True Parents Return to America On Monday, July 12, 2010, we had the opportunity to welcome our True Parents to the U.S. again after having missed them in New York for close to four months. As our continental director, Dr. Chang Shik Yang put it, with True Parents around it feels like America is “full” but without them around it feels like America is “empty.”
Around 140 brothers and sisters gathered at East Garden to welcome True Parents back to America after the recent July 8th event in Korea: the “Convention to Proclaim the True Parents of Heaven, Earth, and Humankind as the Substantial Word.”
According to Dr. Yang, who reported to those in attendance, Father spoke with such passion at the event that his two-hour speech was even greater than his Madison Square Garden and Washington Monument speeches. True Father wants us to hold another event in America on July 24, with the same theme, at the Manhattan Center in New York, and simultaneously broadcast throughout all 50 states and the entire world.
After welcoming True Parents, brothers, and sisters were treated to an exquisite lunch: delicious fish, chicken, tofu, and kimchi dishes. True Parents especially honored many of their guests, allowing them to sit at tables on either side of the Hoon Dok Hall in East Garden while the True Family sat at the head table.
Dr. Yang energetically explained the recent work of True Parents, starting with a mention of the adaptation of the Seunghwa Ceremony into the beautiful “Honoring a Legacy of Peace: Memorial Ceremony for Ascension and Unity” events, starting on March 18 in the UN and continuing in New York, Washington DC, Las Vegas, Hawaii, Korea, and then Las Vegas again on May 9 of this year. Dr. Yang also explained about the 24-hour-long Hoon Dok Hae held by True Father immediately after he arrived in Korea on June 30, while a three-day Original Divine Principle workshop was held in Las Vegas under the direction of Rev. Jeong Ok Yu. Dr. Yang read the Special Directions that True Parents had given on June 25 before leaving Las Vegas and testified about the amazing July 8th event in Korea.
At the beginning of the event, True Father seemed to be reminding us about our responsibilities, such as learning Korean, through which we could feel resentful. Later, Father spoke to us plainly about simple everyday matters, in a way assuring us that he trusts and loves us despite what we have been unable to fulfill so far. Below are some notes from Father's words.
The word Arirang was originally Aerirang, but the Japanese [who had occupied Korea] could not pronounce it, so it was changed to Arirang. In the word Aerirang, “Aeri” was to means “the neighborhood that we love.”
Father:
Confucian thought is important… However, I tried to keep it out of the Divine Principle as much as possible… Confucian thought could not properly reveal the nature of God.
Korean is a precious language but [people] do not think to learn it… It may be that inventions of the West had already been invented in Korea and then reinvented in the West through help from the original Korean inventor in the spirit world.
When we say that God is absolute or Jesus is absolute, in what way are we calling them absolute? We must know this… Some people say they pity God, but in reality, feel no pity for God… Even God does not like absolute nature. God's absolute position can only be established when he has a partner who recognizes his absolute value.
What is God absolutely about in his internal mind? About our minds?
To be absolute about God's mind cannot be compared with being absolute about our minds. The internal explanation of it and the external explanation of it must match. Our minds must wander after God, and our external forms must also wander after God.
Absoluteness must be unique, unchanging, and eternal… There must be such qualities… [God is] unique, absolutely unchanging, and eternal.
Food should always taste the same, regardless of when you eat it… Please do not overeat. Please drink a lot of water.
I never failed at anything due to lack of effort… You must train yourselves to be able to go with little food. I don't even think about food, and sometimes go a day without food, even though I am not fasting.
The winner is the person who does in one year what ordinarily takes ten years.
The whole event at True Parents' home in East Garden lasted about four hours. Leaders met to plan for the July 24th event after True Parents' departure.
END OF SERMON