triumph without struggles. You cannot have victories without obstacles. Many times victories are made that much sweeter by having been defeated.

We know that when we are trying to live an ideal life there will be difficulties and struggles. Implicit in the word ideal are the words to deal with. We have to deal with a lot of these things. But because we know and believe that we are the eternal sons and daughters of our Heavenly Parent, we know that as long as we keep on going and growing, as long as we keep on learning, sooner or later we will become a beautiful, brilliant light unto the world. And in the process we will leave something beautiful behind in the form of our children and our future generations.

When I think about gratitude, I remind myself, "Yes, we have to maintain a great attitude, but that also means there's going to be a lot of great grating in the process." We are going to have to grate, meaning "rub up against." Like we grate cheese, we're going to have to do a lot of grating to prepare ourselves to be the kind of people who can maintain a great attitude throughout our lives.

The word gratitude is also a reminder to all of us not to be crate-ful. The word crate can be understood as a box that holds different things, but the secondary meaning of the word is an old decrepit airplane or car, something that is rotting away. So when we want to maintain a grateful attitude, it is a reminder to us not to be crate-ful in our attitude. We must take ourselves out of the position of being just a box that holds a lot of baggage and negativity, or a lot of reasons not to believe, and that therefore weighs us down into an existence in which we turn into crates, like old, decrepit planes or cars that can no longer function the way they did in their prime. Maybe we were once like a Concorde jet, or a great Honda Civic, or a Mazda, or maybe even a Ferrari. But because we forgot to maintain this great attitude of gratitude, we've allowed ourselves to live a crate-like existence, not remembering to be grateful even for the grating that takes place along our road of self-discovery.

If you think deeply about it, a great attitude comes in understanding that we have been tremendously blessed. A great attitude comes from an understanding of who we are, that we are the eternal children of our Heavenly Parent, and thus we are divine; our lives have been touched by God. We were meant to love and to be loved. We were meant to do great things. We were meant to inspire our generation, our children, and the world.

When I think about this gratitude attitude, one of the biggest challenges we have in our life of faith as we are trying to be a great mom, a great friend, a great sister and daughter, or a son, a father, and so on, is that many times life has a way of introducing more than we planned for. We cannot plan everything. There are things that I never planned for. I certainly never planned to be married to a guy that we all used to call Fish-Eye. I had a great plan before I got married at 18. I wanted to be a medical doctor, and I thought that until 30 it would be clear sailing: "World of academia, here I come. I don't have to worry about marriage." I thought my medical career was a guarantee, that I did not have to put up with marriage until I became a doctor.

But God and our True Parents had a different plan for me. One of the things about life is that regardless of how much planning we do and how brilliant we think we are in outlining our life exactly the way we would like it, God and our True Parents may have a different plan for us. Many times I come across blessed children who have each decade, even each half-decade, all mapped out, almost to a T, but there's no room for anything else. I say to these Second Generation, "Your plan looks great, but what if in Year Two of your great plan God intervenes and asks you to go to Africa as a missionary? What would you do with your plan?" Regardless of how great our planning abilities might be, life has a way of introducing things that we never planned for or expected.

How do we maintain the heart of gratitude in spite of the fact that life will continually challenge, provoke, and nudge us to grow, expand, and deepen, whether we planned for it or not?

One of the quotes that I like to remind myself of when I'm confronted with things I did not plan for is Jeremiah 29:11, which says, "For surely I know my plans for you, says the Lord. For your welfare and not for your harm, but for the future of hope that I see in you." This is a beautiful quote because here God is telling us that regardless of how great our plans might be in life, regardless of how many things we might want to do ourselves -- perhaps we want to go right but God tells us to go left; perhaps we want to go down but God tells us to go up -- God doesn't always call us at our convenience. God calls us sometimes when we least expect to be called.

Many times God asks things of us that do not factor into our plans. This quote is a reminder for all of us to do our part, our 5-percent responsibility of preparing our lives to receive, but also to leave a space for God, our Parent in heaven, to work his and her mysterious magic, and not to be so locked into our plans that we have no space for God. When we lock ourselves into plans in a petrified manner, God will test and push us, and encourage us to grow. When that happens, that's our time to step up to the plate and heed God's calling, listen to the voice that's in our heart.

Despite our plans, our goodwill, and our thinking we know better, we need to listen to that inner voice. We need to listen to the voice of God.

I have realized a couple of things. When I struggle with trying to maintain this great attitude toward my life, many times I think that in order to maintain a great attitude I must do one, two, and three. But sometimes a great way to think about it is not by thinking what the great attitude is defined as, but by turning it around and looking at it from another perspective, thinking about the word and what it is not.

We know what a great attitude is -- the heart of devotion, love, and being thankful for everything we have. But sometimes it's good to think about what gratitude is not. Three things come to mind when I think about what gratitude is not.

When I don't have gratitude in my life, when I catch myself being ungrateful, I find myself craving things. Instead of thinking I have been given so much, God has taken care of everything for me, I start thinking, "I desire that. I'm in need of that. I crave that. I want that."

In the English language, right underneath the word crave is the word craven. When you study etymology you realize that the word craven comes from the French, cravanter, which means "to break," or crepare in Latin, which means "to creak and rattle." So when you're craven, when you're feeling not that good about your life, craven's definition means cowardly, somebody who's always afraid.

When you're constantly craving something, it's because you feel like everything you have will disappear, or everything you have has no value. Therefore, you're always wanting something else. You are lost in the constant sea of insecurity because you cannot find a firm footing.

Instead of craving more and more and more because we're so dissatisfied with our lives, what we need to be doing, if we would have the attitude of gratitude, is to be knowing clearly that we are God's eternal sons and daughters, and that we don't have to be craven. We don't have to be afraid. We don't have to be cowards. We can be brave in knowing that God, our Heavenly Parent, walks along with us.

Recently I had a very moving experience. You may have noticed that on stage at Lovin' Life this Sunday we have a member from the Los Angeles community. I'd like to thank that community for letting your guitar player, Matt, come and play with Lovin' Life. I was on my way back from Las Vegas and Matt sent me an e-mail that really moved me. Of course when I had asked him to come play with Sonic Cult, he was extremely inspired and excited. Friday was rehearsal so he came, even though I wasn't here, and I heard they had a typical great rehearsal session.

In his e-mail he first thanked me and the Lovin' Life team for welcoming him to New York. Of course as any aspiring musician when you think of Sonic Cult and Lovin' Life Ministries, you want to be part of that band. You want to play for our brothers and sisters all across the United States who join with us on Sunday morning. There's a great craving to stand on stage with the band.

As I go through the digestive process of firming up who the band members are going to be, there will be a lot of people who don't make it, and there will be a lot of people who think they're good enough, but perhaps they're not. As the person responsible for the band, I want to put the best thing out there -- I want the best players for our movement. The band becomes the face of our movement to the world, in a way.

But trying to juggle different players is almost like fitting a jigsaw puzzle. You have to find the right pieces to fit, to make the band work, to make it an incredibly rockin' band. To do that takes time, and trials and tribulations. You have to try out a lot of people. Some people will just click; some will not.

A lot of bad and good feelings can be interwoven in making the Sonic Cult, but this brother's e-mail really touched me. He played for my brother's band for four years, so every time my brother traveled to Japan, Matt was the top player for him. That's one of the reasons I wanted to test him out. But he came with the heart that, whatever happens, it's an extreme privilege for him to be here.

What moved me the most about this man is that he wrote me, saying, "My dream is to do exactly what I'm getting a chance to do, to perform for Lovin' Life Ministries. As a musician I can't wish for anything else, to be part of Hyo Jin oppa's legacy at the Manhattan Center. To continue working on that legacy with another member of the family is something that calls to my heart.

He said that having gone through the rehearsal, he realized that, "Yes, he's a good guitar player, but the other players' level was so high that he felt he was dragging the band down." Instead of craving it so much that he clings to it like a dead weight sinker, what he said was -- and I didn't hear him at rehearsal so I really had no opinion -- that we needed something better. "Having just had this one opportunity -- and I think it will be my last," he wrote, "is more than I can wish for." You know, playing guitar is not just picking notes. It's creating that unique sound that will add something to the band. With the experience and help that he got from the other players in the band to fine-tune his sound, Matt was saying, "What I've learned during this trip is what I will take back to Los Angeles, and I will do my utmost to make LA a great satellite church of Lovin' Life."

He is an example of somebody who is experiencing and practicing a heart of gratitude, instead of being a person who is not practicing gratitude, and therefore falls into the pitfall of feeling a constant craving. He was saying, "Our movement deserves better. I am good, but perhaps not good enough."

Frankly, he is much better than some of the other guitar players that we had on the stage, so for me to get that kind of an honest assessment of one's performance, and an honest assessment and understanding of what he wants for our movement was absolutely extraordinary. LA is surely blessed to have a brother like that, who lives and practices a heart of gratitude. Can we give Matt a great round of applause?

When I think about what gratitude is not, the second point I think of is a phrase that my mom used to tell us little ones, "Don't grab and brag." When we are children, all we're thinking about is ourselves, right? So what Mother used to say was, "Don't grab and brag." Meaning, "Don't grab the things to your mouth and then brag about how great you are." This is something that has been inculcated into all of our brains.

As I've lived throughout my years and seen different phases of people's lives -- First Generation, Second Generation, Third Generation, and now onto the Fourth Generation -- I've seen how it is that many times if we don't maintain the heart of gratitude and of living a blessed, sanctified, and sacred life, we may feel that life is tough and hard, and nobody is going to do it for me. God is not there for me, so I need to grab and brag.

I've seen this in the best of people. I've seen a lot of Second Generation who have come to the Manhattan Center and looked at Lovin' Life and all the things that are taking place. Through this I am reminded that the incredible thing about a camera is that it does not lie. All of you in the audience need to know you are on camera, and all the Second Generation need to know that too. After every service we have to edit and make sure it sounds right to be duplicated and sent to different places, so we're always reviewing the different camera shots. You can tell a lot just by the way people stand, the way they look, the way they hold their head.

A great majority of Second Generation have a good heartistic approach to Lovin' Life and our movement. But the camera also catches some who you realize are here for the wrong reason. Maybe they're here to take something back so they can criticize on their blog. Maybe they're thinking, "There are many opportunities now in our church; how can I grab it? How can I get myself on that stage? How do I act the part, to get into In Jin Nim's good graces, to get what I want?"

The thing is, if we really understand that our life is sacred and blessed, it is not like a toy store where we grab things for ourselves. God determines who, how, and when he wants to use somebody. We can do the best we can, but many times God works through whom he and she choose to work through.

If we have the attitude of grabbing things from God and from the community, such as, "I want to be a great singer so how do I use this platform of Lovin' Life to my advantage?" your heart will never be able to touch as many people as it was meant to touch. The more you start grabbing, the more you realize you're just adding sinkers onto yourself. So regardless of how talented you are, or what a succulent worm you are at the end of the line on a fishing pole that could catch a great fish making a fantastic feast for your family, your movement, and your nation, if you don't maintain a humble heart that allows space for God to work in your life so that wonderful things can take place, then you will never catch the big fish you were meant to catch.

You will never prepare the fantastic feast you were meant to prepare for your family. We can easily become weighted down by all these sinkers we put onto ourselves. Sometimes when I see good men and women doing that, I'm thinking, "What are they grabbing for? Our lives could end tomorrow. What's all this grabbing for? Why make ourselves rich and fat when really what we need to be thinking is, 'How do we make others happy? How do we make others inspired? How do we give to others so they can reach their potential?'" If we maintain gratitude, a sense that we have so much to be thankful for, there is no room to grab and brag.

One of the things I have noticed, having met with a lot of good singers and entertainers, is that the really good ones don't have to brag. When you're good, everybody knows it. There's no need to brag. But when you see the young upstarts first coming into the entertainment world, there's a whole lot of bragging, a whole lot of me, myself, and I, because they're trying to deal with all the insecurities plaguing them. They are so sure that if they don't articulate how superior they are, nobody else will. That's why they're bragging.

But if we truly understand that all of us sitting in this room are eternal sons and daughters of God, that we're all divinely touched and blessed, there is no room to brag. The only thing we need to do is share the love and uplift each other.

Another point that many times we can fall into when we don't maintain the heart of gratitude is the constant tendency to rate or even rank each other. I'm skinnier that you. You are fatter than me. I'm smarter than you. You are better at sports than me. We see this constant ranking of position. I remember when I first took on one of the assistants a while back, he said to me, "What is my official title?" I said, "What official position title do you need? You're my assistant." He said, "Am I your personal assistant, your executive assistant, your first assistant who directs the whole office?" I said to this young gentleman, "If you spent less time thinking about your position and instead used that energy for thinking more about how you can help people on the sixth floor, then, just imagine how valuable your input could be in terms of helping HSA run better."

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Richard Branson

I have been thinking about Richard Branson because I came back on Virgin Airlines. One of the things that intrigues me about this man is he does everything that you're not supposed to do in corporate America. In a lot of corporations, the CEO has to have a huge office. The size of your office is the measure of your importance. That's kind of like the unwritten understanding in corporate America.

Well, Richard Branson doesn't have his own office. Many times he meets people outside at different places. He says, "Why would I need to have a great big office when I already know I'm the CEO? I already own my own company. The only thing a big office does is to show everybody how insecure I really am."

When I heard Richard say this, it reminded me a lot of my father. Father still wears his 1970s polyester shirt that my mom has been trying to burn throughout the years. He is given magnificent offices, but he never wants to go in them. He's very happy sitting in a hut somewhere in the Amazon jungle with the mosquitoes and other bugs. Whether you put the man next to a king or a pauper, he is the same. The space he occupies is not the measure of how important or how profound a leader our True Father is.

Even me, when I came to HSA, many different people said, "In Jin Nim, you need the biggest office." I said, "Why?" I said, "Ten other desks can fit in here. I don't need a huge office to show to the world how important I am, because compared to God I'm nothing. Compared to our Heavenly Parent and our True Parents, what am I? What right do I have to brag and to grab? This is an opportunity to serve, meaning, "If you have to operate out of a tiny closet, well, at least you've got a closet to work out of. And don't let that space define who you are." The great men and women in the world who know who they are do not need great spaces to show their measure.

Even in our modern day when we look at bodybuilders what do we say? "Over-compensating for what they do not have," right? That's the common understanding. When you talk to many of these bodybuilders, you realize they've had a tough childhood, they were ridiculed a lot. They were taunted and called names. So they have a powerful desire to build up the physical so, "Nobody can mess with me anymore. Nobody can call me names because I will tower over them. My physical mass will threaten their existence." It's because inside they're not secure in understanding who they are.

When I was thinking about our constant need to rate ourselves, I was reminded of an e-mail that Jaga sent. Last Sunday I talked about how sometimes I feel like I'm full of holes, as if a machine gun took its rounds on me. Jaga wrote me a beautiful e-mail, basically saying, "Please know that we are here. We love you and we're here for you. We're happy to be working with you." He was also telling his own story of dealing with this big overarching question, "Why me?" I guess he was having one of those days. All the responsibility and all the things you have to do at Headquarters were crowding in on him, weighing him down.

He went out for a walk, listening to something on the iPod and a song came on, "You're Beautiful." So he was listening to this, asking himself, "Why me? Why is my life so difficult? Why do I have to do everything? Where are the other people who should be doing things with me?" He was calling out to God, "Why me? Why me?" while listening to this song, "You're Beautiful."

He said while he was looking around at all the people he passed by while listening to this music, the words somehow shifted and changed in his ears from "you're beautiful" to "they're beautiful." He saw this sea of people in New York City that he was passing by, and he realized he was given a taste of what God experiences when God looks at all of us. God looks at all his and her children and says, "They are beautiful. My children are beautiful."

It was one of these moments when, "Ding," the light bulb went off in his head. It was an epiphany of sorts, and he realized, "Why me?" I've often asked myself that question. Many times God answered back, "Why not you? Why not you? Why should it be somebody else?" Perhaps it's you who's going to be the agent of change who is going to inspire multitudes. Maybe by you going through what you're going through, people can come to understand that you're trying to do something good and that you are making a difference. So, "Why not you?" That's exactly what God was saying to Jaga. "Why not you, Jaga? Why not you?"

These are the questions that plague us many times when we are not grateful, when we're not exercising the great attitude of being thankful to our Heavenly Parent. If we really think about it, we realize that for everything we go through in our lives, as God says in Jeremiah 29:11, "Surely I know my plans for you": "My" plans, not "our" plans. God knows his and her plan for each and every one of us.

So when God calls, please respond. When God says, "This is the time, people, get ready, get on board," he and she are not calling everyone to get on board the gravy train of HSA. Don't think about what you're going to get at HSA or headquarters. God is asking all of us to get on board, not the gravy train, brothers and sisters, but the grateful train.

Even as we are saying our prayers for our Japanese brothers and sisters and the country of Japan, even as we say our prayers to God for our children, loved ones, and True Parents, we must know that we are blessed, that we have been touched by God, each and every one of us. As long as we maintain this great attitude of being thankful for everything we have been given in our own being of who we are, then the world becomes a very, very different place. The world changes colors right before our eyes when we choose to see it in a different way.

We are here to experience true love. We are here to inspire each other and to encourage each other to be great men and women of God. If we start exercising gratitude each day then we can overcome the feelings of constantly craving something. We can overcome the temptation to grab and brag all the time. The effects of bragging are like dragging yourself down by your crag, which is your neck or your throat. That's the only thing we're doing to ourselves.

So instead of bringing ourselves down, we need to think about how we can uplift each other. Instead of judging and categorizing, ranking and thinking what position we are all the time, what we really should be doing is concentrating on the fact that we are immeasurable because we're eternal. We are eternal human beings. We cannot be measured by rank, position, status, or estimation. We are much better than that.

So instead of living a craving existence, we need start being amazed at our life and the opportunities given to us. Instead of succumbing to the temptation of grabbing and bragging all the time, we need to understand that our life is really about constantly being prepared to receive God's blessings and miracles in our life.

So, please leave room for God. Instead of concentrating on where we fit, stand, or rank, we need to understand that we are infinite, eternal beings, who need to tap into the sea of true love that God and our True Parents have shared with all of us.

As we go day to day, week to week, in the heart of unity, realizing that we need our True Parents, great things can be accomplished. Having the right heartistic attitude is like creating a receptacle for us to harvest all of heaven's fortune. I've seen it time and time again. Many times people with a great attitude look like they have less, like they're not faring well. But in the end if we maintain this great heartistic attitude, allowing God the space to work his and her magic, despite the best of our intentions and plans, then we can reap the heavenly fortune that God wants to share with all of us.

So, brothers and sisters, be inspired and know that you are going to be the agent of change. Please tackle this new week with a heart of gratitude. Thank you.

Notes:

Jeremiah, chapter 29

1: These are the words of the letter which Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the elders of the exiles, and to the priests, the prophets, and all the people, whom Nebuchadnez'zar had taken into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon.

2: This was after King Jeconi'ah, and the queen mother, the eunuchs, the princes of Judah and Jerusalem, the craftsmen, and the smiths had departed from Jerusalem.

3: The letter was sent by the hand of Ela'sah the son of Shaphan and Gemari'ah the son of Hilki'ah, whom Zedeki'ah king of Judah sent to Babylon to Nebuchadnez'zar king of Babylon. It said:

4: "Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon:

5: Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce.

6: Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease.

7: But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.

8: For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Do not let your prophets and your diviners who are among you deceive you, and do not listen to the dreams which they dream,

9: for it is a lie which they are prophesying to you in my name; I did not send them, says the LORD.

10: "For thus says the LORD: When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfil to you my promise and bring you back to this place.

11: For I know the plans I have for you, says the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.

12: Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you.

13: You will seek me and find me; when you seek me with all your heart,

14: I will be found by you, says the LORD, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, says the LORD, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.

15: "Because you have said, `The LORD has raised up prophets for us in Babylon,' --

16: Thus says the LORD concerning the king who sits on the throne of David, and concerning all the people who dwell in this city, your kinsmen who did not go out with you into exile:

17: `Thus says the LORD of hosts, Behold, I am sending on them sword, famine, and pestilence, and I will make them like vile figs which are so bad they cannot be eaten.

18: I will pursue them with sword, famine, and pestilence, and will make them a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth, to be a curse, a terror, a hissing, and a reproach among all the nations where I have driven them,

19: because they did not heed my words, says the LORD, which I persistently sent to you by my servants the prophets, but you would not listen, says the LORD.' --

20: Hear the word of the LORD, all you exiles whom I sent away from Jerusalem to Babylon:

21: `Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, concerning Ahab the son of Kola'iah and Zedeki'ah the son of Ma-asei'ah, who are prophesying a lie to you in my name: Behold, I will deliver them into the hand of Nebuchadrez'zar king of Babylon, and he shall slay them before your eyes.

22: Because of them this curse shall be used by all the exiles from Judah in Babylon: "The LORD make you like Zedeki'ah and Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire,"

23: because they have committed folly in Israel, they have committed adultery with their neighbors' wives, and they have spoken in my name lying words which I did not command them. I am the one who knows, and I am witness, says the LORD.'"

24: To Shemai'ah of Nehel'am you shall say:

25: "Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: You have sent letters in your name to all the people who are in Jerusalem, and to Zephani'ah the son of Ma-asei'ah the priest, and to all the priests, saying,

26: `The LORD has made you priest instead of Jehoi'ada the priest, to have charge in the house of the LORD over every madman who prophesies, to put him in the stocks and collar.

27: Now why have you not rebuked Jeremiah of An'athoth who is prophesying to you?

28: For he has sent to us in Babylon, saying, "Your exile will be long; build houses and live in them, and plant gardens and eat their produce."'"

29: Zephani'ah the priest read this letter in the hearing of Jeremiah the prophet.

30: Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah:

31: "Send to all the exiles, saying, `Thus says the LORD concerning Shemai'ah of Nehel'am: Because Shemai'ah has prophesied to you when I did not send him, and has made you trust in a lie,

32: therefore thus says the LORD: Behold, I will punish Shemai'ah of Nehel'am and his descendants; he shall not have any one living among this people to see the good that I will do to my people, says the LORD, for he has talked rebellion against the LORD.'"  

Clarification on Status of Rev. Sun Jo Hwang in Korea

In Jin Moon
March 24, 2011



Dear Brothers and Sisters,

A recent post regarding the position of Rev. Sun Jo Hwang in Korea, has appeared on a few internet blogs. Due to confusion caused by allegations in this post, HSA-UWC USA would like to clarify the situation.

Please see the quote that is being spread below:

In February Father "put Rev. Sun Jo Hwang in charge of the Korean mission foundation and the church and gave him all authority."

"Then on Feb. 20 Father came to Seoul and on Feb. 21 there was Hoon Dok Hae at the Cheon-Jeong-Goong. Rev. Hwang did not attend Hoon Dok Hae. But other core leaders were present. During Hoon Dok Hae, Father called up Peter Kim and asked him to announce what Father had decided in Yeosu to the leaders."

Peter Kim allegedly "went into a long explanation about the Yeosu Project and left out the core essential content that Father had announced. He tried to finish his explanation without mentioning that point... But then Father said, "You're not telling them what I said", and told him again to tell the leaders specifically what Father had ordered in Yeosu. The core content was about Rev. Sun Jo Hwang. Father did not mention the new title of Rev. Hwang in detail, but participants who were present explain that Father said it was the same title as Rev. Kwak used to hold in the past as Father's proxy."

However "even though Father made such a critical announcement and gave such orders in Yeosu and later at the Cheon-Jeong-Goong before leaving Korea, that content was never announced, communicated, or published anywhere."

HSA-UWC USA would like to state that this allegation is false.

Rev. Sun Jo Hwang does not have authority over the Mission Foundation and the church in Korea. Also, it is not confirmed that Rev. Hwang has been given any authority of projects in Yeosu, South Korea.

Please be aware that the leadership position of Kook Jin Moon, CEO of Tongil Group, has not been changed in any way. Any words that state otherwise are rumors and are not true.

Contributed by HSA-UWC USA staff 

Sermon Notes: March 20, 2011

In Jin Moon
Lovin' Life Ministries

InJinMoon-110320.jpg

1) In Jin Nim began, expressing how happy she was to be with us this Sunday.

2) Our True Parents are with us still in Las Vegas. They send their greetings and love. In Jin Nim is so appreciative every time they ask about the American movement and the blessed children and how everyone is doing. She thinks that they get the sense that our movement is coming alive. She thanked us for our love and for responding to our True Parents in such a great way.

3) In Jin Nim referred to the tragedy that took place in Japan, that is still unfolding and that our True Parents are sending their prayers to Japan and our brothers and sisters there.

4) In Jin Nim shared with the young people who attended the Youth Concert for World Peace (Friday night), the first one of its kind here in the United States, some good news about Japan. The prefecture where the tsunami hit badly, the town of Sendai -- our leaders there were able to let our American movement know, that although many lives were lost, not one of our brothers and sisters were harmed.

5) In Jin Nim was told of the stories of two sisters. One was being swept away by the tsunami when out of the blue a man grabbed her and pulled her to safety. This woman has no idea who this man was, whether a real man or an angel, but she was saved from being swept away. She is so grateful for the opportunity to live another day and to have the chance to work together with our True Parents. Another story, of another sister -- she was in a car being swept away by the current, but somehow it came to rest on the roof of a building and she was able to crack open the window get out and be rescued.

6) These are two stories of harrowing life threatening situations. When In Jin Nim heard that these two sisters were brought to safety she felt that once again our True Parents prayers are with them. We are so thankful that our True Parents continue to pray for the country of Japan.

7) In Jin Nim thanked those who attended the youth concert and donated on behalf of the Japan relief fund which we have started here. She asked us to please continue to donate and continue to work with different organizations that will be raising money which can be sent to Japan to help them recover. Thank you!

8) When In Jin Nim was leaving Las Vegas, telling True Parents that she must return to New York for the Youth Concert for World Peace -- it is a chance to have a memorial service for our dear older brother. But In Jin Nim expressed to True Father that it is her heart to not only remember her great older brother Hyo Jin Oppa, but also to remember the others that have gone before, her younger brother Heung Jin, her older sister He Jin, and her younger brother Young Jin.

9) One of the things our Father teaches through the Legacy of Peace and through the Seunghwa ceremony is to really be able to let our loved ones move on, celebrating their lives well lived. In Jin Nim expressed her thought, how wonderful it would be if we can start a youth concert series that allows the young people to celebrate their lives and to remember those who have gone before all of us, and to, in a way, in remembrance of what they were to all of us as members of our family -- we can remember them in a joyful way, a loving way, in sharing the universal language of love which is music.

10) When In Jin Nim explained this to our True Father he said to her, something that she found to be incredibly profound, "You know, you need to tell those young people (and we have lots of talented young people in our movement -- because you have been almost hand-picked by God. Your parents came together not just because they liked each other but because they saw themselves as being part of one family and they wanted to try their best to live up to being that ideal husband and wife, father and mother, and do their best in terms of raising up ideal families of their own), you need to tell these young people they are really, really special talented kids, touched by God, blessed by God -- (we call them blessed children). You need to tell them, you need to share with them, that the language of love, the language of music, it is a sacred art."

11) He used the word sacred. When we're thinking of music we think it's a way to express ourselves. One of the pitfalls we can so easily fall into is, "I am so great. I am a great musician, a great player. Look how fantastic I am." The stage is a very interesting medium in that it brings out the best and it brings out the worst.

12) When True Father was emphasizing the word sacred, "You need to tell the young people, you need to share with the young people, that in a way -- to offer music to other people is an art form that is sacred."

13) When In Jin Nim thought about and prayed about the word sacred -- it is a very interesting word. We all know what it means. We know it means holy, something sanctified, something blessed -- having to do with the church, or many times it is a ritualistic rite. But, all in all, the generic understanding of the word is that it is holy.

14) And In Jin Nim always found it fascinating coming to America in learning the language and how the words sound and are composed -- what letters are chosen and how the word looks to her. And the word sacred means something holy. But to her ears it is two syllables, sa-cred. The first word is "say" and the second word is "crud." This is a holy, holy word, sacred -- meaning holy. But why does it sound like -- saying cruddy things. It's the opposite of something sacred, it's something profane.

15) In Jin Nim has often thought of the word God, G-o-d, our Heavenly Parent up in heaven. But why is it when you read it backwards it reads "dog"? Why is it that one of the greatest words in the English vocabulary, God, my eternal Heavenly Parent -- you read it backwards and its dog? In Jin Nim's father touched upon this in the late 70s and early 80s when he was talking about how, if you don't have God in your life, if you don't have a clear understanding of where you come from and who you are and what you need to do, what you need to leave behind before you go to the next phase of your life in the spiritual world -- it's like living a life of a dog in that we succumb to animalistic instincts. We succumb to the animalistic passions, to the wiles of the world, to the temptations. And we can run around barking all over the four corners of the world not realizing who we are, because we don't have a way to find our own dignity and rise up from the four-legged creature existence to becoming that human being, being vertically connected to the Heavenly Parent, understanding that we are divine eternal sons and daughters.

16) When Father used the word sacred it made In Jin Nim realize, here is a word that symbolizes something incredibly holy, sanctified, blessed. But in a way it sounds something like, "say crud". To In Jin Nim, when she hears the word, it's a reminder that if we don't realize that our life is sacred and that it is holy, it is blessed, it is inspired, sanctified by our Heavenly Parent -- then what we can easily degenerate into, is to become that child that degenerated into saying cruddy things -- being negative people. When we forget that we are holy, that our lives are sacred, we can so easily fall into the trap -- that we are no different from dust in the wind, we are worthless, we have no dignity. And we end up becoming the vessel of negativity, of criticism. We start to criticize our God, our parents -- "God, why did you not bless me as much as this person. Why did you not make me more beautiful, powerful, and rich? Why me God? Why me?" And that is saying cruddy things to our eternal Heavenly Parent, isn't it?

17) And then turned to our parents and say, "What have you done for me lately?" The greatest gift our parents gave to us is our life. There is nothing more precious they can give to us than that -- and the love that they provide throughout all the years when we walked our road of self-discovery. We start criticizing our parents for what they are not, and not appreciating them for what they are. And we start looking around in our families and we start picking on our siblings, saying, "Why aren't you more like this? You need to get out of my way. Why don't you just leave me alone? Get out of my life."

18) We can so easily, if we don't find ourselves being connected to God, to something that is sacred and holy, degenerate into human beings that live and animal like existence walking on all fours -- that can so easily degenerate into negative and highly critical people who do not realize how blessed we really are, by saying really cruddy things -- from our eternal Heavenly Parent on down to the very people we actually care about.

19) In Jin Nim has also thought that even the word holy is interesting. Holy is supposed to be something divine, blessed. But if you happen to be a pot and you are full of holes a lot of things will start leaking out of you. It is not a very positive visual image. It is almost a reminder that if we are not connected to the divine, and if we don't hold ourselves as this incredibly divine vessel, something that we should be proud of, something that we should feel gives us infinite worth and dignity -- then what we end up doing is almost drilling holes into ourselves, the holes of insecurity, fear, of not getting enough of something, and the holes of not being acknowledged, the holes that symbolize not been appreciated. And in that way very, very soon we find ourselves literally being hollowed out by all the holes that we drilled into ourselves, not realizing that we have infinite value and potential, and that with our daily life we should practice infinite gratitude to our Heavenly Parent.

20) When Father was saying you need to share with the young people the importance of understanding music, or the universal language, as something sacred, in a way what he was saying is -- (and you know the modern perception of a great musician, and it doesn't matter if you are a classical artist or a punk rock artists -- it doesn't matter, but in the world of entertainment and art there is a huge problem of ego. There is a huge problem of me, myself, and I.) what Father is saying, when he wants to share the message that music, painting beautiful art, and beautiful works of literature -- is sacred -- it is Father's way of saying it's not about you, it's about how God can use you as a vessel to move people, inspire people, to empower people.

21) Many times, because the language of love is so over encompassing and covers all spectrums of emotion -- love is not just sweet, sometimes it is tart, sometimes it is painful. Love is not always hallelujah! Love is sometimes the pits of hell, where you struggle with yourself to find your footing, to regain your relationship with Heavenly Father each and every day. Love is many myriad different things and emotions.

22) When we are expressing this through this sacred art, the universal language of music, Father was emphasizing the need, first and foremost, to be that humble vessel -- in that it is really not about you or me, it's not really about how well I sing as a person, how well I dance as a person, but it is really more about -- "Was I able to move somebody in that audience, to provoke them to want to be better, Perhaps to provoke them to want to become artists themselves? Was I able to be that person through which some people in the audience felt moved?"

23) Father is asking this of all the blessed children who are so talented. In Jin Nim got a little taste of that talent that is percolating and brewing in our movement, and she looks forward year after year to watch them grow, and she is hoping that they will not just grow musically but grow spiritually and emotionally into beautiful artists. The reason Father emphasizes humbleness is, if you get so engulfed in yourself -- and In Jin Nim has talked to lots of young people in and out of our movement, and often when she talks to young people who are interested in music -- kids at the Conservatory or who are studying at the Berkeley School of Music -- "What is the reason you got into the arts?" And some of them are quite blunt -- "I got into music because I want chicks. I got into music because I want drugs. I got into music because I want the power." These are the things that you hear over and over again.

24) But what Father is reminding us when he says that it is sacred -- it's not about what you get, you utilizing this God-given talent -- and let's not forget its God-given regardless of how great you think you are, it's really not about you, it's about what God instilled in your care and it's your duty as that musician to nurture it, to support it, to inspire it -- so that you can give back to the world and help lots of people.

25) In Jin Nim makes it very clear to the Lovin' Life Ministries Band, Sonic Cult, we need to create a new culture. This is what Father wanted to do. There is a reason why he supported the New World Players, the Go World Brass Band, Sunburst, a rock 'n roll band called Blue Tuna, all these different bands, these different mediums of expression, expressing the universal language, Father wanted to create and support that. Because it can be an extraordinary and powerful medium through which people can experience the divine, change their lives and become closer, and connected to God.

26) But Father also cautioned that there are dangers in music. There is an unwritten understanding that you cannot be a good musician if you don't do drugs. Our second generation and third generation, there are lots of them thinking about careers in music, who also think we can't be great musicians if we don't do drugs. But what Father is reminding all you talented young people, is that music is not an excuse for you to do drugs. God did not give you that gift so that you can get all the woman, get all the chicks. God gave you that gift to tap into something really powerful and beautiful and change the world.

27) In Jin Nim always felt, as a woman, as someone who very much understands the power of music, the most important thing for every young girl in the audience, including In Jin Nim (and that was a long time ago), every young woman, if you really think about it and ask them for a real conversation and ask them what is the most important thing that they think that they could be -- the majority will tell you, "I want to be a great mother." The thing that really puzzles In Jin Nim is that a lot of these talented young ladies also happen to be talented musicians -- but also succumbing to this understanding that in order to be a true artist you have to do drugs. This is something In Jin Nim cannot understand.

28) If it is our desire to be the greatest mother in the world, our body is our temple. Our body is our vessel. The thing about woman is that they are born with the eggs that, in the future, will become our children. Women are born with the set of eggs that they will release on a monthly basis, when they start to become woman. They are born with their set of eggs. When you start doing drugs at 11, 12, and 13 years of age -- you are already condemning your future kids to a life of great difficulty.

29) Some of In Jin Nim's friends in the music industry, beautiful woman, extraordinarily talented woman, because they put their body, their holy sacred temple through all this substance abuse -- they gave birth to children whose brain is missing one hemisphere. And we're not talking about hard drugs like heroin and cocaine, we are talking about what young people think is a safe drug. We are talking about pot. If you start smoking pot at the age of 11,12, or 13, you are affecting your future children who are waiting to be born.

30) We need to start thinking ahead. It is almost accepted that there are lots of drugs in the world of rock 'n roll, but there are, many times, even more drugs in classical music. These are incredibly talented young man or woman -- and when In Jin Nim sees the amount of damage that is being done, especially to the girls, in her mind she is fast forwarding two or three decades from now when they will have to suffer the consequences of their actions. By then, 20 or 30 years from now, these women are going to be mature woman wanting to establish beautiful families, wanting to raise healthy children. But, because of what they did before, it will carry on and effect their children later in life.

31) The Youth Concert for In Jin Nim is extremely important. Not only are we emphasizing the importance of having the arts in a young child's education process, not only is it wonderful in that it teaches discipline and the ability to set short-term goals and accomplish long-term goals, but at the same time it gives us the opportunity to set the culture straight, to turn the culture around, and basically say, "We can be all of these great things without the crutches that we have been standing on for so long."

32) Usually when you meet these artists at the end of their life, having gone through the substance abuse, and all the woman and all the men, usually at the end of their lives -- for example John Lennon before he died, he was quoted as saying, "There is nothing like being sober." No amount of drug is going to make you high on life. The only thing that is going to keep us, and continue to keep us high on life, is our relationship with our Heavenly Parent and our relationship with our True Parents.

33) When Father says that music is sacred, it is his call to the young people "respect it." "If you think you are hot, you'd better think God is hotter, because that gift came from God. If you think you are all that, you had better think your Heavenly Parent is all that and more. Because he blessed you with that talent. And so respect your art. Approach it with honor and do not abuse yourself. Know the talent that has been placed in your behalf."

34) The great thing about something like the youth concert, and the need to understand it as something sacred -- when something is sacred and holy, you want to keep it and maintain a certain level of devotion, a level of attendance. That is where discipline kicks in. When you accept that music, art, and literature are forms of art that are sacred -- then you are approaching it with a willingness to go through the discipline to become the kind of an artist you want to be. You are not going to come up on the stage of the Grand (ballroom) winging it. You are going to come up on the stage having practiced. In Jin Nim challenged the young people in the youth concert -- next year when the concert is held -- she wants to hear bands from all the different Districts. And it will be her privilege to produce an album of the first top three bands that she finds to be inspirational.

35) This is a call for you to approach your craft with a heart of humbleness and gratitude and with that determination, "I'm not just going to wing it. I'm not going to just use it to socially interact with people, but understanding that music is a sacred art -- really put myself into it, practice discipline."

36) The word discipline is beautiful, because, In Jin Nim has dealt with a lot of kids who are starting out in classical music -- and the minute they hit the octave scales (and the Russians like to put kids on four octave scales) the kids say they can't. "I can't." But the great thing about discipline, you know, if you tell yourself, if you discipline yourself each and every day a little bit at a time -- the first week the first octave, second week two octaves, next week three octaves, the fourth week four octaves. Before you know it you can overcome one's defeatist attitude -- "I can't, it's too difficult, it's impossible."

37) In a way, the arts, and the importance of understanding discipline, tells the kids, and pushes the kids -- that there is nothing that is impossible. There is nothing that we cannot do. There is nothing that can stand in the way if we decide today that we are going to give ourselves to the discipline.

38) When In Jin Nim thinks of the word discipline -- when she uses it on the kids -- they feel it's scary. It sounds monstrous. But the way In Jin Nim thinks about the word discipline -- it's almost like Ying and Yang, a positive and negative thing. This is a reminder to the parents and herself -- discipline is a way to set your kids on a schedule -- and many times doing the things that are really, really difficult to do -- it's something negative, they don't like to do it, it's distasteful, they would rather do something else. But the great thing about discipline -- it's a system of reinforcement. It's the system of enforcing what needs to be done to take this child from a poor piece of coal, deep in the earth's core and turning it into a brilliant diamond. Yes, there are components of discipline, of enforcing -- making sure they get themselves into gear, that might be painful. But discipline can be very positive and uplifting in the sense that there has to be a balance of the difficult as well as the uplifting, positive reinforcement. So, if a child does his part in practicing 20 or 30 minutes a day, the parents clearly articulate, "Wow, John! Wow, Sarah! You were fantastic!" And don't just leave your kids at "fantastic." Explain why they were fantastic. "You were fantastic because you completed your 20 or 30 minutes of practice." This is discipline, as much as having them sit in a chair and practice for 30 minutes.

39) As a parent we need to help our kids understand a new way of coming to terms with this word. Because actually discipline, a system of reinforcement, is a combination of the difficult and negative with the positive and the uplifting. If we can keep on doing this as parents, reminding them of what they need to do, things that they don't like to do, but also reinforcing with positive compliments -- why they were awesome at doing what they did on a daily basis -- then before you know it the kids will come to expect the best of themselves. They'll come to expect this because they now have a framework in which they can work.

40) A lot of the difficulty with young people, in terms of not being able to stick to something -- a lot of parents tell In Jin Nim, "My kids are really talented in painting." And when In Jin Nim meets them a few months later and asks how the painting is going -- they answer, "Oh, Jane decided to do the computer." Okay, the computer is good, programming is great. "Oh, Jane decided to do horseback riding." That's great too. "Now Jane is doing swimming." This is where parents come in. Children need parents to create a structure, a framework in which they can grow. If you want to plant parsley in a pot, there has to be a pot with soil. You can't just take a handful of soil, stick a seed in there, and say grow! You have to be the pot. The parents have to be the enforcer and the re-enforcer of the positive as well as the difficult things that need to be done to bring the kids to the true virtuosity that we know every child is capable of.

41) This brings us to the third point, which is the importance in consistency. Once the child understands that their art, their journey into this art, is sacred, and they remember that they must approach it with a sense of respect and reverence, with an attitude of humbleness, and they need to engulf themselves in this framework provided by their parents, to go through the way of discipline. (And the parents play a pivotal and crucial role in this. The children cannot do it themselves.) Then there is this point, the importance of consistency. It does not matter how wonderful a framework you provide for your kids, if you don't do it day in and day out, day in and day out, the talent that is inherent in that child will never flower or blossom. In a way, the parents need to help the kids to stay focused, to stay consistent -- consistent with a heart of Cheung Sung -- which means devotion, a certain devotion to what they are doing -- so we are being consistent in our effort, not just so we can feel good about ourselves, but to allow us to partake in this incredible creative force -- to speak the beautiful universal language of music and art. And in order to do that we must be consistent.

42) When we understand that this is the reason why teaching every child, or exposing them to the art, is a wonderful thing, we realize that the lessons learned while they are perfecting and pursuing their art -- lessons of being humble, of understanding discipline, of being consistent -- these are all the traits that are the secret ingredients to anything else in life -- any other relationship in life.

43) When a child starts on the road to becoming a musician or becoming a painter you are starting a relationship with that instrument or with that medium -- be it oil painting, acrylic, or watercolor -- you are starting a relationship and you are approaching that relationship with reverence, a heart of humbleness, understanding that that relationship is going to require a great deal of discipline. And understanding that that relationship, in order for it to be successful, is going to require consistency on your part.

44) These three ingredients can be taken anywhere into any other relationship -- be it a parent-child relationship, the conjugal relationship, brother and sister relationship, or even with our colleagues -- this is what creates winners out of people. In Jin Nim has seen it over and over again. The simple lessons that In Jin Nim learned by pushing and inspiring the kids to devote themselves to the arts, can be a wonderful thing. That is the reason why In Jin Nim started the Youth Concert for World Peace in Japan 10 years ago -- and she is tickled pink that we can do the same in America.

45) Think about it -- here we are living with the philosophy of living for the sake of others -- how beautiful it would be if every year the money that we generate, the money that we raise, because we want to practice -- not just talk about living for the sake of others, but actually practice living for the sake of others -- how beautiful it would be if at every concert we raised money so that we can decide a country of our choice for that year and send that money as a gift from America to the other nations of the world.

46) Mr. Rockefeller said something a while back that was very interesting, "The art of giving starts from the home." The art of giving starts when you are very, very young. Our children need to be encouraged to give, they need to be taught to give. When In Jin Nim has Jaga come up every Sunday (and he does such a fantastic job) and talk about the importance of giving -- that needs to be taught from a very, very young age. And through all the other programs that are developed at headquarters -- that idea, that concept needs to be reinforced at every stage of life. So even as we are so lucky to participate and celebrate our musical expression at this beautiful Hall, the Grand -- initiating the first Youth Concert for World Peace, we must be mindful of how blessed we really are and therefore we should use that occasion to help somebody else in need, to help people who we don't see everyday, but love them nevertheless because we belong to one family.

47) We have a lot of things taking place in our movement, lots of difficulties, lots of exciting things -- and one of the things that moved In Jin Nim so much, was the last time, when True Father called all the managers of True World Food Group to Las Vegas -- there was a big shuffle at their headquarters in New Jersey, and a great deal of pressure was put on them -- of course they would not say "you cannot go," but they made sure that the next morning they had an international meeting -- "so please attend," and it was implied that if they did not attend, their jobs would be on the line. But these managers, these Japanese managers -- and what moved In Jin Nim so greatly was that when Father called them to Las Vegas they do not care if they would have a job when they got back -- they all came except one.

48) When In Jin Nim sees that Japanese spirit, and there were some Westerners there too, when she sees our good members' spirit in really wanting to totally unite with our True Parents, and totally live as one family, really honor our True Parents -- she could not help but be moved. Here they were struggling with their own individual burdens and problems -- dealing with work and the possibility that they might be fired for not showing up for the next round of meetings -- but instead chose to go because Father called. When your parents call you should go, and they came. It was incredibly moving for all of us to realize how much brothers and sisters were united with our True Parents.

49) Can you imagine how much comfort they gave to True Parents. In Jin Nim believes that something like that, a heartistic foundation of unity -- something like that is really going to translate and be taken back to the country of Japan. Even as Japan struggles with the aftermath of the tsunami, In Jin Nim knows that that kind of heartistic unity is a great preparation for many, many great things to take place in Japan and also in America.

50) So, in a way, this youth concert is a great opportunity to link what we've been doing in Japan for the last 10 years -- to America. In the spirit of cooperation, in the spirit of unity, inspire our youth to really be the giants, the ones who will usher in this new millennium as a member of the generation of peace. Now that, brothers and sisters, is something incredibly exciting.

51) The Good Book reminds us in Psalms 55:22 "Give your burdens unto the Lord." Give up your burdens unto the Lord, just like those managers did. When Father calls for heartistic unity, when Father teaches us a sublime understanding of what it is to be a true artist, by introducing the word sacred and the whole heartistic understanding of what we need to be, Father is reminding us -- we are all divine beings. We have this ability to channel truelove, one of the most powerful things in the universe. It is incredible how you don't need a language to understand what love is. And music, you don't need a language to understand it -- it doesn't matter if you are German, from the Amazon forest, or from the North Pole hanging out with the Eskimos -- everybody understands music and everybody understands love.

52) Brothers and sisters, let us remember what Father meant when he said, "Understand our lives, our loves, and our art as something sacred." And, regardless of how difficult life might be, and for many of us in the room the most difficult relationships are sometimes parent and child, dealing with our children, helping them through the difficult times. But come high or low we have got to know that we are not alone, and God is always with us, God is watching after our kids. God is watching after all of us so give your cares and burdens unto the Lord.

53) There was this great song a wild back that said, "Don't worry, be happy!" Whenever In Jin Nim heard that song, when she heard that "Don't worry, be happy!" (And it was a favorite of many Japanese sisters too). Worry is something that burdens, it's something heavy. But "worry" in Korean means Divine Principle. So when you are a grief stricken, when you are overcome with the burdens of the world, remember that we have this thing called the Divine Principle that teaches us that we are divine beings, eternal sons and daughters of God and we were put here for greatness. We were put here to honor our Heavenly Parent and our True Parents with our lives.

54) So give your burdens unto the Lord, because the Lord will always take care of you.

55) God bless you! Have a wonderful Sunday! 

Love Doesn't Need A Language To Be Understood

In Jin Moon
March 20, 2011
Lovin' Life Ministries

Good morning, brothers and sisters. I think this front row had breakfast already. [Laughter.] I'm delighted to be with you again this Sunday. Our True Parents are with us still in Las Vegas, and they send their greetings and their love. I'm always so appreciative every time they ask about the American movement and the blessed children and how everybody is doing. I think they get a sense that our movement is really coming alive, and they can feel it. So, thank you for your love and for always responding to our True Parents in such a great way.

As you know, the tragedy that took place in Japan is still unfolding, and our True Parents are sending their prayers to Japan and to our brothers and sisters there. But, as I shared with the young people who attended the Youth Concert for World Peace -- the first one of its kind here in the United States -- there is some good news about Japan. In the prefecture where the tsunami hit, the town of Sendai, our leaders have reported that, yes, a lot of lives were lost, but not one of our brothers or sisters was harmed.

I was told the stories of two of our sisters. One remembers being swept away by the tsunami when, just out of the blue, a man grabbed her and pulled her to safety. She has no idea who this man was. Perhaps he was a real man, perhaps he was an angel, but she was saved from being swept away. I know that she is so grateful for the opportunity to live another day and have the chance to work together with our True Parents.

Another story is about a sister whose car was being swept away by the current but somehow it came to hit upon the roof of a building, and she was able to crack open the window, get herself out of the vehicle, and thus be rescued. These are two stories of harrowing and life-threatening situations, but when I heard that these two sisters were pulled to safety I felt that once again our True Parents' prayers are really with them, and we are so thankful that our True Parents continue to pray for Japan and its quick recovery.

I want to thank those of you who attended the Youth Concert and donated on behalf of the Japan relief fund that we have started here. Please continue to donate and please continue to work with different organizations that will be raising money so we can send the relief fund to Japan to help them recover. Thank you once again.

When I was leaving Las Vegas, I was telling our True Parents that I really need to get back to New York for the Youth Concert and also that it was a chance to have almost a memorial service for our dear older brother. I explained to Father that it's my heart not just to remember my great older brother, Hyo Jin Oppa, but also to remember the others that have gone before us -- my younger brother Heung Jin, my older sister Hye Jin, and my younger brother Young Jin.

One of the things that Father teaches through the Legacy of Peace Seunghwa ceremony is to let our loved ones move on by celebrating their lives well lived. I thought how wonderful would it be if we can start a youth concert series that allows the young people to celebrate their lives and to remember those who have gone before us and what they have meant to us. We can remember them in a joyful, loving way by sharing the universal language of love, which is music.

When I explained this to our True Father, he said to me something that I found profound. He said, "You need to tell those young people that we have a lot of talented young people in our movement because you were hand-picked by God. Your parents came together not just because they liked each other, but because they saw themselves as being part of one family and they wanted to try their best to live up to being that ideal husband and wife, father and mother, and do their best in terms of bringing up ideal families of their own."

Father was saying that these young people are really special kids, talented kids who are touched by God, blessed by God; we call them blessed children. But, he said, "You need to share with them that the language of love and music is a sacred art." He used the word sacred.

Usually we think of music as a way to express ourselves. One of the pitfalls that we can so easily fall into is thinking, "I am such a great musician, a great player, look how fantastic I am." And the stage is an interesting medium that brings out the best and the worst. When Father emphasized the word sacred, he was saying that offering up music to other people is an art form that is sacred.

When I think and pray about the word sacred, it's a very interesting word. We know it means holy, something sanctified, having to do with the church or a rite. But all in all, the overall understanding of the word is that it is holy. I've always found it fascinating in coming to America and learning the language and how the words sound to analyze what letters are chosen and what they look like.

The word sacred means something holy, but to my ears it's two syllables sounding like "say" and "crud." This is a holy word, but in one sense it sounds like "say cruddy things," the opposite of something sacred; it's something profane.

When you look at the word God, our Heavenly Parent, and you read it backwards it's dog. Why is it that one of the greatest words in the English language, God, my eternal Heavenly Parent, is dog when read backwards?

Father touched upon this in the late 1970s and early 1980s. He talked then about how if you don't have God in your life and you don't have a clear understanding of where you come from, who you are, what you need to do, and what you need to leave behind before you go to the next phase of your live up in spirit world, it's like living a life of a dog in succumbing to animalistic instincts. We succumb to the animalistic passions, the wiles of the world, the temptations. We can run around barking in all four corners of the world but not really realize who we are. We don't have a way to find our own dignity and rise up from the four-legged creature-like existence to become a bipedal human being, vertically connected to our Heavenly Parent and understanding that we are divine eternal sons and daughters.

When Father used the word sacred, it made me realize that here is a word symbolizing something extremely holy, something sanctified and blessed. But in one sense it sounds like "say crud." When I hear the word, it's a reminder that if we don't realize that our life is sacred, that it is holy, blessed, inspired, and sanctified by Heavenly Parent, then we can easily degenerate into a child saying cruddy things and being a negative person.

When we forget that we are holy, that our lives are sacred, we can so easily fall into a trap where we are no different from dust and wind. We are worthless and have no dignity. Then we end up becoming a vessel of negativity and of a lot of criticism. We start criticizing our God -- "Why did you not bless me as much as this person? Why did you not make me more beautiful, more powerful, more rich? Why me?" That's saying cruddy things to our Heavenly Parent, isn't it?

Then we turn to our parents and say, "What have you done for me lately?" The greatest gift our parents have given to us is our life. They can give nothing more precious than that and the love they provide throughout all the years when we walk our road of self-discovery. We criticize our parents for what they are not, even as we are not appreciating them for what they are.

Then we start looking around in our families, picking on our siblings, saying, "Why aren't you more like this? You need to get out of my way. Why don't you just leave me alone and get out of my life?"

If we don't find ourselves being connected to God, to something that's sacred and holy, we can so easily degenerate into human beings that live an animal-like existence, walking on all fours. We can so easily degenerate into negative and highly critical people, not realizing how blessed we really are and saying cruddy things to both our eternal Heavenly Parent and the very people we actually care about.

I've thought that the word holy itself, meaning something divine or blessed, is interesting. If you happen to be a pot full of holes, a lot of things are going to start leaking out, so it's not a very positive visual image. It's a reminder that if we are not connected to the divine, if we don't hold ourselves to be a divine vessel having infinite worth and dignity, then we may end up almost drilling holes into ourselves -- the holes of insecurity, fear, and feelings of not getting enough, not being acknowledged, and not being appreciated. Very soon we can find ourselves literally being hollowed out by all the holes that we drill into ourselves, because we are not realizing that we have infinite value and potential, and that with our daily lives we should practice infinite gratitude to our Heavenly Parent.

In the world of entertainment and art, there is a huge problem of ego. This includes whatever is contained in the modern perception of a great musician -- whether a classical artist or a punk rock musician. There's a huge problem of "Me, myself, and I." What Father is saying with his message that making music, painting great works of art, or writing beautiful works of literature, is sacred, is that it's not really about you. It's about how God can use you as a vessel to move, inspire, and empower people.

Often the language of love is all encompassing and covers a whole spectrum of emotions. Love is not just sweet. Sometimes love is tart. Sometimes love is painful. Love is not always "Hallelujah!" Sometimes it's the pits of hell, where you struggle with yourself, to find your footing, to regain your relationship with Heavenly Father and Heavenly Mother, each and every day. Love is a myriad of different emotions.

When we're expressing this spectrum of emotions through the sacred art that is the universal language of music, Father was emphasizing, we need first and foremost to be a humble vessel knowing that it's really not about me, or how well I sing or dance. It's really more about whether I was able to move somebody in the audience, to provoke him or her to want to be better, or maybe to want to become an artist her- or him-self. Was I able to be the vessel through which some people in the audience felt moved?

I got a little taste of the talent that's brewing in our movement, and I very much look forward year after year to watching them grow -- and not only grow musically but also spiritually and emotionally into beautiful artists. I've talked to a lot of young people both in and out of our movement. Many times when I talk to different kids who are interested in music, studying at conservatory, and ask them what's the reason they got into the arts, some of them are quite blunt. "I got into music because I want chicks." "I got into music because I want drugs." "I got into music because I want the power." These are the things that you hear over and over again.

But what Father is reminding us when he says to us that it's sacred is that it's not about what you can get. It's not about you exploiting this God-given talent -- and let's not forget that it is God-given. Regardless of how great you think you are, it's really not about you. It's about what God instilled in your care. It's your duty as a musician to nurture your talent, to support and inspire it so you can give back to the world and help people.

I make it very clear to the Lovin' Life Ministry band, Sonic Cult, that we need to create a new culture. That's what Father wanted to do. There's a reason why he supported New World Players, Go World Brass Band, and Sunburst. There was even a rock and roll band called Blue Tuna, of all things. Father wanted to support all these different bands and mediums for expressing the universal language because music can be an extraordinary and powerful medium through which people can experience the divine, change their lives and become closer and more connected to God.

But Father also cautioned about the unwritten understanding: "you can't be a good musician if you don't do drugs." Our Second and Third Generation, a lot of them who are thinking about careers in music, also think they can't be great musicians if they don't do drugs. But Father is reminding all you talented young people that music is not an excuse for you to do drugs. God did not give you that gift so you can get all the women, all the chicks. God gave you that gift so you can tap into something powerful and beautiful, and change the world.

As a woman and someone who understands the power of music, I've always felt that for every young girl in the audience -- including myself, and that was a long time ago, brothers and sisters -- if you honestly ask what is the most important thing they think they could be, the majority of them will tell you, "I want to be a great mother."

What really puzzles me is that a lot of these young ladies also happen to be talented musicians who have succumbed to the understanding that in order to be a profound artist you have to do drugs. I cannot understand this because if our desire is to be the greatest mother in the world, our body is surely our temple; our body is our vessel.

The thing about women is that we are born with the eggs that in the future will become our children. We are born with a set of eggs that we will release on a monthly basis, starting at the time we become women. We are born with that set of eggs. So if you start doing drugs at 11, 12, or 13 years of age, you are already condemning your future children to a life of great difficulty.

Some of my friends in the music industry, who are beautiful, extraordinarily talented women, have put their body, their sacred temple, through substance abuse. Then, they have given birth to children who have no brain, missing one hemisphere. We're not even talking about extreme hard drugs like heroin or cocaine. We're talking about what a lot of young people nowadays think is a safe drug. We're talking pot. You start smoking pot when you're 11, 12 or 13, and you are affecting your future children who are waiting to be born. We need to start thinking ahead.

It's accepted that there are a lot of drugs in the rock and roll world, but there are a lot of drugs in the classical music world as well, many times, even more so. These are highly talented musicians, young men and women. When I see the amount of damage being done to these young ones, especially the girls, then in my mind I'm fast-forwarding two or three decades from now, when they will suffer the consequences of their actions. Twenty or thirty years from now they will be mature women wanting to establish beautiful families, wanting to raise healthy children. But because of what they did before, it will carry on and affect their children later in life.

For me, the Youth Concert is extremely important. Not only are we emphasizing in a young child's education the important of the arts, which teach discipline and the ability to set short-term goals and accomplish long-term goals, we are also claiming the opportunity to set the culture straight, to turn it around by saying that we can be all of these great things without the crutches we have been standing on for so long.

Usually when you meet great artists at the end of lives involving substance abuse, you hear something like the words of John Lennon, who was quoted toward the end of his life as saying, "There's nothing like being sober." No amount of drugs is going to make you high on life. The only thing that is going to keep us feeling high on life is our relationship with our Heavenly Parent and our True Parents.

Again, when Father says music is sacred, it's basically his call to the young people to respect music. If you think you're hot, you'd better think God is hotter, because that gift came from God. If you think you are all that, you'd better think your Heavenly Parent is all that and more, because he and she blessed you with that talent. So, respect your art. Approach it with honor, and do not abuse yourself nor the talent that has been placed in your care.

When something is sacred and holy, you want to maintain a certain level of devotion and attendance. That's where discipline kicks in. When you accept that music, art, and literature are sacred art forms, then you're approaching them with a willingness to go through the discipline to become the kind of artist you want to be. You're not going to come up on the stage of the Grand ballroom winging it. You're going to come up on the stage of the Grand having practiced.

I challenged the young people in the Youth Concert, telling them that next year when we have the Youth Concert, I would like to hear bands from all the different districts, and to have the privilege to produce an album of the top three bands that I find to be inspirational. This is a call for you to approach your craft with a heart of humility and gratitude, while also being determined that you will not just wing it or use music as a means for socially interacting with people. This is a call to understand that music is a sacred art and to really, really put yourself into it, to practice and to follow your own discipline.

The word discipline is beautiful. I've dealt with a lot of kids who are starting out in classical music. The minute children confronts the octave scales -- and the Russians like to put kids on four-octave scales -- the kids immediately say, "I can't. I can't." But the great thing about discipline is that you tell yourself to just discipline yourself each and every day, a little bit at a time. The first week, you do the first octave; next week, second octave; the week after, three octaves; and the fourth week, four octaves up and down. Before you know it, you can overcome the defeatist attitude that it's too difficult.

The arts as a training ground for teaching the importance of understanding discipline tells the kids and pushes the kids to experience that there is nothing that is impossible, nothing that we cannot do. There is nothing that can stand in the way if we decide today that we are going to give ourselves to the discipline.

When I talk about discipline, the young kids react. They may think, "Ooooh, scary, In Jin Nim is coming at us with discipline." It sounds monstrous. But the way I think about the word, "discipline" is almost like yin and yang, a positive and negative thing. This is a reminder to myself and the parents that discipline is a way to set your kids on a schedule, so they can learn to do things that are really, really difficult to do. It's almost something negative. They don't like to do it. It's distasteful. But the great thing about discipline, is that it's a system of reinforcement, enforcing what needs to be done to take this child from a piece of coal deep in the earth and turn it into a brilliant diamond.

Yes, there are some components of discipline, of enforcing to make sure they get themselves in gear, that might be painful. But discipline is also very positive and uplifting in the sense that there has to be a balance of the difficult with uplifting, positive reinforcement. If a child does his or her part in practicing 20 or 30 minutes a day, the parents clearly articulate, "Wow, you were fantastic." Why? Explain why they were fantastic. You were fantastic because you completed your 20 or 30 minutes of practice. This is discipline as much as having them sit in the chair and practice for 30 minutes.

As parents we need to help our kids understand a new way of coming to terms with this word. Discipline or a system of reinforcement is a combination of both the difficult or negative and the positive or uplifting. If we can keep on doing this as parents, reminding them of what they need to do, things they don't like to do, but also reinforcing with positive compliments why they were awesome at doing what they did on a daily basis, then before you know it the kids will come to expect the best of themselves. They will now have a framework in which they can work.

I've seen or heard a lot of examples of young people having difficulty in terms of not being able to stick to something: Parents tell me, "My kids are really talented in painting." Then I see them a couple of months later and ask, "How's the painting going?" "Oh, well, she decided now to do the computer." Okay, computer programming is great. Then a couple of months later I see them and hear, "She decided to do horseback riding." That's great too. Then later, "Now she is doing swimming."

This is where parents come in. Children need parents to create a structure, a framework in which the children can grow. If you want to plant parsley in a pot, there has to be a pot, there has to be soil. You can't just take a handful of soil, stick a seed in and say, grow. Right? You have to have a pot. The parents have to be the enforcer and the re-enforcer of the positive as well as the difficult things that need to be done to bring the kids to the true virtuosity that we know every child is capable of.

Once the child understands that his or her art and journey into this art is sacred, and he or she remembers that the art must be approached with a sense of respect and reverence, and an attitude of humbleness, then the child needs to understand the need to engulf her- or him-self in the framework of discipline provided by the parents. The parents play a pivotal and crucial role in this. The children cannot do it themselves.

That brings us to the third point, the importance of consistency. It doesn't matter how wonderful may be the framework that you provide for your kids; if you and they don't do it day in and day out, the talent that's inherent in your child will never flower, never blossom. The parents need to help the kids stay focused and consistent -- with the heart of Jeong Song, which in Korean means a certain devotion to whatever you are doing. We, as parents and children, are being consistent in our effort not just because we want to feel good about ourselves, but because God is allowing us to partake of this amazing creative force, to speak the beautiful, universal language of music and art. In order to do that you need to be consistent.

When we understand that this is the reason why teaching children by exposing them to the arts is a wonderful, wonderful thing, we realize that the lessons learned while they are perfecting their art -- lessons of being humble, understanding discipline, and being consistent -- are the traits that are the secret ingredients to any other activity or relationship in life. When a child starts on the road to becoming a musician or painter, she or he is starting a relationship with that instrument or that medium, be it the guitar, oil painting or acrylic or watercolor. The child is to learn to approach that relationship with reverence and a heart of humbleness, and to understand that making that relationship successful is going to require a great deal of discipline and consistency.

These three ingredients can be taken anywhere, in any other relationship, be it a parent-child relationship, a conjugal relationship, a brother-sister relationship, or even the relationship among colleagues. This is what creates winners out of people. I've seen it over and over again. The simple lessons learned by pushing and inspiring the kids to devote themselves to the arts can be a wonderful thing.

That is the reason why I started the Youth Concert for World Peace in Japan over 10 years ago. I'm tickled pink that now we could do the same in America. Here we are with the philosophy of living for the sake of others. How beautiful would it be if every year the money we raise through the concert -- because we want to practice and not just talk about living for the sake of others -- would be sent as a gift from America to a country of our choice for that year?

John D. Rockefeller (July 8, 1839 – May 23, 1937)

Mr. Rockefeller said something interesting a while back: "The art of giving starts from the home." The art of giving starts from when you're very, very young. Our children need to be encouraged to give; they need to be taught to give. When I have Jaga come up every Sunday -- and he does such a fantastic job, does he not? -- and he talks about the importance of giving, that needs to be taught from a very young age. Through all the other programs we develop here at headquarters, that concept needs to be reinforced at every stage of life.

Even as we are so lucky to participate with and celebrate our musical expression in this beautiful Grand ballroom, initiating the first Youth Concert for World Peace, we must be mindful of how blessed we really are. Therefore, we should use that vocation to help somebody else in need, to help people whom we don't see every day, but whom we love nevertheless because we all belong to one family.

Brothers and sisters, we have a lot of things taking place in our movement, a lot of difficulties, and a lot of exciting things. One that really moved me so much was when Father called all the managers of True World Food Group to Las Vegas. There was a big shuffle at the headquarters in New Jersey and a great deal of pressure put on them. Of course, they would not say, "You cannot go," but they said instead that the next morning there was an international meeting, so please attend. It was implied that if they do not attend their jobs would be on the line.

But these Japanese managers moved me so greatly because when Father called them to Las Vegas, they did not care about whether they were going to have a job when they got back. They all came except one. When I see that Japanese spirit -- and there are some Westerners in there, too -- when I see our good members' spirit of wanting to totally unite with our True Parents and live as one family honoring our Heavenly Parent, I cannot help but be moved.

To think that here they are, struggling with their own individual burdens, dealing with work and the possibility that they might be fired for not showing up for the next days' round of meetings, but instead they chose to go because Father called. When your parent calls, you should go. They went. It was incredibly moving for all of us to realize how much brothers and sisters are united with our True Parents.

Can you imagine how much comfort they gave to True Parents? I believe that something like that -- a heartistic foundation of unity -- is going to translate and be taken back to the country of Japan. So even as Japan struggles with the aftermath of the tsunami, I know that that kind of heartistic unity is a great preparation for many, many great things to take place in Japan and also in America.

This Youth Concert is a great opportunity to link what we've been doing in Japan for the last 10 years to America. So in the spirit of cooperation and unity, let's inspire our youth to be the giants who will usher in this new millennium as members of the Generation of Peace. That is something incredibly exciting.

The Good Book reminds us in Psalms 55:22, "Give your burdens unto the Lord. Give up your burdens unto the Lord," just the way those managers did. When Father calls for heartistic unity, when Father teaches us a sublime understanding of what it is to be a true artist by introducing the word sacred in the whole artistic understanding of what we need to be, Father is reminding us that we are all divine beings. We have this ability to channel true love, one of the most powerful things in the universe.

It's incredible how love doesn't need a language to be understood. Music doesn't need a language to be understood. It doesn't matter if you're German, or from the Amazon forest or from the North Pole, hanging out with the Eskimos, everybody understands music and everybody understands love.

Brothers and sisters, let us remember what Father means when he says that we should understand our life, our love, and our art as something sacred. I think for many of us in the room the most difficult relationships may be those between parent and child, dealing with our own children. We're helping them through the difficult times, but come high or low we've got to know that we're not alone, and God is always with us. God is watching after our kids, and God is watching after all of us, so let us give our cares and burdens unto the Lord.

A great song a while back was "Don't Worry, Be Happy." It was the favorite of some Japanese sisters. Worry is a burden, something heavy. "Wolli" in Korean means Divine Principle. So when you are grief-stricken, when you are overcome with the burdens of the world, remember we have the Divine Principle that teaches us we are divine beings, divine and eternal sons and daughters of God put here for greatness and to honor our Heavenly Parent and True Parents with our lives. So give your burdens unto the Lord because the Lord will always take care of you.

So God bless, and have a wonderful Sunday.

Notes:

Psalms, chapter 55

0: To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments. A Maskil of David.

1: Give ear to my prayer, O God;
and hide not thyself from my supplication!

2: Attend to me, and answer me;
I am overcome by my trouble.
I am distraught

3: by the noise of the enemy,
because of the oppression of the wicked.
For they bring trouble upon me,
and in anger they cherish enmity against me.

4: My heart is in anguish within me,
the terrors of death have fallen upon me.

5: Fear and trembling come upon me,
and horror overwhelms me.

6: And I say, "O that I had wings like a dove!
I would fly away and be at rest;

7: yea, I would wander afar,
I would lodge in the wilderness, [Selah]

8: I would haste to find me a shelter
from the raging wind and tempest."

9: Destroy their plans, O Lord, confuse their tongues;
for I see violence and strife in the city.

10: Day and night they go around it
on its walls;
and mischief and trouble are within it,

11: ruin is in its midst;
oppression and fraud
do not depart from its market place.

12: It is not an enemy who taunts me --
then I could bear it;
it is not an adversary who deals insolently with me --
then I could hide from him.

13: But it is you, my equal,
my companion, my familiar friend.

14: We used to hold sweet converse together;
within God's house we walked in fellowship.

15: Let death come upon them;
let them go down to Sheol alive;
let them go away in terror into their graves.

16: But I call upon God;
and the LORD will save me.

17: Evening and morning and at noon
I utter my complaint and moan,
and he will hear my voice.

18: He will deliver my soul in safety
from the battle that I wage,
for many are arrayed against me.

19: God will give ear, and humble them,
he who is enthroned from of old;
because they keep no law,
and do not fear God. [Selah]

20: My companion stretched out his hand against his friends,
he violated his covenant.

21: His speech was smoother than butter,
yet war was in his heart;
his words were softer than oil,
yet they were drawn swords.

22: Cast your burden on the LORD,
and he will sustain you;
he will never permit
the righteous to be moved.

23: But thou, O God, wilt cast them down
into the lowest pit;
men of blood and treachery
shall not live out half their days.
But I will trust in thee.

Don't Worry, Be Happy - Bobby McFerrin

Here's a little song I wrote
You might want to sing it note for note
Don't worry, be happy.
In every life we have some trouble
But when you worry you make it double
Don't worry, be happy.
Don't worry, be happy now.

(Chorus)
Don't worry, be happy. Don't worry, be happy.
Don't worry, be happy. Don't worry, be happy.

Ain't got no place to lay your head
Somebody came and took your bed
Don't worry, be happy.
The landlord say your rent is late
He may have to litigate
Don't worry, be happy.

(Chorus)
Don't worry, be happy. Don't worry, be happy.
Don't worry, be happy. Don't worry, be happy.

Look at me -- I'm happy. Don't worry, be happy.
Here I give you my phone number. When you worry, call me,
I make you happy. Don't worry, be happy.

Ain't got no cash, ain't got no style
Ain't got no gal to make you smile
Don't worry, be happy.
'Cause when you worry your face will frown
And that will bring everybody down
Don't worry, be happy.

(Chorus)
Don't worry, be happy. Don't worry, be happy.
Don't worry, be happy. Don't worry, be happy.

Don't worry, don't worry, don't do it.
Be happy. Put a smile on your face.
Don't bring everybody down.
Don't worry. It will soon pass, whatever it is.
Don't worry, be happy.
I'm not worried, I'm happy... 

An Opportunity For America To Help Japan

In Jin Moon
March 18, 2011
Youth Concert for World Peace

The following is Rev. In Jin Moon's speech given at the first Youth Concert for World Peace to be held in America, on March 18, 2011 in New York City.

Thank you for joining in our first Youth Concert in America. I am truly delighted to be here with all of you. You have to forgive my voice. On my flight back from spending some time with our True Parents, I was praying that I would still have a voice to share with all of you. Thank God my prayers were granted.

I want us all to take this opportunity to thank our True Parents from the bottom of our hearts for being with us at this very difficult time. Our True Parents are offering deep prayers for the sake of our Japanese movement. They are praying and thinking about Japan and all that it has represented for our movement.

As you know, Japan has been the financial backbone of our worldwide movement. We as the elder son country must wake up to an understanding of ourselves as responsible young adults. Instead of leaning on our mother country for financial and physical support in terms of brothers and sisters coming and helping our providence in America, it is time for the great men and women of this country to stand up and start being responsible as representatives of the elder son nation.

After having spent yesterday in remembrance of my older brother [Hyo Jin Moon] who passed away, I really want to carry out his vision of making culture a center of our lives, providing not just beauty and excitement but inspiring people to recognize their own divinity and empower them to be the kind of eternal sons and daughters that we were all meant to be. How incredibly wonderful that God has given us this gift of the concert, to finally celebrate it together with our American brothers and sisters!

I've been doing this concert series for the last ten years in Japan and I have encouraged the Japanese church to use every cent and every yen that I raised, for the sake of their blessed children's education -- encouraging children to go into the arts, to develop their artistry so they become great, not just as academics or sportsmen and sportswomen, but also as painters, artists, and singers in their own right.

We started out with a handful or a group that was like ragamuffins who could barely sing. But after 10 years, our Japanese child musicians have been awarded an invitation to perform at the embassies in Japan -- because they became not just the pride of our movement but also the pride of Japan. They became that good.

So tonight as I was sitting in the audience and looking at the young bands that we had the opportunity to listen to, I remember you guys two years ago, when I did the listening tour going around the country. Since then, you have gotten really good. So I encourage you to continue practicing and to really hone your craft.

When I told my father that I needed to get back to New York to spend some time with our brothers and sisters on behalf of the first Youth Concert in America, he said, "You need to tell those kids that the arts, music, whatever we're passionate about, is really a gift from God." Father said that singing and dancing and being able to paint are sacred abilities -- he used the word sacred. This is a sacred gift that God has placed in your care.

So those of you who are talented in the arts, who maybe are talented actors, singers, dancers, painters, and so on, need to realize that you have a chance in your life to express this gift from heaven, to use your sacred art as a means of inspiring others. Father emphasized to me again the importance of living for the sake of others through your art.

Here we are in the Manhattan Center. Have you heard of Dreamworks? Have you heard of Steven Spielberg? They are preparing to set the musical score for their upcoming movie Tin-Tin, and the person they chose to grace this movie is Renee Fleming, a very famous singer. They came here to the Manhattan Center to record for the movie. You young men and women need to understand that the Manhattan Center and the New Yorker, these venues that our True Parents prepared for us, are world-class. Only the finest artists have the right to perform on this stage and on the Hammerstein stage.

Peter Jackson (Director), Tin-tin, and Stephen Spielberg (Producer)

How wonderful it would be -- given the fact that you have been practicing all throughout the year because you want to share this sacred gift with your brothers and sisters -- for you guys to experience firsthand how it feels to stand where the best of the best have stood, where your favorite artists have performed, where your celebrity gods or goddesses have performed.

All of us must realize that it's an honor to stand on this stage. As we come to appreciate and enjoy this venue that our True Parents and our Heavenly Parent prepared for all of us, we must be mindful of our own individual responsibility to really see ourselves as unadulterated and pure vessels through which the sacred art that was given by our Heavenly Parent can be truly and honestly transmitted through you and your gifts.

Father wants to encourage each one of you to become a great artist, to become the pride of not just our community but of America. You can be the best of the best if your heart is true, you are dedicated to your craft, you understand where that sacred gift comes from, and your desire is to share that honestly and humbly with the rest of the world.

If we can do that, then with each new year God will bless us, our families, our movement, and the new generation that I so wish to see take up the mantle for the new millennium.

As a mother and somebody who has witnessed the power of culture and the necessity of the arts in a child's education, emphasizing the importance of discipline, delayed gratification, and wanting to give, I know these to be principles that if you apply them in the arts will also carry you in whatever career path you wish to go in the future.

I'm hoping that as we go on year after year, celebrating the artistic fruits of our community like those we experienced here today, that the Manhattan Center can be not only the venue where the best of the best artists come to share their music with the rest of the world, but also the birthplace of great musicians, great artists, that we as a movement can share with the rest of the world.

Just as I challenged the children of Japan ten years ago, I am going to challenge all of you today, so that by this time next year when we celebrate the second Youth Concert for World Peace, I would like to see twelve bands coming one from each of the twelve districts that we have around the country. If you continue to practice and if you continue to devote yourselves to the arts honestly and faithfully in the understanding that you are a vessel to whom God has given the ability to express the sacred gift of music, then, I would like to see a group of young bands who consistently perform -- not just practice but perform -- on Sundays together with the Lovin' Life Ministry in their districts, developing themselves and becoming just as good as the best of the best. Then, starting next year, I would like for the Manhattan Center to produce an album of the top three young adult ministry bands in the country, plus maybe the top three honorable mentions, depending on the quality of musicianship.

You guys can take back the news to your district that you have a year. You think you are good? You can do better. So work! As we get better in ourselves, in our musicianship and artistry, and as a movement, the spirit of living for the sake of others also needs to be continued, starting with America.

I very much saw myself as an American member of the True Family -- my family lives in this beautiful country -- going to Japan and giving every last cent that I make to the Japanese movement, thanking them for all they have accomplished over the years. How wonderful would it be if we could start generating funds through concert series like the Youth Concert, and every year decide to help a particular country of our choosing by donating some of the gifts and love we have in America. We could say, "You know what? We are so blessed and honored to be living at this time in this beautiful country of America. Let us share a little bit of our resources and love with your country."

But we don't have to wait any more as a country for others to give to us. We can start with ourselves. We can start with our children. And instead of our children being so high on the celebrity mania that exists in this country, we need to help our children to be proud of our own. Aren't our kids great?

How wonderful if all the Second and Third Generation in our movement all around the world can be just as excited about the Ohio band, the LA band and the San Diego band, just as they are excited about any other rock star or rock starlet that there is in the world! We need to start realizing how incredible a venue the Manhattan Center is and not just take it for granted, but appreciate, talk about, and be excited about it. And instead of just coming to church and appreciating Sonic Cult, you guys have to know that it's a bleeping good band!

There is a reason why I went looking far and wide to bring singers like Il Hwa, Chris Alan, and Ben Lorentzen, and our new musical director, Joe Young, into the fold, so that you guys can be proud of our own. You have to understand that Joe Young is one of the most sought-after session players in New York, so all the great artists want him to play on their album. You need to know that Il Hwa and Chris Alan are being nurtured and groomed for fantastic musical careers, and you need to know that Ben Lorentzen was the number one singer in Norway. Not only was he number one, he was the in-house singer–songwriter for EMI records. Do you guys know EMI records?

So we need to be proud of our own. This is not a motley group of people that In Jin Nim threw together to amuse you every Sunday morning. This is a good group of musicians, the best that I could get my hands on, to let you know the quality and level I am going for.

So, imagine, brothers and sisters. If every district has a phenomenal band, your own, and we have a healthy competition every year with a concert like the Youth Concert series, we can give birth to phenomenal musicians. And I look forward not just to Sonic Cult being called a bleeping bleeping band of Reverend Moon, but I want to be able to share with all my friends in the industry, "Did you know that the young adult ministry band in Ohio got written up by Sting magazine? Did you know that the Junction Band was talked about in Village Voice? Did you know that the San Diego band was written up by Rolling Stone?"

Brothers and sisters, this is an invitation for all of you to not just talk the talk but walk the walk and build something phenomenal. Just as our True Father said, the gift of music is a sacred art. Young people in the audience, respect your art. Do not let it go to waste by wasting your life away on drugs. Do not let your art go to waste by engaging in needless and pointless relationships.

This is about experiencing, honoring, and inspiring each other with the sacred art of music because we believe in the beauty of true love and in a life well lived, and because every day we breathe on earth is worth it.

My elder brother, Hyo Jin oppa, was really the big man on campus when it came to music. He was a charismatic figure with a lot of energy, and he scared a lot of people. But you know, if you really got to know him, he was beautiful and the sweetest person you could spend time with. Now that we have the honor and privilege to start this Youth Concert series, I would like also to honor the other members of my family who have already gone on before us, like my older sister.

I had a sister who was one year older than me. Her name is Hye Jin, and she only lived eight days. But I know that my name is In because my mother prayed for another daughter. My name is made of two Chinese characters -- one for "person" and the number "two." So my mother always said, "You know, you're living the life of two people." So I would like to honor her today.

I would like to also honor my younger brother, Heung Jin, who gave his life to save the two other blessed children he had in the car. And of course, he went as a providential sacrifice to protect our True Parents. Not too many people know this: My older brother was a musician, and my younger brother, Heung Jin, was an aspiring painter. He drew lots of beautiful and thought-provoking paintings. I often wondered, had he had the opportunity to live a bit longer, he might have given Picasso a run for his money, or van Gogh. So I would like to remember him at this Youth Concert today.

I also would like to remember my younger brother, Young Jin, whom I raised almost like my own son up in Boston. Most people don't know this about him, either: But again, he was a great creative individual. I would have to say probably in my family nobody was more idealistic than Young Jin. He was extremely talented in sports and a superb student. He was absolutely clear when it came to God, True Parents, and his life of faith. He was so idealistic in wanting to live a life well lived.

Most people don't realize that he was very much a budding writer, a fantastic, insightful and thought-provoking writer. I often wonder what kind of writer he would have been. I've often talked to myself in my prayer; he would probably have been like Michael Crichton, one of my favorite authors, who wrote "Jurassic Park," which was turned into a movie. Crichton was a Harvard medical doctor, so he went through the world of academia and got his medical degree because his parents wanted him to. I very much see Young Jin like that. At the end of the day he could not resist his true passion, his true calling, which was his wanting to be a writer.

So these are the people that we share this beautiful stage with tonight. As we remember the people who lost their lives in the tragedy of Japan, I know that they will be well taken care of. And what is really shocking almost and surprising to me is that in the Fukushima area, and in the prefecture where Sendai is located, not one of our brothers and sisters were hurt. One Japanese sister told her leader, "The last thing I remember is being swept away by the tsunami when some man -- I don't know who he was -- but some man reached into the water and saved my life." There's another story of a Japanese sister who was trying to drive away from the tsunami when her car was swept away by the water. Somehow the car came to rest on the roof of a building so she could break open the window and be rescued. It is absolutely amazing that not one of our brothers and sisters lost their lives. Japanese brothers and sisters need to know that our True Parents' prayers are with them always.

Tonight is an opportunity for us in America to do our part in helping our brothers and sisters in the country of Japan. Sometimes the best time to help is when your friend is down and out. A true friend is there not just when you are up on a pedestal; a true friend is there when nobody wants to be your friend.

Even as the world is slowly coming to help and create relief funds for Japan, how wonderful for our American church community -- and especially the Second Generation who can inherit the spirit of living for the sake of others -- to say, "You know what? I'll just work a little bit harder. I'll just double and triple my babysitting responsibilities, but I would like to send something to let the Japanese people know that we care." Caring needs to start with us. We need to take that first step.

Brothers and sisters, I thank you for being a part of the first Youth Concert for World Peace in the United States. I'm hoping that as we go on we'll see Youth Concerts not only in Japan, but also in Europe, South America, and all around the world. When all the different countries start creating a Youth Concert series like we are starting now, then we can start inviting each other and performing and playing with each other. In this way, culture can become the medium of exchange that brings us together as one family under God honoring our Heavenly Parent and our True Parents.

I know that you have some more good music coming your way, so let me not take the stage any longer, and thank you for being a part of this evening. 

Sermon Notes From March 13, 2011

Unofficial Notes: Andrew Compton

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1) In Jin Nim greeted everyone. She expressed how happy she was to be with us.

2) "We had a fantastic weekend with True Parents!" She thanked everyone from the bottom of her heart for responding in such a loving fashion -- when our True Parents called for the rally in Las Vegas. Our True Parents were overwhelmed by our heart, our participation, and our spirit of love. They were truly moved. Those who were lucky to be in the audience when True Father spoke -- he was overcome with emotion. In Jin Nim saw the first few seconds when he came on stage and the look of total delight, because he could be with his children once again. It was so beautiful to see. He was getting choked up in the middle of his speech. We listened to this 90-year- plus old man and what he has come to share with the world and where he would like the world to go together with him.

3) You cannot help but be moved by this man's persistence, commitment, and lifetime of devotion in service to God, to humanity, and to his children. Once again, In Jin Nim realized how blessed she is and how blessed all of us are to be in this time with the breaking news when we can accompany True Parents with our hearts and bodies and with our love, to fulfill the work that needs to be done. To have our True Parents with us here in America is a great blessing for this country.

4) Not only did we have our True Parents with us, but we also had our international president, In Jin Nim's younger brother Dr. Rev. Hyung Jin Moon. It was so wonderful to see this younger brother turn into this beautiful person, full of love and vision and a desire to serve his mankind, serve his movement, and serve his brothers and sisters.

5) For In Jin Nim it is always such a wonderful thing to have different members of her family there and to share in the ministry together. She feels that, having our True Parents there, and the spiritual head of our movement, they are together with our American brothers and sisters. It augurs well for all the things that we will be doing here together.

6) In Jin Nim also wanted to take this time to thank all the District Pastors for joining together in heart and -- when headquarters called for the 40-day condition in prayer for the unity of heart -- and to concentrate on the importance of what God is asking us to do at this time, working together with our True Parents and being united with our spiritual head. In Jin Nim felt that this 40 days of prayer prepared all of our hearts to receive our True Parents in the best way, and she believes our True Parents felt it. They were incredibly pleased and happy for America and In Jin Nim knows that True Father is continually giving many, many prayers for this great country of America.

7) At this incredibly difficult time in our world when we just witnessed and experienced, and continue to experience the tragedy unfolding in Japan with the great tsunami and earthquake, we realize that we are living at a cataclysmic time. So many things are taking place in our natural world as well as in the spiritual world and the world of our lives and many times in our minds. When our True Father started this year off, emphasizing the continued oneness with our Heavenly Parents in heaven and True Parents, together with us, in a way we cannot help but meditate and ruminate on what this word unity is all about.

8) For In Jin Nim the word unity is an incredibly profound and interesting word. "Unity," is almost a constant reminder that, U (you) ni (need) T (True Parents) -- we need our True Parents in our lives. Many of us in our life of faith seek a wonderful relationship with God, and we do that through prayer, meditation, and fasting. But the incredibly profound thing of having a beautiful couple, a man and a woman representing in a physical form our Heavenly Parent up in heaven -- is that through them we can experience what it is like to really be with our Heavenly Parent. We can really see and experience what it means to attend our God and our parents. We can experience and learn from their parental heart what it means to truly love.

9) In Jin Nim believes that the greatest gift that the Divine Principle and our True Parents bring to us, as humanity, is this concept and chance to experience this thing called parental love. We cannot really fully understand God if we don't become parents. We cannot fully understand how much God loves us if we have never loved another more than ourselves. If we have never loved the other more than -- thinking about our self preservation all the time.

10) With our True Parents, and understanding them as the earthly and physical manifestation of our God, our Heavenly Parent up in heaven -- we have this chance to see and witness and experience the parental heart at work.

11) When In Jin Nim thinks about our True Parents and how incredibly important it is for all of us to develop this parental heart of God, this parental heart of True Parents ourselves -- she again finds herself ruminating and meditating on this word, unity.

12) One of her favorite painters, Vincent van Gogh, said something very interesting. It's a saying that stuck with her throughout the years, and as she attended the Las Vegas rally and saw the wonderful video about all the work that Father is doing to end world hunger through all the different programs and boats that he's designing for the sea.

13) She very much looks at her father as an incredible spiritual leader, as an unbelievably loving father -- but also he is a fantastic fisherman. He single-handedly introduced sushi to the American people. When we first started out in the seventies, raw fish was something that, when you ask people if they would like to have it, they looked at you as though you were insane. But now, with all the fisheries that True Father established, and all the Japanese restaurants that he nurtured along the way -- in a way the sushi, and the delight in raw fish, has become something people look forward to in their daily lives. And the boats that he designed, after all he is a scientist, the kind of mechanical engineering that goes into designing fantastic boats for fishing and recreation, is something that Father gave, his creative efforts, for the sake of the world. And when they were fishing for a deep Sea tuna her father came up with the concept of line fishing instead of using fishing poles. These are all things that Father introduced which today fishermen and fisher woman take for granted.

14) When In Jin Nim thought about our Father and how important the sea is to our True Father, she remembers this quote from Vincent van Gogh -- "I said a long time ago, fisherman are well aware of the dangers at sea. And fishermen are well aware of extreme storms, but none of these dangers are sufficient enough to keep a fisherman on shore."

15) When In Jin Nim heard about this, she thought about it quite a bit and many times throughout her life of faith. In a way, the fisherman's job, or purpose, is to catch fish. Fisherman are well aware that in order to catch the fish, no matter how good your intentions are, if you don't get off the shore and onto the open sea you are not going to come back with a basket of goodies, or fresh fish to feed your family, your community, and your cities.

16) Vincent van Gogh was talking about how fisherman know the dangers of the sea, how incredibly pounding and pulverizing the storms at sea can be, but the fisherman has a purpose in going out to the open sea, they have a purpose in going out there -- to catch a fish. And not to just catch a fish but to bring it back home. And, in order to do that you cannot begin to start thinking about fishing without leaving the shore.

17) When In Jin Nim thought about this, many of us, in our life of faith -- as we call for -- in a way -- working together with the total package of what God wants to give to our movement and to our community -- In Jin Nim has been asking the District Pastors and all the leaders and state leaders to work together with this total package of this ministry (Lovin' life) -- to bring about -- reaching the nation, the American movement and also America itself. What she was asking for was to accept the total package, or the total blessing that God wants to give us, by beginning to realize that the gift that God has for us is already swimming out there in the open sea. But what we need to do, is we need to leave our shores, and many times the shores can be the place of foundation, a place that we can stand upon. But many times the shore, metaphorically can represent an island of sorts, an island of our insecurities, an island of our fears, that keep us in bondage to those very things that we hope to escape.

18) And so Vincent van Gogh is saying, fishermen knowing all the danger and all the storms, they still have to leave the shore. In a way, what he is saying -- is in order to fully reap a harvest, the blessing that God has prepared for us, we have to be willing to leave our security blankets. We have to be willing to leave our old habits. We have to be willing to leave, maybe our comfort zones that we are very very much attached to.

19) The interesting thing about human beings is that over time we can become attached to anything. We can become attached to people who abuse us as well as being attached to people who love us. And sometimes God asks us, or calls us, to leave our comfort zone or to leave our habitual ways of doing things, or to leave that shore or island of insecurities and fears and face the unknown, because God wants something better for us.

20) But, regardless of how much God wants to give us great blessings, if we cannot unify with the gift or the blessing that God wishes to bestow upon us, in our inability to leave this island of insecurity and fear, we will always live almost paralyzed lives -- with the very success and prosperity that we so desire, because we refused to leave the shore.

21) When In Jin Nim thinks about this saying of Vincent van Gogh, what he is alluding us to is not just our inability to leave our insecurities and fears -- to unite with God and accept what He is willing and has already prepared for us, but in a way Vincent van Gogh is also saying -- when you leave the shore and you are on a boat -- you know many times the boat is symbolic of the church -- we can understand the boat to be like any other fishing boat that leaves the shore for the open sea. We go with the added expectation that we are going to work hard together, we're going to take in the wind, we are going to ride the wind, and we're going to bring back something wonderful for our families.

22) The thing about God, and the thing about God giving us this chance to work together in a small boat, as a family, as a church, as a movement, as a nation -- our True Father, Rev Sun Myung Moon -- often speaks about the family as the cornerstone for world peace, but he also cautioned us that the family also has the power to destroy the very thing that we want to create.

23) When True Father talks about the family as being the textbook of love, and in a way encourages us to work through the different relationships in the family, to rub up against each other, to really tone down the sharp edges that we all have -- truly loving each other. The incredible thing is the beautiful image of the sale -- and In Jin Nim loves to watch the beautiful sailboats going out to sea. They are massive. They have huge beautiful sails that catch the wind. She often felt, having had five children of her own, that whenever she looks at these beautiful majestic sailboats taking in the wind and letting the wind drive it to wherever it needs to go -- it reminded her of the parental heart, the heart of God, and the love of God, they are very much like that wind in the sail, in that it's invisible.

24) God is not telling us, "Look how powerful I am, look how glorious I am." God simply is. He simply loves us the way we are. And even though we cannot see him we are breathing Him and Her each and every day. And even though we cannot see the wind -- we can certainly feel the wind if we open up our hearts. But better than that, if we can be the great big sail that can catch this beautiful heart of God in this beautiful heart of our True Parents -- in the spirit of living for the sake of others, of service to humanity, in knowing that we are going to take our boats out to sea and bring back something wonderful for our families. Then we realize that God is always with us.

25) And if we do not see, it is because we have not opened up our spiritual eyes. And we realize that God is always there to support and empower us. The wind is blowing around, through, in an out of us -- we just need to harness this power of true love that God shares with all of us. Instead of thinking God is not here because I cannot see, perhaps it is God asking us to open up our spiritual eyes, to open up our hearts and to feel the wind, to feel the support that God has for all of us in our lives -- and not just feel the support, but gratefully ride, ride the wind so that you are not only gliding on the water, but in essence you are flying as well.

26) That is the parental heart of God. The beauty of a parent is that God doesn't raise us up at his children just to tear us down. God raises us up so that we can continue to soar and fly. God is telling us that even if we do not see him every day, He and She is all around us and all we need to do is tap into our hearts, open up our spiritual eyes, begin to feel what it is to be that eternal sons and daughters, that divine creature -- and start being grateful for the wind beneath our wings. And instead of complaining for not enough wind or not enough guidance or not enough of this and that, truly let ourselves ride the wind that is blowing us to this place, to this glorious place, towards God's heart -- to experience God's love, to be part of that one family of God.

27) And if we can do this in unity with our Heavenly Father then there is nothing that we cannot accomplish. And when you think about what Vincent van Gogh was saying -- he was saying, "yes there are lots of difficulties out there, you will face trials and tribulations out there. Every fisherman knows you love good days, beautiful days, classic serene days on the ocean, as well as stormy and vicious days on the ocean."

28) In Jin Nim remembers when she was 12 years old there was one season when she went deep-sea fishing with her father. It was one of those days when you could not tell the difference between the sky and the ocean. It all seemed to become one. And all the things on the boat were being tossed around. Human beings were being tossed around like mosquitoes -- and you felt absolutely helpless. But Father, he was the captain of the boat -- and Father said do not be afraid. And everybody, regardless of whatever they might have been feeling -- some were knocked down because baskets were thrown towards them, trying to make sure the fishing poles didn't fall in the ocean, it was total mayhem, but smack in the middle of this incredibly cataclysmic event -- there was our captain, our True Parents -- there was our True Father, solid as a rock because he knew that God was with him. He was solid as a rock even as the waves were tossing them to and fro, holding on for dear life, and father was solid with no fear. Almost totally surrendering to God knowing that God would take care of him and his daughter and the other fisherman on the boat.

29) Having this clear leader, clear Captain, calm everybody down in the midst of the mayhem. That was when In Jin Nim realized how incredibly important it is to be unified with God's chosen representative. When God asked us to unite with our True Parents who are as solid as a rock -- in that day she remembers, long ago, when she thought she was going to die and she asked her father are we going to die and he smiled at her and grabbed her hand and said "don't be afraid, I am here" and that was all she needed to hear. And so regardless how scary the world can be, our True Parents are here -- do not be afraid. And as scary, as difficult as dealing with all our insecurities might be, as long as we are unified in unity with our True Parents there is nothing that we cannot accomplish.

30) When we are on this boat -- and you know this country of America, True Father has given you a woman captain -- and unfortunately that's a difficult thing for a lot of people. When Father asked In Jin Nim to be the captain of the boat when she was 16 years old with four other teenage girls -- they were very much laughed at and ridiculed.

31) She comes to her position knowing that she is not worthy. She knew she was unworthy to be a captain, but somehow for some reason Father wanted to give her the experience, of throwing her out there onto the open sea where the storms are violent, where the sea is dangerous. But father wanted her to experience what that was all about. And on the sea one of the things she realize -- it really doesn't matter who your captain is.

32) But when you have a captain, whether you like the captain or not, if you are going to successfully go out and come back with your life intact, or better yet if you want to successfully go out to the open sea and reap the harvest that is waiting for us and come back safely to shore -- you cannot do that when the boat is not unified with the captain. Lives can be lost, people can be hurt, we might not find our way home, a couple of degrees off and you will not make it back home, you will be lost at sea.

33) This unity of heart is incredibly important for our survival. In this time when our movement is going through different transitions, different ways of doing things -- regardless of whether you think the captain is a good one or a bad one there has to be a sense of unity. There has to be an acceptance, "okay this trip, whether I like this captain or not, I'm going to do my best to unite so that we can go back safely to shore after our successful run." Can you imagine if you're on the open sea and perhaps it's a beautiful day, but let's say there is a crew of four of five people, and let's say maybe there is a first mate who is much stronger, who has more experience fishing, and he begins to question the leadership of the captain who happens to be a woman. Once that kind of atmosphere of criticism starts flowing and circulating on the open boat, you are going to have absolute mayhem and somebody is going to be hurt.

34) If you have a problem with your captain, the best thing and the truly loving thing to do is to say, "hey Capt. can I have a word with you. You asked us to do this and that, but could we do it another way? What do you think? Do you think maybe this trip we might do it this way?" If you really love the captain, if you are really thinking of the team, that is what every member of the team should do. If you have a problem with the captain go to the captain and say, "Captain, maybe we should do it this way." But the minute this first mate who is disgruntled with the captain starts talking to the person next to him, "What's the matter with this captain? Is the captain PMSing today. I don't like the captain. What is wrong with her? What a control freak." And you start talking like that without regard for what the captain might be going through, or what the welfare of the boat is all about, then you start creating dissension, and factions. And when the team is torn apart into factions and different interest groups you cannot operate as a team.

35) Imagine this person sitting next to the first mate, when the first mate says "what's wrong with the captain is she PMSing, what's the matter with her, who would put a bleeping woman on the boat?" Can you imagine if this other person turned to the first mate and said, "hey brother you got a problem with the captain, take it to the captain. Why are you harping your negativity and your criticism to all of us? We have to stay united." That would have been the loving thing to do. Instead of taking that, and just throwing it back to the first mate -- how wonderful it would be if that person looks at the other people on the boat and says, "Wow our captain is getting it pretty rough by the first mate. Why don't we show our support. Let's see what a little love can do to the spirit of the boat." If the boat started working like that -- instead of this third person getting on the radio that speaks to the whole fleet on the ocean saying, "The first mate says our captain is PMSing, what is wrong with our captain?!"

36) In a way this third person has an incredible responsibility to be that agent of change. You can be the agent of change by taking the problem to its source. Many times the person who's complaining is complaining because they don't really want to fix the problem. Because, if you really want to fix the problem you take it back to the captain, back to your central figure out of love and care. You take it back with respect and honor and you maintain the sanctity of the boat and the spirit of the boat so that you can work as a team and come back with a rich harvest that God wants all of us to reap from the ocean.

37) When van Gogh is talking about going out, leaving our shores of insecurity and fears, and we join something that is worthwhile for your community, what van Gogh is asking us, if you really think about it, is to begin to harvest, begin to gather together. When you look at the word "together," it's like two people put together -- working harmoniously in cooperation and respect and honor of each other.

38) If we can harvest beautifully together on this boat -- that might be a family, that might be a church, that might be a movement, then we can do extraordinary things. This is a reminder for those of us, who at times in our lives find ourselves so preoccupied -- like the Pharisees back in the days of Jesus Christ. They were so consumed with the law, with their own knowledge of the text that they could not open up their spiritual eyes to realize that God had sent them His holy son Jesus Christ. They thought they knew better, they thought they were more educated, and they probably looked at Jesus Christ as some wandering guy who came up and is now delivering beautiful sermons, inspiring the multitudes -- and the only thing they can say is, "he doesn't correctly cite the text." What about how he is inspiring and encouraging people to love each other like they have never done before.

39) It's a reminder for us not to be so caught up in ourselves, not to be so caught up in what we think we are. We might be incredible lawyers. In fact one of In Jin Nim's friends is one of the best litigators in Boston. He went to the best college, best law school, editor of law review. You name it he's done it. He is one of these people that has it all -- tall, handsome, extraordinarily smart, but he hasn't found God -- not when she knew him a while back. He was like this beautiful Christmas present. You know the feeling when you go to the Christmas tree to open up your Christmas present and perhaps someone mixes things up and you ended up getting an empty box that has beautiful wrapping but nothing inside. That is what he was like. In terms of external accomplishments he was perfect. He was like a beautiful gigantic box with the perfect ribbon, gold dust here and there, perfect -- but because he was not connected to God, he was not filled with a relationship with God and understanding of who he was, that he was God' son. He was concentrating on what he was. He was this fantastic, smart, up-and-coming, awesome litigator. In Jin Nim remembers he argued one case in court and afterwards when the court adjourned he spoke to her and said, "wasn't I fantastic?! I was stupefied. I felt it. I felt the chills. Did you see how I held the courtroom in the palm of my hands. I could hear a pin drop. Did you see? I had them eating out of the palm of my hands." And he said, "I look good uh? You think the ladies like the what I'm wearing today?" When he said that to her he looked like this beautiful Christmas package, but so engulfed in what he was. He was not thinking about who he was. He was thinking about his own success, his own brilliance. He was high by sucking on the cesspool of hubris, he was smoking his own success and feeling extraordinarily arrogant about it. He was so consumed experiencing at that moment what he was, he forgot why he was there in the first place, why he was defending this person. He forgot that he is actually a servant of the court. It took him many many years before some tragedy in his life and he lost everything. He was no longer that handsome articulate person. He was in a car accident and his face was paralyzed and parts of his body were paralyzed. Here was this once handsome face now totally deformed.

40) When In Jin Nim met him after the accident, after he had been through therapy, he said to her, "I thought I was so slick, the man, God's gift to the world and to womankind. But God took that away from me. He took all the success away from me. He took what I was wearing, what I was, my external superficiality away from me -- this accident broke me away from myself. This accident left me naked, homeless, and hungry and for the first time I realized what I am going to do with my life. Is my life worth less now that I don't have these things to wear anymore, or was I meant for something greater? Perhaps to my own tragedy I could come to a deeper realization of why I'm here, what I was put on earth for, and maybe make something beautiful out of something seemingly tragic." And he said, "I had it all I thought, but when I thought I had it all I knew what I was but I didn't know who I was. But, after this accident, I no longer have what I was, but now I know." And through the tragedy of his life -- he found God and he realized that God didn't give him all his talents and an exceptional mind to feel good about himself.

41) If God gave you an exceptional mind, gifted you with an exceptional talent, God gave that to you so that in your keeping you can keep it with a grateful and an honorable heart. Do your best to cultivate it and give it back to the world so that you can raise up your world to be a better place.

42) When In Jin Nim thinks about this time of the breaking news, and our True Parents are always talking about 2013 and the importance of getting things done -- sharing the breaking news of what an incredible opportunity it is to have our True Parents here with us. We not only can experience true love and true life, but now we can partake of true lineage and graft onto the heavily lineage through the process of marriage, the Blessing, and actually have an opportunity to create an experience -- ideal families of our own who our True Father has taught is the cornerstone, the corner block of every society.

43) In this time of the breaking news we have a chance to make right the world. When In Jin Nim visited Washington DC and that the beautiful brothers and sisters of Washington DC who welcomed them (In Jin Nim and the LLM) with such loving and open arms -- she shared with them about Washington DC. Father says there's a lot in a name. "Washing," we need to start washing the capital of America. We need to wash it, not with greed, not with power, not with knowledge and skills, but we need to start washing it with the power of true love, with a parental heart and help direct and guide America to be that great country of God that it was originally meant to be.

44) American no longer sits in the minds of a lot of academics, as what Charles Dickens once said, that Washington DC is a city of magnificent intentions. Good intentions are not enough. Good intentions need to be carried forth substantially through rubbing up against each other, that truly loving, not just talking the talk like the good politicians do in Washington DC all the time. Anybody can talk a good talk, but actually start living and going through and start washing the beautiful capital city of this great country so that America can truly be that powerful blessed country that is ready, not just to enjoy, but to harvest its blessing and share it with the rest of the world.

45) One of the things that In Jin Nim likes to share with their children -- "I didn't choose you. I did not choose to be your mom. You did not choose me to be your mom. But guess what, we are in this boat called the family and in this boat there is a captain, first mate, a cook, there's a whole lot of different people, but we need to work together.

46) You might not be the most happy with the family your with, but the whole point of creating ideal families -- is you yourself become that agent of change. If you think your parents are not good enough, then you be better, you be that agent of change to effectuate a beautiful harmony of change in your environment.

47) In Jin Nim has had to remind her children, what does she do when they get sick? "You take us to the doctor." And if the body is strong enough to overcome, the doctor doesn't give you medication, but if you're really really sick what does the doctor do? "He gives me antibiotics." And what does the doctor tell you when he prescribes antibiotics? What is the one thing you must not do? "We must finish the medication and don't stop after one day, or two days, and say "it doesn't work." If it is a 10 day prescription, give the medication a chance to work and take it religiously, take it in the spirit of unity. And if you do that in unity with a doctor's prescription you will get better."

48) Antibiotics is an example of what we can and cannot do, but if we take that into our own understanding of faith and how we are to be with our True Parents -- maybe True Parents ask us to do something we cannot understand. But sometimes God is asking us to take this medicine which is going to take a little bit of time. You cannot see the results the first day. You may not see the results the third day or fourth or fifth day. But if you unite and give it a chance by the eighth or ninth day you know it's working. And by the time it's done you know that you are well on the way to becoming a healthy contented individual -- hopefully no longer called a patient.

49) When the Bible reminds us in Psalm 118, verse 24 -- "be grateful for the day that God has given. Rejoice and be glad in it." God is saying, "I have given you everything you need. I have given you True Parents. I've given you a great captain. I have given you great sails. You are my beautiful sails on the sailboat. Now, open up your heart, open up your mind, open up your arms, and take me in, child. Do not be afraid to leave your island of insecurities and fears, because if you can be united with me, for the first time in your life you will start to experience what it feels like to have real love, genuine love, true love in your life. That is the greatest thing about being the eternal sons and daughters in that we can partake in this incredible thing called true love flowing through our veins.

50) On this beautiful Sunday morning please be united. In unity we need our True Parents, and please love them with your heart and mind and with everything that we are, and know that all the great things emphasized in the Bible and all the great things that have been prophesies by the great prophets are waiting for us to harvest if we only take the chance, take the time, to go out there, leave our shores of insecurities behind, let the winds fill our sails, and be willing to harvest this glorious, glorious blessing together.

51) God bless you and thank you.