Power through a Providential Perspective (2)

In a sermon given at the headquarters church on March 18, 2011 Rev. Hwang Sun-jo reflected on True Father’s speaking tour and Hyun-jin nim’s twenty-one-day workshop.

When addressing the question, “Are we setting a good example?” Rev. Hwang explained that Father asked - at that time - the national messiahs to make good conditions in order to support the tour: “Father was present personally when they began their condition. When he began the tour, he told them not to eat anything and not to do anything else for three days, but just to read Fathers speeches to make good conditions for the new dispensation. In that way, it was as if he was investing all of history in the tour and the national messiahs were conditionally participating.”

I wanted to mention this because it is important that we do not underestimate the importance of national messiahs being united with True Parents and the value of laying spiritual conditions, especially through studying the word of God.

This point is also emphasized when Rev. Hwang continues to speak about the growth of plants, which moved True Father’s heart many times: “Father was so moved and touched by life‟s wonders in the seemingly insignificant changes in a small plant. He asked us if we grew as much everyday through studying his sermons. This is Father‟s main concern.”

About the general spiritual situation Rev. Hwang explained at that time: “In South America, Father called the national messiahs representing the world and history to educate them on our true essence and to have them make conditions. In the frozen land of North America, centering on Hyun Jin Nim, new life is beginning with the education of the second generation about our true essence.”

On May 20 2001 Rev. Hwang offered a sermon with the title “The Day of Pentecost and Our Mission” in which he covered also the question “What should we leave behind?” Interestingly he told the congregation that had gathered that morning:

“How should we be living our life of faith at this time? We must think of what we will have left behind when we are gone. Father has told us not to pray for him any more: he is willing to risk his life for victory in God‟s providence, so it doesn‟t matter to him if we pray for his life or not. He told us to pray for ourselves rather than for him.

He wants us to be able to leave something really valuable behind and to stay loyal to God eternally. The only true way we can render devoted service to True Parents is to become true children.”

I think it is good for all of us to be reminded of this fact and to concentrate on perfecting our ability to love as our Father in Heaven originally intended for us to be made manifest as His sons and daughters who are endowed with His Divine nature, a potential, which we can now develop fully in this new era After the Coming of Heaven when the doors are open for all people to come under the direct dominion of God.

Rev. Hwang pointed out that Father gave us four directions, whereby the first can be found in “Blessed Family and Ideal Kingdom” when reading through the speech “What We Should Do in Our Lifetime” where Father says:

“The legacy we can leave behind for eternity is how we actually lived our lives. If we live only for ourselves, it cannot be a legacy. But if we live for the world, God‟s will and heaven, only then do we have something worthwhile to leave behind as our legacy. You must try every minute of every single day of your life to connect to God‟s will in order to be able to leave a meaningful legacy from your life.

No matter how great a difficulty obstructs our path, you should be able to make a strategy to overcome it and to recapture the highest hill. So you should be concerned not about the present but about the future with earnest hope. You should have a big enough heart to be curious about the outcome after all tribulations pass. When the outcome is shockingly more impressive and fruitful than the tribulations we have to go through, we win.”

Rev. Hwang affirmed: “I agree that living for others is a legacy that will remain for eternity. The memory of everything we‟ve experienced fades away, but the love we give remains forever in others‟ hearts. What others remember of us is what really matters in the end. We cannot fairly judge our own lives, but others can. What others say about us really defines whether or not our lives have been meaningful and valuable. What we do solely for ourselves is never remembered by others. What we do for others has real eternal value…”

Concerning Father’s second direction to us Rev. Hwang quoted from the above mentioned book, page 61: “We shall have something to leave behind even at this moment. We should really practice the way of filial piety and of a loyal patriot centering on God‟s love. We should be the subjective center that everyone automatically wants to assimilate into. Those who have a big enough heart to embrace everyone will never perish.

If we pray in a locked cell for God and for the world, we can have a one on one encounter with God. There are numerous people in this world, but you can meet God one on one when you sincerely pray representing all people. We should try to make such a meeting possible. You cannot stay ordinary and be remembered in history. Those who can disregard their own lives for the sake of God‟s Will and the World are the only ones who will remain to the end. Even if they perish, they will be the very last ones to perish.”

Rev. Hwang’s appeal in support of this second direction from True Father: “One-on-one, heart-to-heart relationships between God and people and among individuals are the only things that last forever.

Brothers and sisters, what is a heart-to-heart relationship? The opposite of a heart-to-heart relationship can be called an „institutional relationship.‟ Heart-to-heart relationships go beyond any institutional boundaries. Institutional relationships are based on calculating mutual interest. Heart-to- heart relationships do not change under any circumstances since they are based eternally on God.

… We are bound by a variety of relationships – our relationship to brothers and sisters in the church, our relationship to the secular world, our relationship to our tribes and so forth. We need to look at the quality of our relationships. Do we have actual heart-to-heart give and take with brothers and sisters in the church? Do we meet just because we happen to be in the same religious community? Do

we really have family-like ties to one another? True Parents have taught us that the only lasting and valuable relationship is the heart-to-heart relationship.”

When I read this content shared by the former president of our church in Korea I can only wholeheartedly agree and shout “Mansei!” or “Aju!” I firmly believe that in these lines he is addressing a very essential point which each one of us is supposed to take seriously and to ponder in our hearts because it makes all the difference in the world for our work whether or not we build such bonds of heart which connect us closely with one another as members of a united worldwide family.

In respect to the third direction given by True Father Rev. Hwang quoted from page 62 of the above mentioned book: “If you live only for yourself, there is inevitably a hopeless ending. But if you live for your people and the world, you may lose in the present but you will be remembered in history by the people and the world you risked your life for. The suffering you had to go through for the people and the world will be engrafted into the heart of so many throughout history. So your suffering will be historic suffering. And the stories you leave behind will be the truest examples to follow.”

Rev. Hwang added to this content: “The suffering we endure for the sake of the world is something of eternal value that we leave behind. This is all that lasts. The suffering we endure for ourselves cannot be remembered in history. The suffering we endure for the sake of our people and the world has incredible value.”

As the final excerpt from that speech Rev. Hwang offered the following passage: “Even if you have to suffer, if you really invest all of yourself, you will never perish. You won‟t be accused in the spirit world and live happily there. You can surely build a victorious worldwide foundation. So do not be afraid at all and do not hesitate. Be strong and brave.”

And he added: “When you are strong and brave, True Father tells us, you live a life that has eternal value, you do not perish – you leave a legacy. This is the message Father gave the members at the headquarters church right before he left Korea in the 1970s. True Father‟s parting message to us when he left for America thirty years ago was that we ought to have something of eternal value to leave behind.”

Rev. Hwang emphasized: “Now is the time to settle accounts. We need to check how much effort we have poured into putting into practice what True Parents have taught us and into leaving a legacy of value. If we have not built up heart-to-heart relationships, never really practiced living for others, never really endured suffering for the world or ever really been strong and brave for God‟s will, we must make a new start right this minute.”

May we take these offered quotations from what our True Parents has asked us to accomplish - already decades ago - seriously and reflect about this content in prayer, and most of all, may we establish true heart-to-heart relationships among us so that the Love of God can be fully present in our midst.