Rev. In Jin Moon Brings the Spirit of Lovin’ Life Ministries to Japan
Sharing: A Brief Note About In Jin Moon's Visit and Speech in Fukuoka
Raffy Ablong
June 11, 2012
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
I had a unique chance yesterday to be one of the 14 external security staff led by Master Hoshiko Takamitsu for In Jin Nim's visit to Fukuoka together with her Lovin' Life Ministry's Sonic Cult Band.
Before proceeding to the main venue, In Jin Nim made a brief message to all members who welcomed at Takamiya Unification Church Hqs. I did not have a chance to listen to her speech because the security staff were asked to be at Munakata Yurix by 12:30 p.m.
All the staff gathered at Munakata Yurix's Main Convention Hall for a general meeting. All the committees were well represented and the details of the plan for each committee was properly explained.
In Jin Nim arrived at the convention center around 3:45 p.m. The program started exactly at 4 pm. Most of the seats were occupied when she came. Everything was in proper order. Members from as far as Kumamoto prefecture came to offer their musical presentations. The SONIC CULT band started playing right after a 20 minute break of the first part of the program which was the presentation by Japan members from most of the islands' prefectures.
These are some of the points I heard from her speech while doing my security work. Concisely, In Jin Nim mentioned these points:
Lovin' Life Ministry uses music as one of the highest expressions of the human soul to promote the Divine Principle, the peace messages and the core teachings of True Parents.
As Unificationists, we should be proud to be different. To be different is good.
Most of our members in the past have been bullied or discriminated in Japan and elsewhere in the world but that has to stop. We need to speak out and tell people who we are by talking to them about our blessing, our families, values and principles.
She has met a lot of talented artists that use our Manhattan Center in New York where she used to be the CEO including Bruce Sprinsteen, Alicia Keys and a few more world renowned singers. She thought of using music as a special instrument to teach the Principle and change the lives of people according to God's Will. -In Jin Nim mentioned about how True Mother really cares and listens actively to members.
After her speech, In Jin Nim received some beautiful flowers from selected 2nd generation assisted by a pair of elder family members. After that she immediately proceeded to the foyer area for the signing of books and CDs about her work and speeches. So many members were lined up to have her sign their materials. Some members gave her gifts and paintings. It took about a little more than an hour to sign and shake hands with all members.
Most members were teary-eyed looking at her and shaking hands with her. Some old members were not able to control their tears. In Jin Nim was so composed but you can feel that she was with them intently. Her emotions were truly with the brothers and sisters she was talking or shaking hands with. If they were smiling 2nd generation, she would smile back and warmly shake hands with them. If it is the first generation old members, she looks at them seriously with great respect. At times, I felt that she would like to hug and comfort them but there were just so many people. Her time was so tight.
Note:
I was just about 3 steps away from her the whole time when she was signing and shaking members hands and I can feel how strong-willed and how deeply loving she is as True Parents' daughter.
She is truly a great heavenly filial daughter of True Parents and Heavenly Father. I am really thankful and grateful for the opportunity to serve as one of the security staff during her visit -- my first of doing such a special security responsibility in Japan.
Just sharing... Thank you.
Report: In Jin Moon and Kook Jin Moon in Fukuoka, Japan
Edna Hirae
June 10, 2012
In Jin Nim and Kook Jin Nim came to Fukuoka City yesterday, Sunday and last week respectively. I wasn't able to attend Kook Jin Nim's speech but Yoshiura san, our translator said he spoke about the necessity for the Abel countries Japan, South Korea and the US to be strong militarily, to thwart the Cain type nations' possible offensive.
I think basically the contents are similar to the most recent speeches given by Kook Jin Nim at Leaders' conferences or at speaking tours in Korea and other countries.
In Jin Nim meanwhile brought a motherly spirit. She spoke at our local Sunday Service yesterday, June 10. She spoke before 12 noon and finished at about 1 PM. Fortunately she spoke in English but of course with the Japanese translation in a louder mode (I was at the monitor room).
She said that a Mother's (referring to Japan's role as a Mother nation) primary role is to raise great kids.
Financially yes the mother controls the family's purse strings (thus Japan's financial responsibility in the providence) but most importantly her role is to raise great children (referring to the world's children).
I like the True Children because they have long term and short term vision, just like True Parents. The things we haven't thought about so much, they've thought of.
She said,
"What will happen 20, 30 years from now.
We need to look at our future 20-30 years from now.
The future Einstein, future Martin Luther King,
Olympic medalists-- our church will be that kind of church.
The quality of our life needs to be the best..."
She said America is famous for "fast" things --McDonalds which introduced fast food; fast lifestyle, etc. Fast whatever isn't necessarily the best though, she continued.
In contrast, True Parents are teaching us things which take time to develop like true love.
There's a concert in the afternoon at Munakata Yuriks at the outskirts of the city featuring In Jin Nim and other performers. Sorry I wasn't able to attend, thus I can't report.
Come together as a family through our True Parents
In Jin Moon
June 9, 2012
Speech to international Families
Urayasu, Chiba, Japan
Hello everybody. Please have a seat! Hello International Families of Japan!
I am delighted to meet you and bring you wonderful greetings from our True Parents. I gave them a brief report of what I will be doing in Japan and as usual, Father and Mother very much encouraged me to try my best to convey their heart of love for this country, for this great Eve, Mother country of Japan, that they are truly so grateful for your sacrifice and for your dedication and for your hard work all these years.
True Parents are always praying for each and every one of you. They were so excited that we were going to be holding the 12th Youth Concert for World Peace and Ideal Families because they very much see your children, our children, as the future of Japan and the future of our movement. So, just the fact that I get to celebrate together with the second generation, I think Father and Mother felt a little jealous. I think they wish that they could have been with all of you yesterday. But, again, every time I do come to Japan and every time I do have a chance to really spend some time with the Blessed Children, I realize how incredible each and every one of them is. We've kind of got a taste with one of the girls here from the choir that I saw yesterday and she delighted us with two numbers, earlier. And, truly, the beauty of our community is that…
I told my friends that I would be going to Japan for about a week and they said, "Oh, eat a lot of sushi!" "Why don't you go and catch a Kubuki performance or something!" But I said, "You know the interesting thing about my church and my community and my family, is that whenever I go to Japan, I'm not just experiencing Japan, but I'm experiencing the whole world." And my outside friends say, "Yeah, really?" And I say, "Yeah, unlike the other churches or other communities around the world, you know, you go to a Korean protestant church and everybody is Korean. And if you are western, sitting in the audience, you are going to feel really awkward. Or you go to worship Jesus Christ at the Church of Christ, or you might get a ticket to the Christian Rock Band called Hill Song, and want to worship Jesus Christ with them, but, when you go you realize that the audience is very, very uniform, in that when you go to, for instance, the Church of Christ, everybody is white. And when you go to a church in Harlem everybody is black. But, where else in the world are you going to see a performance of Arirang set to the African drums?! Only in our community. And where else are you going to go to a youth concert in the middle of Tokyo and be bombarded by a medley from Sound of Music? It's like the whole world is encapsulated in our community and that's really the beauty of our community."
We have come together as a family through this incredible portal that our True Parents have set before us. In a way, we walk through this thing called the Blessing and have come to find each other as children of God. In a really exciting and opportunity filled life, in that we get to experience another culture. We get to experience people that are very different from us, perhaps, that we didn't grow up being friends with. But in a community like ours, the beauty of the Blessing really allows us to experience the whole world! It doesn't matter if you go to Japan, it doesn't matter if you go to Paris, France because we understand and have an idea of who God is, who our Heavenly Parent is and who our True Parents are, we are immediately connected heartistically, right? You can go to Germany, in the middle of nowhere, maybe to the town of Dusseldorf and meet a Blessed Central Family there and feel immediately at home! Where else are you going to eat kimchi in the middle of Dusseldorf?
So this is the really exciting and the incredible thing about our community. Just the fact that I have a chance to spend a little time with your children, they've grown so much over the years. When I first came to Japan, I often liked to joke that what I heard was like a choir of children that sounded a little bit like, don't take it in a wrong way, but kind of like a choir of frogs. They were just beginning to formulate themselves in this musical practice as a choir. I thought, "Wow, yeah, this is going to need a lot of work." But, in the short space of 12 years, the choirs, your children, have become the pride of Japan. This is a country that still does not allow our True Father to enter, and yet, just the fact that the embassy row of Tokyo, of Japan, has to recognize how beautiful our children are. They want them to perform for one of the embassies; that's an incredible, miraculous feat! In a way, it truly brings home the message that children are the greatest ambassadors for the world.
Our True Parents, in Korea, started the Little Angels many, many years ago and really shared the beauty of the Korean culture with the world. Even though a lot of people have problems with Tongilgyo (Unificationism), everyone had to admit that the Little Angels were the pride of Korea. Well, likewise, through the youth concert series, I've been really allowed the privilege to see our children develop into these number one choirs, incredible choirs, that can move the hearts of people whether you believe in Tongilgyo or not, whether you like the Unification Church or not. You have to admit that these children are so pure, so beautiful, and not just beautiful, externally, but what they express through their artistic expression, through music, speaking the universal language is truly inspiring. So, it's really my honor to come here as often as I can in support of Blessed Children's education and in support of the importance of art in children's education.
When people ask me, "In Jin Nim, as a mother, what is the one of the most important things we can do? Well, one of the most important things we can do, of course, is live a life of gratitude, or what I call, great attitude, in that we are always thankful to our Heavenly Parents. We're always thankful for our True Parents, and that we can maintain a happy environment in the home and a stimulating environment in the home so that our children can grow up wanting to be the best that they can be for God, for our families and for our community. But I said, the great thing about the importance of art or the education of art in a young person's life, is it teaches the children to set goals. It teaches the children to set short term goals and long term goals.
The choirs, in the course of one year, had to set a goal. A very short term goal, we want to win the Youth Concert for World Peace next year. We want to be the best choir. But, perhaps, a long term goal might be, we want to be the best choir and win and become number one in Youth Concerts and be able to perform for True Parents. But, perhaps the long time goal is to be the representative of our country of Japan because we represent all that is beautiful and true. That's the kind of way that, in a way, a child growing up in a household can feel like they are accomplishing something each and every day, each and every week, each and every year, while they are becoming incredible, eternal sons and daughters of God.
So, in a way, the youth concert might seem like just a little celebration of sorts. But it's a way that we can re-enforce the importance of setting goals, the importance of discipline; you cannot give a natural and a beautiful performance without a certain amount of dedication and a certain amount of hours where you really discipline yourself to be the best that you can be. There is really no room for mediocrity. In a way, discipline allows us to overcome mediocrity and truly be the masters of our craft or to be the master artist that we all long to be. At the same time, if we approach art with the right attitude it teaches us to be grateful because we realize we're tapping into something extraordinarily powerful. We're tapping into this thing called the universal language.
There are only two things in life that really unite us all, the first being, love. Love, as Father and Mother often say, is the greatest power in the universe. But many times, the way love is expressed is through the universal language of love, which is music, which is the arts. So in a way, it allows us to tap into this incredible power of beauty and truth that has the ability to inspire, to empower, to nurture, to aide to guide us to be the best that we can be. So this is the reason why that I, as a mother, to my own kids, many many years ago, started incorporating art into the education program that I created.
I'm sure, some of you may know, that I homeschooled most of my kids. Deciding to homeschool, deciding to take responsibility for the education of your own child is not an easy thing. But, when Father and Mother really asks us to take ownership and be responsible for our families, for our children, while doing the good work, the public mission that we are asked to do, in a way, our True Parents are expecting us to be internally excellent and externally excellent, in that they expect us to continue to be a great public servant, while balancing and maintaining our responsibilities in the home, as a great father, as a great mother as a great member of the household being siblings to each other. In a way, we kind of have to do it all.
It's not easy. I think for those of you who have lived and worked and really given of yourselves to this country, the years have been extraordinarily difficult. In a way, as the Eve nation you've had to bear the brunt of carrying the financial burdens of providence. And we, in America, are extraordinarily grateful whenever we think about the Japanese members. You've given, and you've given and you've sacrificed and you've sacrificed so much over the years, in a way to lay down a firm foundation for this age of the settlement. During the time of the wilderness, during the last 40 or 50 years, it's been your blood, sweat and tears that have really built the foundation for our movement all around the world.
Father and Mother say, when it comes to loyalty, when it comes to unity, when it comes to heartistic understanding of our True Parents, in a way, Japanese members are second to none. They really have been the pillars for our country of America and for the different nations of the world. You have sacrificed so much, but many times, in the midst of our sacrifice, I think one of our greatest heartaches is wondering: ok, the first generation has been asked to sacrifice and give of our lives to God and to providence, but, what about our children.
In a way, we as members of the first generation, when we look at our lives, and we think that we have sacrificed the last forty or fifty years of our lives, we're wondering, was it worth it? Is it going to lead to anything? Are we just going to live like this forever? Is Japan, basically going to carry on like this, forever, or will it be a better and a more exciting world, a more empowering world for our children. Well, I am here to say that, in a way, we need to transition out of the time of the wilderness into the age of the settlement.
Your suffering has laid an incredible foundation that the disciples of Jesus Christ could not do. Your unity and loyalty, your oneness with our True Parents for the last fifty years is what allowed our True Parents to continue their work as the Messiah, as the Lord of the Second Advent, as the True Parents of mankind. In a way, had Jesus' disciples been with Jesus till the last minute, basically telling the authorities back then, please take my life, please let my Jesus go, please let him live, crucify me instead. Two thousand years ago, Jesus did not have even one disciple who stood by him and said crucify me instead. Not one of his 12 disciples stood by his side.
What we need to know as Blessed Children and what we need to know as the second generation is that we have to be a second generation with a great attitude, knowing how to be grateful, because we realize that many times when we look at our parents, they're not much to look at. Perhaps they're not the CEO of Honda Motor Corporation; perhaps they're barely making ends meet, financially. Perhaps they're not the best looking people; they don't look like movie stars. Maybe some of us are embarrassed because, maybe our parents don't have time to bathe and they don't smell as nice as some of our friends. But, we have to have incredible pride, in our parents, because, their foundation and their sacrifice is what allowed our True Parents to continue in the good works that they have been doing. In a way, unlike the disciples of Jesus Christ that left Jesus stranded to be crucified on the cross and therefore never complete his mission that he was meant to complete, because all of our parents stood by our True Parents, with loyalty, with unity and with oneness of heart. Through all the persecution, through all the accusation, through all the rocks and stones that society hurl at our True Parents, our parents, your parents, never left True Parents' side. It's that kind of dedication that allowed God to work mysteriously.
So, unbeknownst to all of us, while we were busy suffering, while we were busy following, in a way, the foundation, or the firm foundation, that is required for the next generation, second and third and the fourth generation to really thrive and do well in life, has been set by you. So, in a way, the second generation needs to be incredibly grateful for the sacrifice and the dedication of the first generation because they allow our True Parents to still live. We walked the walk together with our True Parents, we were persecuted with our True Parents, we were thrown accusations together with our True Parents, we were thrown sticks and stones together with our True Parents but we never left their side. That's why we have to honor our tradition, and that's why we have to honor our parents. That's why the second generation must maintain a heart of eternal gratefulness because our parents did something that the disciples of Jesus could not do two thousand years ago. So, knowing that an incredible foundation has been laid, it compels the second generation and the third generation, to carry on that baton and win the race.
We're not here to just run circles around the stadium. The ultimate goal, it may look like our lives have just been an endless relay running around and round and round the same race course for years and years and years. That is not the ultimate goal. The ultimate goal is to go through the finish line and win the race. So, if we can stay together, heartisically united, and one with our True Parents, in unity with our True Parents, being loyal to our tradition and our heritage, being grateful and proud of who we are, we are ultimately going to go through the finish line and be victorious sons and daughters of God.
When I think about the country of Japan, you are still burdened with incredible financial burden. But the youth concert is really a call for all of us, we as parents, to be responsible in investing in our children. We as parents need to invest and support and nurture our children. I was so inspired, yesterday, at the youth concert, because when the Sonic Cult was playing, Rev. Song got up and his beautiful wife got up, and his beautiful Mrs. Song started doing this (dancing) and then Rev. Song started clapping along. Why are they joyful? They are joyful because the children are joyful, and they represent the Japanese church, they represent the Japanese headquarters. When the headquarters can dance together with the children, can clap along with the children, be inspired by the children, want to invest in the children; it sends a powerful message to not just the children, but to different families all across this great country of Japan.
We want to be behind the future greatness of the Japanese children. There is no reason why, if we invest in our families. We have been teaching the world about ideal families but, ideal families, many times, are difficult to see! You know that was my dilemma when I was going to Divinity School. I brought some friends to a church service and they said to me. "Wow! I love the Divine Principle, I love your father's speeches! It is incredibly inspiring! Why does everybody look so tired in the church? It's an incredible profound message, why does everybody look like they have no energy? Why do husband and wife not look happy? Why do the children look negative? Lost? Uninspired? See! This is what I mean by rebranding ourselves.
We have an incredible message to deliver. It is as powerful as a radioactive substance, you know? But True Parents contained it in this beautiful manner called the Divine Principle that allows us to understand why God created all of us the way we are. Through the teachings of our True Parents, they are guiding us to live, they are telling us what kind of people we need to be. But, many times we have been so busy teaching, we have not been living and so with the start of Lovin' Life ministry, we are really emphasizing rebranding our image. The only way we can rebrand our image is if we can rebrand ourselves. We have to take a fresh look at ourselves, at how we might look to the outside world and we need to start being a community, we need to start being a church that encapsulates or that breathes or that lives the Principle that we have talked about.
We should be the most energized people, we should be like the energizer body or endure ourselves basically, going and going and going and raising children that are inspired, that are excited about life that are not just satisfied with mediocrity but wanting to be the best and, in a way, having a great relationship with our spouse that people will ask all of you: "What's your secret? How come your husband is so wonderful? Your husband looks like samurai! But so handsome! And how is samurai so loving to wife, American wife? I never saw such a thing! Samurai husband is doing the dishes in the kitchen? Impossible! Samurai husband putting out slippers for the wife because the wife works so hard for church and witnessing and Providence. Samurai husband cooking delicious rice balls for wife, because he loves her so much! How does this happen? How does this happen! What is your secret? Why is that Samurai husband so caring! What happened? I want my Samurai husband to learn from your Samurai husband. This is what we want! And this is what we call natural witnessing! And this is what we call rebranding the image of our church.
You know one of the incredible works that my younger brother Kook Jin has been doing is that when he first came to Japan, he realized that there are more than 4300 men and women who had been abducted and who have been abused mentally, emotionally, spiritually, sexually abused to rescind their faith, to renounce their faith and he really called the True Family, he called all of us: "Did you know how many brothers and sisters are kidnapped and confined? And when we heard the story of Mr. Goto, Oh my goodness! 12 years and 5 months in captivity and how incredibly painful it must be for this member because it is not some outside guy, it is your parents, it is your relatives putting you in prison putting you in padlock.
Kook Jin Moon – March 30, 2012
In a way, Kook Jin said:" You know, we've got to help these brothers and sisters! We have to do the good work! And so we said: "Absolutely, we've got to help these brothers and sisters, we have to do the good work and so I started going to Capitol Hill because, over the years, our church has met and worked with so many congressmen and senators and so I started to visit them. I said: "You know! Something incredibly awful is taking place in Japan! Japan is one of the superpowers of the world. It is run under a constitution that was placed by General Douglas Mac Arthur after the end of World War II and in that constitution, it clearly states that the Japanese citizens should be allowed and guaranteed religious freedom but, our church, our brothers and sisters are not allowed to be practicing their faith. We cannot even be legitimate citizens in that we have the right to exercise our freedom of religion. We need your help! Could you, please, help us?"
And, you know, the American good politicians when they hear the story about one of our Japanese sisters being raped 33 times in the course of her confinement and, of course, she is an extreme case but there is a whole range of abuse that is taking place when our brothers and sisters are being confined. When the atrocities started to surface and started to be shared with the American politicians, they said: "We really want to help! We want to help very much!" And, of course, many of them called the Japanese Ambassador and decided to call their friends in Japan, in the Diet, in the Parliament, and tried to encourage them to really help our church. You know that these are Japanese citizens; they should not be denied their freedom of religion. But, you know, one of the things that kind of came back, the message that came back is: "Well, if the Unification Church could be a church that really brings up the best in Japan, it would be much easier to help your situation now."
So, one of the things I said to those politicians: "No organization, no community, no church, no business is ever perfect or does everything right, you know, perhaps for the sake of the Providence maybe we moved too quickly and, maybe tried our best and perhaps we made mistakes along the way, because nobody gave us a manual on how to share the breaking news with the world. Nobody knew exactly how to go about it. We tried our best but, perhaps, we didn't do everything right but our heartistic motivation was good. What we wanted to accomplish was good. Perhaps not everything that we did was good but the message that Reverend Moon and Mrs. Moon bring to Japan is incredibly good."
So we need to see what our True Parents are bringing and understand our journey of faith as a process and so we learned a lot from the past, we learned from our victories and we learned from our mistakes and when we can truly be transparent and be able to be objective and look at our church from a third person's point of view then we can start thinking: "How can we do things better? How can we have a fresh perspective?"
Perhaps our opinions on things need to be adjusted, need to be shifted. Perhaps Japan, as the Eve Nation, can be the nation that can really reclaim what it means to be Eve. Eve was meant to be a mother. In a way, this country of Japan has played the financial mother for the rest of the world for many, many years. But a mother's job is not just financial. It is part of it, but it is not the ultimate goal of a mother.
The ultimate goal of a mother is to raise great children. The way we can overcome the negative image that we, as a movement, have in Japan lies in our children. Just as the children are the greatest ambassadors of love and God and True Parents to the world. Our children can be the greatest ambassadors to the country of Japan at large. If we, as mothers, understand the incredible responsibility of God giving us these precious lives that are placed in our care and really be serious about that responsibility. Be serious about investing in the child because the children are our future and really raise inspired, empowered, enthusiastic children that have been touched by the spirit of God, that understand that they are the children, eternal sons and daughters of God, that they have come from a tradition that stresses living for the sake of others, not dying for the sake of others.
In a way, Japan has been dying for the sake of others but, if we all die, where is our future? The key is living for the sake of others. We have to continue to live. We have to continue to thrive. We have to continue to prosper and be inspired and, in return, do the same for our children. So, instead of waiting for our children to grow up and waiting for the church to educate our children, Chung Pyung is not going to educate your children, we have to educate our children. I am not going to educate your children. You, together with me, together with Reverend Song are going to educate our children. We cannot be irresponsible by neglecting our parental duties and Eve nation, in particular as the mother of the world and as the mother of this movement must not only be thinking financial. We need to be thinking:" how do we build the future of Japan?" So, instead of thinking: "How can we get the most now? We have to think:" how do we prepare for the next 5 years, the next 10 years, the next 15 years, the next 20 years and invest in our community? We have to invest in the church.
A church is a community of many, many different families. So, in the work of Providence, in the name of peace, many times for the last 20 or 30 years we have done a great many service projects, many peace initiatives, many peace organizations but we cannot do all these outreach, we cannot make flesh if we don't have the backbone, if we don't have the core. The church community must be the center of our lives so, in a way, when Reverend Hyung Jin Moon, the spiritual heir and the last son of our True Parents says: "We have to reclaim our heritage! We cannot forget where we come from. We have to be proud of our True Parents; we have to be proud as Unificationists because that is our core; that is our center; that is our backbone!" Without making that clear to the second generations, we are no different from any other peace organizations. Many times, many of our peace organizations ran about our business without proclaiming who the founders are. How can we not proclaim who the founders are? Everything has been inspired and founded by our True Parents. How can we do service work, outreach work without attributing to our True Parents for what they have done? They are our center. Our faith is our center.
Our church community must be the center and then we can make flesh, we can go out, do the different service work, different peace organizations, different peace initiatives. That is the only way we can survive as healthy living brothers and sisters and as a healthy living family and as a healthy living community and world! When our leader Hyung Jin Nim is really asking us: "We have to concentrate on the church to revive our children", he is absolutely right!
In a way, Lovin' Life is a ministry geared towards young people. You know, when I first started and we put on our first service, many people said: "Where is Family Pledge? Where are the 3 prayers? Where is the Eok Mansei?" We were so used to doing different things and those things are incredibly important but, this is a time when I am asking the parents: Please teach your children Family Pledge, please teach them the meaning of Mansei. We have to work together, but if we are going to share the breaking news with the rest of the world, we need to move a little faster, we need to create a medium or a porthole through which the whole world can come to understand the value of our True Parents the first time they come to service not through 10 or 17 or 21. We need people to get the message of the breaking news the first time they come. So, it may be a little bit different and the music may be a little bit different but the message is the same.
We have to share the message of our True Parents as who they are. They are the prophesied prophet or the Son of God and the Daughter of God. How incredibly beautiful, that in our community, women can feel empowered! Sisters, have we not suffered enough for the last 2000 years? This is an Eve Nation! This is the time when God is calling upon women to work together with our men, work together and to share the breaking news to the rest of the world. This is an exciting time! 100 years ago, I could have never imagined that I could be doing what I am doing today but I can do what I am doing today because True Mother has been victorious in her work, and in her position in reclaiming the original position that Eve should have fulfilled and with our True Mother's sacrifice and upon her victory we sisters, we mothers can finally reclaim the heavenly dignity as that eternal daughter of God.
In a way, we can stand together with our brothers and not be bound by the burdens of being called the one, you know, the one who led Adam astray. In a way, our True Parents have given us a clean slate. In a way, they have given us a brand new beginning and we have the chance to create something exciting and something really awesome. So, even as we continue and even as Japan continues to do the good work that you have been doing to support the Providence, carrying that financial burden… You know, one of our desires in America, as the eldest son nation is to say: "Mum, thank you for working so hard, Mummy you have done, the dishes for the last 21 years, I have just graduated from the best university, Waseda University, Tokyo University, Mum, it is time for you to rest!"
In a way, that is what I would like to see America do. In a way, America needs to help the mother. America wants to be in a situation where we can help the world Providence financially and it is going to take some time but we are going to get there. We want to be in a position where we can honor our mother by saying: "Mum you have suffered so much but now I am going to show you how grateful I am!" So, one of the things that I am hoping for with the youth concert is truly create, youth concert is not just for Japan but youth concert all around the world so that our children can experience what it is, what it means to be a Unificationist. The incredible thing about growing up in an Unificationist community is that you realize that, you know, you might come from a Filipino parent matched to a black parent. Your mum might be Thai but your dad is samurai.
You know, your father might be Korean but your mother might be American. This is the incredible thing! So, can you imagine if we have youth concerts all around the world and our children, representing each country, go through a period of exchange systems so when America holds this youth concert, how wonderful would it be to have Japanese children there, Russian children there, South American children there all celebrating, all being grateful to God and to True Parents and to our parents and to our community. What an exciting life! Where else are you going to get that? Where else in the world are you going to experience the world by attending a simple concert like that and it is just one of the things that we can do as a movement to make our movement dynamic, to make our movement unique, special and exciting.
You know, yesterday's youth concert was incredibly exciting to me because I could see God given talents of our children. They are exceptional and the quality is getting better every, every year. But how exciting is it when Japan can have a little taste of what we do in America? That is the reason why I brought Sonic Cult together. And instead of it just being True Family, everybody Asian, how wonderful if the stage can be shared with the international community! You know, Malaysian, Norwegian, American, Japanese, and Finnish! This is the image that we want to portray to the world. In a way, the Japanese community, our church in Japan should be the image of our global community and that is why those of you who have international spouses play an incredible role because your children come from a union of these blessed Blessings and your children represent the best of different cultures, represent the best of different communities and different heritages and tradition s. They are the future of Japan.
Whenever I come to Japan, I always kind of joke to some of my friends. In Japanese how do you say True Parents? "Makotono gofubosama." How do you say True Family? "Makotono gokate." How do you say True Love in Japanese? "Makotono ai." Everything is "makotono"! And so I jokingly said to my friend, every time I come to Japan, I really want to go to a Makudonarudo! (Laughter). But, our True Parents and I love MacDonalds! Father loves MacDonalds! When I first came to America, do you know that the first place True Parents took the children was Makudonarudo. They didn't take us to see the Statue of Liberty. They didn't take us to see the Liberty Bell. You want to experience America? We're gonna go to Makudonanrudo". And then Father ordered the Big Mac, the Quarter pounder, the Quarter pounder with cheese, French fries, and the Apple pie. This is America. And so for us, who never had had cheese before, who never had hamburger before, we bit into Makudonarudo and said, Oh, this is America! We are eating America now.
That memory never leaves us. Even though it's not the most healthy food to eat, every time I miss my father and mother, I take my children to Makudonarudo and I remind my children, this is where your grandparents took us the first time we came to America. So even though it may not be healthy if we eat it every day, every once in a while, when I'm telling small stories about the past, then we go to Makudonarudo.
MacDonalds is a symbol, a huge symbol of America. It's almost like a mega church for fast foods. Everything is fast! America is fast cars, fast living, fast men and women. Very, very fast, fast, fast! Father comes as the True 'makotono otosan' because Father is telling us that the mega church of fast food must give way to True Foods International. And so, it's kind of interesting how, the fish company that Father named is called True Foods. Because, he wants Americans to be healthier, he wants Americans to be true and not just living off fast food and not just living off a fast energy or a fast lifestyle, but a true lifestyle. Father and Mother want to share the news of living a true life style with our brothers and sisters. So, no wonder the Messiah comes to truly enjoy and understand fast food as a food but at the same time is reminding us that that kind of living is not healthy.
We need to find a true way of living. And so, whenever I come to Japan, I am reminded how, it's kind of interesting, the play on words "makudorunardo". Every time I go to church it sounds like (whispering) "makudonarudo, makudonarudo," and then little children pointing to me "makudonarudo". It sounds like Makudonarudo In Jin Nim and it makes me feel like they want to eat me! But, I know what they are saying. They are saying, true, true, she is part of True Family. So, that's what our True Parents have come to share with all of us, not just Makudonarudo, not just Big Mac, French fries, a cheese burger and apple pie (which I really love I must admit). But they come to remind us to build ourselves to be true men and women of God, to be true families, to be just like True Parents. And in so doing, raise the community of Japan to what True Eve or a True Mother would have done many, many years ago had she not gone the way of the fall. We claim the original intention that God had for Eve by reclaiming our lives, by owning our lives, by being financially responsible and investing in our children, investing in public service, but still not neglecting our duties as a mother to raise great children for the future.
One of the things I really wanted to share with the Second Generation when I brought Sonic Cult, is that it's OK to be different. Unification church people are weird people. I'm weird! My friends tell me I'm weird all the time and I say Hallelujah because I would rather be weird than boring. I would rather be weird than average. I would rather be different than no different from anyone else. We have to instill in our children that it's OK to be different. We need to be different because we are trying to teach the world, don't just live by the way of Makudonarudo! We need to have dignity and pride so we can live the "makotono" true way of life. So we have to be proud Unificationists. We have to be proud of our ancestors, our heritage, proud of the first generation's sacrifice and thereby feel the urgency to be the best children, to be the best that we can. Albert Einstein should come out of our fold. Future great Olympic athletes should come out of our community, future Isaac Sterns should come out of our community. Future Bonos, future Whitney Houstons should come out of our community.
In a way we should encompass everything (which is) excellent, so the rest of the world can say, they are a little weird but those people are highest quality. We need to be people of excellence not mediocrity. We have to be a symbol of the highest quality of excellence. He might be a little bit strange but an incredible professor. He may be a little weird but an incredible father, samurai father. That woman, someone's mother, might be incredibly weird, but an amazing mother, raised incredible children. That child might be different, unique, but absolutely amazing. That's what we want people to say. We need to teach our children to be proud that we are different, owning our own game. It's good to be different. Learn how to be strong alone and learn how to fight together as a team.
As we are part of a global community, one of the great things is just like the way Kook Jin together with Hyung Jin and me, we are working together to claim victory for this faith breaking issue. And as you know, Kook Jin Nim has had a difficult job since coming to Japan. And, in a way, Kook Jin saved Japan. The authorities and the police were pounding down the doors of the church, and many people told my brother, "Don't go to Japan, you might land in jail." But he said, "That's OK, our father sat in jail many times, we can sit in jail. No problem." That is the heart that Kook Jin Nim came with and he helped organize Japan. It's still a process in the making, but with your help, with your sacrifice and unity and loyalty, together, united with Kook Jin Nim and together united with Hyung Jin and our True Parents, Japan can be an incredible country for God. Just as the True Family started working together, imagine if we started working together; if African families started working together with Japanese families, instead of each country fighting their own battles.
Yesterday, I heard testimonies from CARP and these poor CARP members are fighting their own battles on campus. But, I said, instead of just fighting on your campus, doesn't Japan have an affiliation with sister schools in America? I believe that every university in Japan has a sister affiliated university in America. Utilize the networks. Utilize the foundation that is already there. So, you want to fight for your right to be a legitimate student on campus and not be persecuted and accused every day if you try to go to class. I'd be more than happy to send my CARP members to Japan to help fight together, to help bring awareness together and in that way we cannot just bring victory in Japan, but can bring victory in America and all around the world. Because there is no need for us as a community to suffer the persecution, or suffer the embarrassment or let our children feel like they are alone. They are not alone. We have the global community behind us, we have True Parents behind us.
So brothers and sisters, as the world comes together to work more and more in an integrated fashion, we have many, many great things to look forward to. But at the same time, while all these new changes are being processed, a lot of people might feel uncomfortable or might feel unsettled like, "What's going on?" "We don't understand what's going on." But the most important thing, is to concentrate and to be united with our True Parents.
Our True Parents have always been our guide and our teacher and our parents. They are now and they will continue. I know that even as our True Parents go and ascend to spirit world they will probably be more with us then than they are now. But the great thing about our True Parents is that they are always thinking about the future. They want to give us our security blanket because we want it! So they make it very clear that the next spiritual heir from the True Family is the youngest son, Dr. Hyung Jin Moon. So there is a clear, very, very clear, crystal clear direction from our True Parents. True Parents are at the center, next is Dr. Hyung Jin Moon. So there is no room for confusion.
So, the only thing that we need to do as International families and as part of a global community is to continue to walk the path of faith, continue to walk together with our True Parents absolutely united, absolutely in oneness with their hearts and with absolute loyalty. And if we continue to do that, then Japan will become an incredible nation. And if we can invest, and I'm encouraging Rev. Song to invest in the education of our children, the future of Japan will be guaranteed by what we as parents do today, each and every day of our lives. If we can invest in their education, invest in helping them pursue their passion, invest in terms of helping them express their God given creativity that is unique to them, think about what the future of Japan is.
Every time, I don't know about you, but when I come to the Youth Concert, I am so inspired, because I'm thinking this is how great Japan can be. Look at the kids, they are just in middle school, elementary school, barely high school, but, I can already see what they will be like in 10, 15 or 20 years if they can maintain a grateful heart because they know that True Parents are investing in them, God is investing in them, their parents are investing in them, the movement is investing in them. What else can they do but become great people? So that is truly the heart that we have in the True Family.
Do not feel burdened by the weight of the past. We need to surrender to all that is waiting for us now and in the future. We need to kind of let go of our heartaches and start working in this work of transitioning from the past to the present and to the future. I hope that you can continue to work together with Rev. Song, who is under the guidance of Kook Jin Nim, to continue the good work that Japan has been asked to do. And I know, if we can continue to really be positive, a positive influence to ourselves and to our families and to our communities, not negative but positive, and really work on the "makotono" people, true people, then there is no limit to what we can do.
So, I'm sorry that this is just a brief time with all of you, but please accept this greeting that I bring from True Parents. You are their children; each and every one of you is so precious. We must do more than survive. We must prosper. So, please continue on in the good work and don't give up! You cannot give up for the sake of your children. You cannot give up. So let's give our thanks to our God and our True Parents and let's be what kind of people? Makudonarudo people? What kind of people? Makotono people. So from one "makotono" to another, God bless you and your families. Thank you very much.
Report on In Jin Moon's Visit with International Blessed Families in Japan
June 9, 2012
International Unification Church Families in Japan were blessed by a visit from In Jin Nim, yesterday, Saturday, June 9, 2012.
350 people of all ages and nationalities, international blessed families, gathered to welcome our beloved True Sister, In Jin Nim, at out Unification Church Urayasu Training Center in Chiba; It was an amazing and holy day!
To start our program, a Heavenly quartet of second gen singers lead us in praise and holy songs! Then, Kevin Yoon, In Jin Nim's assistant for Loving Life Ministries in America, gave a power-packed presentation on the incredible happenings of the amazing ministry going on in America. Lovin' Life Ministries is creating a music-ministry of passion and excitement, and attracting second gen and guests to this life-giving movement! He explained the five spiritual practices of Lovin' Life Ministries: Inspire, Empower, Connect, Contribute and Inherit. Practices which the Unification Church all over the USA adhere to. He also talked about the Generation Peace Academy (GPA) and the new dynamics to what was STF. Thank you Kevin!
In Jin Nim entered the room and there were many a teary eye in the joy to be with her! Flowers were given by Rhaynie and Young Sook, and a beautiful prayer was offered by Colette. Heart-warming songs were offering by our young second gen sister, Tsurue. Then, our 'Enjoy Africa' brothers and sisters then offered a stirring rendition of Arirang and more with African drums and dance. Such was heaven's way to clear the stage for our Korean National Leader, Rev. Song, to give greeting, and then In Jin Nim came forward.
All brothers and sisters gave a warm welcome and In Jin Nim began to speak. She made comment that she could meet the world in Japan by meeting international couples. And this can happen only in our church! Wherever we go, when we visit our members, we are home! The Blessing allows us to embrace the world! She emphasized the pursuit of excellence, particularly in the arts and making a dynamic movement, attractive unique and exciting!
She praised our Japanese brothers and sisters and told us that True Father said that in dedication they are second to none! They have been bearing a difficult impossible financial burden for our world movement. She said, however, that the mission of the Eve nation is not only to be financial but we really need to care for our families.
She said that other wives look with envy at our Samurai husbands washing the dishes and putting slippers out for their wives!
In Jin Nim said that coming from the Elder Son nation, she wants to relieve the Mother Nation's burden. It will take some time, but the businesses they are building will take off and give mother a rest and a chance to raise her world children. She emphasized the importance of youth exchange that young people might taste of the loving life ministries.
She joked of the word in Japanese meaning True, MAKOTO, and how it sounded like MacDonald's! She explained that when True Children first came to America, they were taken out to MacDonalds. So she often took her children to MacDonald's in that memory. It's like a megachurch in the fast moving culture. Not the best diet but it's a good taste! Then Father developed True World Foods, reminding us to eat healthy as well and become true men and women.
She said that it is OK to be weird and different but to continue to pursue the goal of excellence. She encouraged us not to be burdened by the weight of the past but to realize that the Blessing gives us a clean slate to love and create!
To recognize Kook Jin Nim and Rev. Song's adherence to True Parents way and not to be on survival mode but truly live (not die) for the sake of others!
We are so grateful that In Jin Nim spoke for a whole 70 minutes to us in the midst of her busy schedule! We then took pictures together with her and parted our ways with her sparkling and loving nature forever embedded in our hearts!
Thank you to our beloved Makotono Sister, In Jin Nim!
IFA Committee
Request: Thank you note to In Jin Moon
June 9, 2012
Hi everyone,
This is a request to all who attended the wonderful event with In Jin Nim today in Urayasu training center (report coming soon :-)
Please take a few minutes to write a short note of thanks and appreciation In Jin Nim for spending time with us and adjusting her very tight schedule to speak to us for over an hour today
Send your message to us and we will collect them all and make sure she gets receives them.
Kindly include your, name, nationality, and blessing number in your note as well.
What Your Parents Mean to God
In Jin Moon
June 9, 2012
The senior pastor of Lovin' Life Ministries spent five days in Japan. Among other activities, she attended two Youth Concerts for World Peace and Ideal Families, which raise funds in Japan to support the performing arts education of those in our second generation.
We must not forget the original intention of God, our Heavenly Parent. When God created Adam and Eve, He wanted to experience happiness. He wanted to experience joy. He wanted to experience what it meant to be a parent. In a way, God wanted to experience a parental heart -- that's why He created His children, Adam and Eve. So, for those of us who have children... (There are many beautiful second- generation members seated here in the front.) When we think and when we pray and when we truly love our children, what do we want most as a parent? We want our children to be happy. We want them to be successful at everything that they do. We want them to go through the Blessing Ceremony and have the opportunity -- as we did -- to build an ideal family. This is what we want for our children. In a way, that's what God wanted for all of us, too.
Audience members tell In Jin nim their dreams or suggests ways to improve the church.
But because God's first children, Adam and Eve, fell away from God, humanity was thrust into a period of restoration and indemnity and we've had to suffer a great deal. The last forty or fifty years for the Unification Church has been an incredibly difficult time. I know many in the first generation gave of their blood, sweat and tears -- everything -- for the sake of the providence.
But we realize what you have done -- and this is why we in the second generation have to have incredible pride in our parents. Though I'm sure that many of you are looking at your parents and wondering, What are they doing? Maybe they're crazy -- crazy about God, crazy about the providence, crazy about True Parents. They don't think about anything else. So maybe some of us might feel as if we don't want to be like our parents. They're not rich.
They're not like the CEO of Honda Motors Corporation. They have no money. They're struggling every day. They can't wear the best clothes. They look so tired. Maybe sometimes were not proud of our parents. But it is important for us to understand them not just as our parents but as people who were moving providential history along. Without your parents, in a way, True Parents would not be with us today.
Rev. Moon speaks to a very young member during an autograph session.
The beauty of it, the real reason we have to respect our parents, though they may not be powerful, be the most handsome, be the most beautiful... They may not look like "winners" in society's terms, but we have to honor our tradition and be proud of their sacrifice, because they did something that Jesus' disciples could not do two thousand years ago. They were committed to True Parents. They were devoted to True Parents. They stood by True Parents. They were loyal to True Parents, and it is because of this foundation that they protected True Parents. When the world persecuted our True Parents, your parents were there. When the world spat at our True Parents, they were there. Even though they may not look as if they are great giants of providential history, a hundred and two hundred and three hundred years from now, theirs will be the stories that people hear over and over and over again. In a way, it is their sacrifice and their dedication and their love for True Parents that allowed True Parents to continue the work as the Messiah and the True Parents of all mankind.
This is the reason we honor our parents and our tradition, and this is the reason we in the second generation have a responsibility to not think we are just like anybody else. They've laid a firm foundation for all of us. If you want to build a beautiful house, or a beautiful building, the higher you want to build it, the deeper you have to dig the foundation. Our parents were busy digging the foundation -- you know, many times it was dark, many times it was uncomfortable, many times there was unbearable suffering, and they could not lift their heads because they were so busy digging that foundation. But who did they dig that foundation for? They did it for all of us. We in the second generation can see that we are more than mere families; we are history in the making. Then we come to realize, Wow, our parents really did sacrifice so much! But there is meaning to their sacrifice -- their sacrifice protected our True Parents. At the same time, they built an incredible foundation for us, the second generation, to fulfill our own destiny and create something beautiful.
So, here we are coming out of the wilderness age, when our parents were busy building that foundation. The wilderness age was actually about mere survival. No matter what, True Parents had to survive! No matter what! We had to survive as a movement. Many times we were like an army unit. You know, you receive a command and carry it out, execute it. We were not thinking about anything else -- only mission, mission, mission. We had a job to complete; we had to successfully accomplish it, and then move on to the next job. We didn't have time to build a real home, or take root.
The first of the two concerts In Jin nim attended this year attracted 1,400 people and was held in Tokyo on June 8. The second concert, which drew 1,600, was held two days later in Fukuoka.
But still, God's desire to move us forward into that ideal world -- one world family under God -- never loses steam. Even as we're building the foundation, even as we're trying our best, we were given the opportunity to try to build families to the best of our abilities. Now that the second generation is coming into its own, its members are getting into positions of leadership, taking on more and more responsibility. This is the time to bring God's original blueprint for all of us into fruition. We need to realize that no matter how wonderful, how powerful, how strong the foundation is, if we do not build any- thing on it -- a beautiful house or a beautiful building -- all the effort that has gone into digging the foundation will be lost. It will not be appreciated unless those in second and the third generations receive the baton -- realize that our parents accomplished something absolutely incredible, something that's never been done in history, what the disciples of Jesus Christ could not do -- and then build upon their foundation. You realize that we manifest the beauty of the profound message God wants to share with all the world -- or what I call "the breaking news." We are coming into the era of the settlement, the time to substantiate it, or to make it real, and God is giving us the space and the room to build these ideal families that we have been talking about.
One of the reasons I stressed the re-branding of our movement, making our image over, doing lots of public relations work, is to help people realize that we are not that crazy. Yes, we're crazy in a good way, but not crazy in the way that people thought we were. We are very logical people. We know what we know, and we believe in what we believe, because we feel and we know that it's the truth. We just need to somehow apply the truth in our daily lives so that we become the living Principle. Each one of us, walking around, is representing our True Parents to the world. It's not that we just become teachers of the Divine Principle, but that we become a living Divine Principle, so that naturally, when people look at you, they will want to ask questions: Your family is so beautiful! Your children are so respectful. What is your secret?"
In Jin nim enjoys the entertainment at a meeting for international blessed families at the training center in Urayasu (just outside Tokyo), on June 9.
This is the perfect position for natural witnessing, because you can naturally testify about God. We can naturally testify about True Parents. We can naturally testify about our entire community. I always say to my friends, "You know the beautiful thing about our community is that we are an international community. It doesn't matter if you are Korean or Japanese or German or French or African. Everybody is a child of God."...
In a way, when we are young adults truly appreciating our parents, liberating our parents, means that we, as the children, become responsible for our lives, that we take ownership of our lives, and tell our parents, "Please rest!" When Father says this is the year when True Parents need to be liberated, Father is hinting that this is the time when he wants his children to be responsible. During the wilderness era we were eternal children -- following, following, following, always saying, "Father, please tell us what to do. Please direct us. Mother, please direct us, please guide us. " But in this time, when True Parents are saying it's time for True Parents to be liberated, they're asking all of us to be responsible. Be owners. Take ownership of your lives. Take care of your families. Do incredible public missions, and at the same time, say, "True Parents, please, please rest. Please take a little time off and we will take care of things."
The 130-strong Chiba Sunhak Choir performing in Tokyo on June 8.
This is what all parents want from their children. I have five children -- I don't want my five children to follow me forever! I love them very much, but I don't want them to always call me and say, Tell me what to do, Mother. Guide me." As a mother, when I think about my children, I want them to grow up, to be owners of their own destinies, to able to say, "Mother, I feel a strong calling to perhaps study political science and perhaps go into government." You want your child to have clear goals. You want your child to understand their own passions, and to be able to set short-term and long-term goals, and accomplish them. We want to love our children forever, but we also want to cut the umbilical cord, so that they can walk and love and thrive and grow independent of us. They will be a part of us forever, but we want them to be healthy, independent beings that can grow into families of their own. This is what we wish for all our children.
True Parents are no different. In some respects, we've done an incredible job. We've laid an incredible foundation of unity and of following, but this is the time, this time of settlement when our True Parents are saying, "You know, you did a really good job being a student. Now you have graduated -- you went to elementary school, you went to high school, you went to college, you got your masters' degree, and you got your Ph.D. -- now start sharing with the rest of the world the truth that God wants to share with everybody."
In Jin nim presents a scholarship to a promising young musician; raising money for these scholarships is one purpose of the annual concerts.
We, as parents, have tent to twenty years when we can really invest and make a difference in our children's lives, to help them feel inspired and empowered to feel as if they can accomplish anything. I think if we can do that as a movement, our movement will be unstoppable. There is nobody more pure and kindhearted than the people we find in the Unification Church. All of us are precious. We are, in a way, growing with the providence and are in the transitioning mode of preparing for the next phase of life. It's just like a rocket. Rockets come in three stages; the first stage of the rocket is always the most brutal and difficult -- you have to break through the atmosphere. But once you break through the atmosphere, the rocket prepares for the next leg of the journey. Then you have the second-stage booster that takes the rocket to a different place, one that the first generation never experienced.
If we continue to be united and work one in heart with our True Parents, the second generation will prepare for the third generation, and the third generation will take our movement to a place that we've only dreamed about. We need to understand that life is a series of cycles and stages.
Instead of thinking that we have no hope because of the difficult past, we have to realize that God has prepared the foundation for the next boost of the rocket. If we remain united, committed and loyal to our True Parents, our True Parents will take this movement and this world to a place that we've only dreamed about. Instead of dreaming about the kingdom of heaven on earth and ideal families, they want us to experience it in our lives by becoming the living Principle ourselves.