WestRock Family News for November 11, 2012

Weekly Greeting Table of Contents Dear Brothers and Sisters, . Weekly greeting and Testimonies Greetings! Happy 53rd True Children’s Day and the 25th Foundation Day for the Unified Nation of Heaven . Sermon Notes and Earth! We had a special service at Belvedere – along with Hyung Jin Nim and Yeon Ah Nim as well as . Light Thought for Dr Yang, Dr Balcomb, Rev Jenkins, and Dr Aguera. Rev Grodner gave a short but beautiful message. the day . Providential It’s been a while since I sent out a newsletter. A lot has happened since the last one. Several members have News shared with me how happy they are that we have a local service again. I too appreciate the local service, but . Quote for the at the same time I felt it was good to have a national level shared Sunday experience – and from what I heard, it appears that Hyung Jin Nim is planning to provide that experience once a month. Week . WestRock Several members asked me to provide the 10 points that I shared last Sunday in the sermon. (please see Council below). Also for the sake of our Sunday school teachers and those who, (because of extreme circumstances – . Announcements of course), could not make it to Sunday service – I have provided an audio recording you can listen to anytime (you can get the internet address for sermons below in the SERMON section). (from the Sunday Bulletin) As you may have heard, I have been nominated to be the NY District Pastor. To be honest, when I first heard the news I felt a wave of apprehension and uncertainty – and that made me think of our current Dist Pastor, Rev Bruce Grodner. He is the one, who for the past 9 years or so, has been caring this responsibility. I am truly grateful for his great investment and all that he gave for God, True Parents, and all of us who are in this district.

Although my nomination has not yet been approved, several members have asked me, if my nomination is approved, who is going to lead WestRock? Please don’t worry. We have great members on our council with whom I have been discussing this question. I am sure we will find a good solution. For the moment, I will continue to Pastor WestRock – and when it becomes clear what my responsibilities will be (if and when I am approved as Dist Pastor), the WestRock Council will decide whether to find a new pastor, or an assistant that I can mentor and work together with.

Most important to me is that I, and I hope all of us, take this as an opportunity to stop and re-evaluate our life of faith. Our church is going through an important makeover – with the goal, given by True Mother, to rediscover our roots. This might be a good time for us each to do the same.

Let’s make these days – as we head towards Foundation Day, VICTORIOUS!

God Bless You Andrew Compton

If you would like to listen to one of my recent sermons, please go to the internet address given below:

For October 28 (Human Responsibilty), go to: http://soundcloud.com/pastor-andrew/sermon-2012-10-28

For November 11 (10 Key Points from the Divine Principle) , go to: http://soundcloud.com/pastor-andrew/sermon-2012-11-11

NOTES: Here are a few key points from November 11, 2012

First I shared 5 points from True Mother’s speech at the Manhattan Center on October 21 a) Bring the church back to its roots The Holy Spirit God’s Love – sharing it with others Teaching God’s word b) There is a gap between generations – we did not raise our children properly c) Repent, be humble. The main problem is in me. d) I want to be loved, but I am not willing to love others. e) Women have a crucial role to play at this time. Need to push their husbands to do God’s will.

I continued with the key point – which is that we need to love all people as God’s children. The biggest obstacle people have to becoming God’s children – is that they just don’t know what is going on – why they don’t know God and how they can find God. Ignorance is preventing them from fulfilling their god given potential.

I gave 10 points I felt needed to be shared with others.

1) God Exists!

One way we can intuitively sense that God exists is that all great things are the manifestation of something that existed in their origin. The diamond – already exits in the carbon atom (although you can’t see it). The flower already exists in the seed (although you can’t see it). The rainbow already exists, before the union of the storm and the sunshine (although you can’t see it). The animal already exists in the union of the egg and sperm (although you can’t see it).

In the same way – the invisible ‘seed’ of the universe, God, can be seen manifested in the fruit of all creation – man and woman creating a beautiful family.

2) All things have 2 purposes – to sustain their own existence and to live for a higher purpose. The second part – living for a greater/higher purpose is what enables progress to take place. All things are striving to contribute towards something greater. 13 billion years of this continual progression has culminated in the love found in the human family. And in that family – love progresses from child to brother/sister, to husband wife – to parents.

3) Parental love is the ultimate fruit of the universe. It is the ultimate expression of God. We call this heart of the parent – Shim Jung. God is the parent of all people who are His/Her children. God is a being of Shimjung

4) We, are similar to God. Through the 3 Blessings we come to reflect God’s Shimjung and bring God and ourselves the greatest Joy. This is our purpose.

5) The step from child/brother-sister love to husband/wife and parent love – requires that we fulfill our portion of responsibility. The ideal of the universe, the ideal of God’s love has to include humanity fulfilling its part – which is to keep love true, in line with God’s heart and will.

6) There is an eternal spiritual life and spiritual world where we will live that life of love. What we do with our lives here determines our situation there. To the degree we fulfill our responsibility here – we can live happily there.

7) Our first ancestors messed up. They failed to keep their love true. Their first love was connected to the fallen Archangel. This separated us from our parent, God, and it broke His/Her heart.

8) History is the story of God preparing for the Messiah. If we think of the messiah coming on an airplane – he cannot come until we prepare a place for the plane to land. We failed to do our part and when Jesus tried to come as the Messiah – he crashed and burned. But through his death and his love - a way was made for God to raise up Christianity and prepare again for God to send a second Messiah.

9) Since Jesus’ resurrection, through Christianity God has been preparing for the 2nd Coming. But it did not go well for the Christian faith. There has been a lot of division and ignorance. When God did finally send the 2nd Coming – he was rejected. He, like Jesus, crashed and burned. But this time he passed through his “crucifixion” and lived. This is the good news! This time the Messiah lived and he established God’s family. He fulfilled God’s original ideal – he found the true Eve and established God’s family. But because he was rejected – his path, and the path of his family has not been an easy one. It has been the path of indemnity – to save humankind.

10) Now that God has His/Her family – all who want to return to God are invited to graft into God’s family. This is the Blessing. The door is open to all – whoever desires – can participate and be a part of God’s ideal on this earth. Together we can build one family under God.

Light Thought for the Day

Senior Safety I failed a Health and Safety course at the Senior Center today.

One of the questions was: “In the event of a fire, what steps would you take?”

Apparently, “Great Big Ones” was the wrong answer.

Providential News

 True Mother is in Korea  101 Days until Foundation Day; 13th Day of the First Month of the 3rd year of the Heavenly Calendar (which will be Feb 22 on the solar calendar)

Quote for the Week Change your opinions, keep to your principles; change your leaves, keep intact your roots.

WestRock Council Chairperson – Matthew Strater Vice-Chair – Rob Kitchens Secretary – Grace Selover Treasurer – Danso Sawamukai

Committee Assignments (so far): Youth and Education – Toby Gullery Care Team – Mary Hida Finance – Danso Sawamukai Outreach – Tokiko Stewart Small Groups – Jim Stinard Sunday Service – Rob Kitchens 24+ – Danso Sawamukai and Grace Selover

The next meeting is scheduled for Thursday, July 19, 7:30 pm at the White House.

Announcements (from the Sunday Bulletin) WestRock Announcements (WR Web Site: www.westrockfamily.com)

Outreach  True Father’s Autobiography- please continue to do your best to distribute True Father’s Autobiography  OSDP/Bible Study – Will take place Monday Nov. 12 and 26, 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm at the White House. All are welcome.  Japanese International Dinner - Cultural Event: Food, Friends, and Fellowship. Sunday, Nov. 25, 4 pm at the White House. Bring your neighbors and friends! (And let us know if you are planning to attend. Phone or email Julia Okamoto)

Community  Holy Days: We will conduct a ceremony for the 53rd True Children’s Day, as well as the 25th Foundation Day for the Unified Nation of Heaven and Earth, on Wednesday, Nov 14 at 7:00 am at Belvedere. I am looking for volunteers to help prepare it - Tuesday evening. If you are interested please contact Rev Compton  Help Us Raise Funds for our Families in Need: Next Sunday, Nov 18, we will have a bake sale to raise funds for our Emergency Family Fund. Please consider making a special donation for this purpose. We have several families who are in need of help – due to illness. Thank you!  Parents Meeting: Toby Gullery will be meeting with parents of middle and high school kids after service on Sunday, November 18  Blessed Wives Luncheon: Today after service at the White House. Topic: “Two Women Providence” $5 offering. Speaker: Toko Yoshida Other  Room for Rent: For rent 1 room and bathroom in Thornwood. Price 500 per month. Call Rosi Hack

Prayer  WestRock Prayer by Conference Call- Sunday 8 to 8:20 am Phone Number: 712-432-1699, All are welcome.  Prayer Continues for Jiau-Lan Weinstein. She is fighting to overcome cancer.

LOVIN LIFE MINISTRIES LEARNING CENTER

For information on the schedule at the Lovin Life Learning Center, please call them to find out details for all activities – including Ballroom Dancing, Junction, Korean Movie Night, etc.

Next Ahn Shi Il: Monday, November 19, 2012

MAKE IT A GREAT WEEK!