Lovin’ Life in Washington, D.C. Rings the Bell for America’s Heroes on 9/11

Unificationists in Washington, D.C. honored the heroes and victims of 9/11 during their regular worship service and with peace-building outreach all afternoon at the historic Unification Church building at 1610 Columbia Rd. NW in Washington, D.C.

African drummers brought the crowd at the rally. At right is Minister Jacob Tegnan, head usher of the church.

Rev. In Jin Moon gave another signature sermon from the main pulpit of Lovin’ Life Ministries in New York in which she observed: “I think the United States, for a lot of people, has always symbolized independence and freedom.”

She continued: “But when something like 9/11 takes place, we realize that we are all affected. It doesn’t matter whether we have lost a loved one, a relative, or a friend in the Twin Towers. We as Americans, as members of humanity, are all affected. When something like 9/11 takes place, we come to understand the importance of our connectedness. We realize that if we do not work together, live together, and love together, we are headed toward a certain destruction of our world. So instead of independence, we have to concentrate on the importance of being connected, the importance of interdependence. We need to work, live, and love together in order to build this unified family of God and reside in this world in peace, harmony, and love.”

The Washington, D.C. Peace choir sang at each rally and was led by Mrs. Nicole Aroche, at far right.

Lovin’ Life Ministries of Washington, D.C. held hourly memorial rallies for heroes of 9/11 on Sunday and opened its doors to visitors of the Adams Morgan Day Festival at the same time. At each rally, a bell was sounded for the victims as pastors and volunteers from the crowd offered public prayers. The four- hour event drew about 50 Unificationists from the tri-state region and 31 guests, including Chessa Taboada, Miss Teen USA from the Phillipines, and Rev. Sinclair Lewis III of Mt. Rainier, Maryland. The gathering shared an exotic array of entrees and side dishes from around the world at the memorial banquet in the legendary Washington, D.C. Church and sat raptly for a showing of the video In Search of Truth, an overview of the life and mission of Rev. Sun Myung Moon.

As the Unificationists rallied under the banner of “One Family Under God,” a festival celebrating diversity and intercultural harmony was celebrating the 33rd Annual Adams-Morgan Day on three closed- off blocks of 18th St. NW in Washington, D.C. Pastor Matthew Goldberg of Maryland’s Lovin’ Life community commented that this year marked a new generation of Adams Morgan Day, since 33 years is the traditional demarcation of a new generation, and that the banquet participants were witnesses to a new spiritual age on the earth, too.

Although shorter in duration than the outreach events at the Greenbelt Labor Day Festival, the memorial festival was even more successful in terms of gathering new friends for Lovin’ Life Ministries. At this event the brand new brochures about Lovin’ Life were distributed to guests.

Miss Teen USA from Phillipines, Ms. Chessy Taboada, a high-school student from Baltimore, entertained at the Memorial luncheon with “God Bless the USA.”

“There was an internationalism at the festival that was unusual and refreshing. I saw people at the gathering from many nations of the world,” said Martin Liu, a management consultant from Elicott City, Maryland.

“What I liked was the opportunity to do outreach to people my own age,” said Emerson Lykes, 23, also from Elicott City, who served as MC for the rallies.

Minister Jacob Tegnan, a native of the Ivory Coast, who ably coordinated the event for the Washington, D.C. congregation, observed at the end of the rally, “Let’s give glory to God and True Parents – a great thanks for our leaders, Rev. Randy Francis and Rev. Zagery Oliver in Korea for their deep prayers, and a lot of thanks to Pastor Matthew Goldberg, and all Washington, Maryland and Virginia members for helping.”

The rallies featured the drumming and traditional dancing of Minister Tegnan and Ezrah Karimi of Kenya. Hanna Glielmi sang the Star Spangled Banner and later the pop song, “Thinking of you.” Chessa Taboada performed with poise and panache “God Bless the USA.”