The Words of the Schanker Family
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The Words of the Schanker Family |
1. Readings
a. Philippians 2:1-4: If then there is any encouragement in Christ, any consolation from love, any sharing in the Spirit, any compassion and sympathy, make my joy complete: be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others.
b. Rev Sun Myung Moon, October 1973: which comes first unity or love, you can love yourself when your mind and body are in harmony with each other. If you love yourself when your desires and actions are going in different directions then your love has little meaning. When your mind and body are united as one then your love will be eternally protected by God. Unity is the beginning point of love, the point where love can come to abide. This is God's ideal. Unless God can find persons whose quality is in accordance with His ideal He cannot be happy at all, He has no one He can love. Since this principle is the core, we in our movement seek unity first and then we talk about heart and love. Only then can our ideals be realized. Before the ideal can be realized there must be unity and then love.
2. Rev. Phillip Schanker greeted everyone. He expressed his love for us. He is as surprised as any of us that he is the person standing in front of us this morning.
3. Phillip Schanker expressed his gratitude for the wonderful foundation made by the band. He is from Motown [Motown is Detroit MI] Go Lions! [The Detroit Lions are a football team.] As they played "What's going on" and the beautiful "Songbird" he was moved to pray and then he felt like dancing backstage. These songs were woven around the theme that our In Jin Nim asked him to share about.
4. Before sharing his message he wanted to share a miracle that happened in his life. He is not half the man he used to be (in size). He has shed 40 pounds this year and a total of 60 pounds since he began to work with In Jin Nim and the Lovin Life Ministry. As a result, many things have happened to him that have dramatically changed his life – he had a stomach problem that disappeared, sleep apnea – by which he could suffocate at night, he no longer snores (his wife would have liked that) and although he has had four operations on his legs and he has artificial hips, he can run and walk and he is planning to be around a long time for his grandchildren and descendants – and also for True Parents and the province.
5. Number one he drinks Vemma, he's been eating healthy, he exercises – he walks and swims, and the fourth and most important ingredient – is Lovin' Life. (And he doesn't mean that cereal that Rev. Cotter introduced), he is talking about the heart, attitude, and spirit that our Senior Pastor, In Jin Nim, has created at HQ and is preaching about every single week. And so he is grateful to In Jin Nim for the renewed life he is experiencing.
6. She called him and asked that the message be about creating unity and breaking down barriers. Perhaps that is on her mind because she is now in North Korea at an international friendship soccer tournament where one of True Father's teams is participating (from Brazil). She is there as an ambassador for True Parents and an ambassador for peace and a representative of True Family.
7. Since North Korea is the last frontline on the face of the earth, the place of the most complicated struggle and difficulty – to break down barriers and create unity – kind of like Marvin Gaye sang about in "What's Going On" – the challenges in the world. Perhaps that's why it was on her mind.
8. Phillip Schanker would like to address the theme starting right where we live – creating unity and breaking down barriers on every single level, starting with ourselves, our relationships, our families, our community, and the world.
9. The scriptures that were shared, Paul's message to the Philippians, about the heart and attitude, that we need to create harmony in the community – humility, no selfish ambition, and giving more honor and respect to others than ourselves. It kind of says it all.
10. And Father's words; that we don't accomplish by love, but we create unity first. When we realize unity, and unity comes by investment and through give-and-take – that is what the Principle teaches us. When unity is realized, to the extent of our unity, divine love comes from beyond us and answers and fills and can be manifested there. (So he should stop right now, but if you know him that's not going to happen)
11. Before sharing his message he would like to give us an idea of what allows him to be here as part of this community. He joined this movement 39 years ago in 1972 at the age of 18. Thank God! He joined because he saw a vision of a unified and harmonious world, a vision of unity. But not just in the ideals, he saw a community that was realizing and practicing, a path for spiritual growth. And in the principle he found spiritual tools of attitude and heart and investment that would allow him to realize that unity within himself, in his relationships, and in his environment.
12. He grew up in a typical post-World War II baby boom family. He is the youngest of four children. His parents, after World War II, bought into the American dream – that success is a house, two car garage, a chicken in every pot, and the finer things of life – I this would be their source of happiness – and they invested wholeheartedly in that. But his parents were not happy and the generation that they were part of was not satisfied by material success.
13. His parents struggled deeply in their marriage. They love each other but their love was like a chain. They were bound to each other – it was a tortured and sometimes negative and struggling and difficult relationship. But they couldn't find the way to resolve themselves. They never divorced, but Phillip Schanker used to beg them to – because of the impact their struggle had on his siblings. His three older siblings are wonderful intelligent people of character and capacity, but if you look at their lives – they all fled their home at the earliest possible moment. None of them is married, no one has children, and the story of their lives includes divorce, abortion, drug addiction, alcoholism, and many other kinds of struggles. He does not say this to denigrate his siblings – he is no smarter than them, he is not a stronger person, he is not wiser or better in any way. The only difference is that he was able to receive the values, the vision, the meaning, and the support of True Parents and the Principle.
14. Phillip Schanker grew up in the Unitarian faith which is a liberal Christian denomination with very little or no doctrine. He grew up with all the questions and none of the answers. And so he became a searcher, searching for the answers. The first big question that he remembers is when he was 11 or 12 years old – there were race riots in his city of Detroit. There was starvation of children in Biafra, Africa, there was the Vietnam War, and the racism that he faced every single day. And his question was, "why is the world not just? Why is the world not fair?" He was not complaining. He wanted to know why his life was so fortunate and blessed. Why does he have opportunity when someone no less worthy than he can't even have three meals or may not live until they are five.
15. No one could answer that question. No intellectual answer from his parents, his pastor, his teachers and elders could satisfy him. That was the first of a number of questions. Three of his close friends died tragically during his high school years. During the funeral of one of them he experienced their presence. Even though he was not religious or spiritual by nature it occurred to him that the essence of who we are does not end with the death of the flesh. He learned that lesson even more deeply, and many other lessons, in nature. He started out partying with his friends at campgrounds, but you draw away and reflect more deeply – and he came to understand that the essence of who he is, is not just brain waves and electro chemical functions, that when he dies he is more than just a piece of meat. He discovered Greek philosophy and learned about absolutes, about absolute values, about ideals, and about morality, and he began to try and understand their meaning. He searched in religion. He visited many churches. He read about Buddhism.
16. But instead of finding answers to his questions he came out with more questions. If God is good, and God is all-powerful, then why does evil dominate and why do good people suffer? If he is morally depraved and he can never live up to his own conscience, but only through the sacrifice of Jesus, what is he supposed to be? What is his goal? What is he supposed to do? And many other questions about his place in the universe, about eternity, about why we are here. But perhaps his biggest question was about love. While his siblings struggled, he never lost his dream of true lasting love.
17. But he was divided, because there was a part of him that wanted to be liked, that wanted to be accepted, to be popular – and following that he got into trouble. But there was another part of him that wanted to know and live the truth and live a life of value. And so he was divided and struggling – and the only reason he decided not to have sex at that age, was not because of his moral values, but because – every relationship that he tried to pursue he knew was false. It wasn't genuine, it didn't feel right, it wasn't an honest and true and genuine relationship. He could feel that, and he was afraid. He was afraid that if he went all the way and found that his ideal of love was empty, that it wasn't really ever possible to become truly one with another person, he would lose hope in that vision.
18. In the end of his high school years he remembers reading "The Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost. It talked about the wide easy path that everyone follows and another road diverges in the woods and goes up over a mountain and it is difficult. And Frost ends the poem, "I took the road less traveled by, and it has made all the difference." And Phillip Schanker decided that he wasn't going to accept the world as it was and live a normal life. He didn't want to live in an unjust world. That was one of his biggest questions – to find justice and fairness, believing that good should be able to be substantial and real. He determined that he didn't want to just decide his life based upon his career, his job choice, the city he lived in, or the people he chose to live with. He wanted to know his place in the universe, like so many young people, 1972, his hair down to his shoulders and backpack on his back – he hitchhiked. He took a semester off. His college was set, his career was set, he had a future in the Detroit city government, he had a mentor, he had everything set in front of him.
19. But, hitchhiking across America, the lesson he learned – he joyously found a higher center of the universe. He suddenly understood that he is not the center of the whole thing and he began to pursue that center, even though he did not trust organized religion. He also learned that all human beings have a common enemy. We are all struggling with the same things – we are not really each other's enemies. He found a relationship with Jesus Christ and set his feet on the path of trying to know him, although he could not digest that he came for the purpose of dying on the cross. Socrates and other teachers of truth had been put to death because they spoke the truth. They gathered young people and confronted society – and he thought that Jesus was the same.
20. Near the end of that trip he visited what he thought was a hippie commune in Boonville California to visit some high school friends. He comes from a long line from Detroit Michigan that came through Boonville and the Oakland church. To put it simply, he heard the Divine Principle (Divine Principle), and he heard the most simple, elegant, and profound insights that actually addressed every single one of his questions. The ideal of the three blessings – a simple framework for understanding what it means to be a human being. The eternal nature of our soul and spirit had never been explained so practically and clearly. Human responsibility, our dynamic relationship of trust with God, the fact that good and evil had the same starting point and merely went in different directions, etc. etc. etc.. Understanding the contradiction within himself – it was the beginning of an incredible path of learning, discovery, and growth. And he also found a community of practice, that was practicing the Principle. And he found the tools to work out the contradiction within himself, to develop genuine relationship. And he found the ideal of the Blessing, his dream.
21. And two years into his path of living the Principle he met God personally, directly, powerfully. He found God present deep within his innermost self and he came to recognize the presence of our Heavenly Parent in everything around. He also came finally to understand True Parents as his parents, the ones who taught him what it means to be a man, what it means to live on this earth, what his life should be aiming toward, and how we should live. Since that time he has taught the Principle on five continents, shared it with five races, he's taught political leaders, religious leaders, educational leaders, and leaders of nations, people of all different backgrounds and he has yet to find anything so clear. Even though we know how to make it complicated – (and he is one of the best at making it complicated) – the principle is simple, eloquent, and clear. And as In Jin Nim delivers it every Sunday he is reminded of these simple practical applications of the truth. And more importantly the Principle has worked for him, although his life is far from perfect. There are many challenges and difficulties, but he has seen his family grow. He has 4 amazing children, no more amazing than your children, or you as children, but to him so precious, especially coming from where he comes from, experiencing what he did. And though his children have their own challenges and trials, they have an idea of who they are and some sense of what it means to love.
22. Following the path of the Principle did not prevent him from contracting cancer when he was 40 years old and being told that he should prepare to die. Following the Principle did not protect him from losing his life partner from this earth when they were both 53 years old. There is no guarantee of the challenges we may face or what may be around the next corner, but the Principle and True Parents gave him the tools, the attitude, the heart, and the things that In Jin Nim is teaching every single week – to digest every challenge and find meaning and growth and personal development in every difficult. And it was four years ago, almost to the day, at the ascension and farewell ceremony of his beloved wife (his oma) that his two older siblings came and they suddenly and finally understood, after thinking that his religion was a crutch and a psychological need, they came to see that there was real strength and real value and real meaning in the life that he has and the faith that he has. His older brother who had been one of his strongest critics told him, "I can't argue with success."
23. So, how do we create unity on every level? That has been his goal, that is what drew him here, and that is what we are called to do. Our Father has envisioned for us Cheon Il Guk. In Korean it literally means – Cheon means heaven, Il means one, and Guk means nation or sovereignty. One heavenly sovereignty. It is simply equivalent to the kingdom of God, the kingdom of heaven that Jesus taught us to pray for and work for. And Father said that its essence is when two become one. Two becoming one is the essence of Cheon Il Guk. When two become one in myself, my own mind and body, then to that extent Cheon Il Guk can reside in me. When husband and wife become one then Cheon Il Guk can reside in our family. The kingdom, the realm where God can dwell, where goodness can rule, can be established in me.
24. Father said the name, Unification Church, is because our goal is to create unification on every single level. And True Parents' life, Father's life, his course to become the Messiah, to raise up a bride, establish the model of True Parents, show the standard and open the gate to the kingdom for everyone and leaders there. That life process has been based on creating unity on every level, first within himself within his own mind and body, then raising mother and creating a true God centered love relationship, and then expanding that unity to a clan, to a tribe, and creating the conditions to pave the way for unification on every single level – even the physical and spiritual worlds, until ultimately being able to give it all back to our Heavenly Parent. To give it all back to God and even reconcile the disunity that God has experienced because the world that He created was stolen from Him. To give that back, that has been True Parents' course. And our way of life has been, in our own small way, to follow that path and realize our own heaven. Father said heaven is not what you were given, it's what we must create within ourselves, in our relationships, in our family and in our life – that is the path we are walking.
25. How do we do that on the individual level? How do we bring our mind and body together? Before father founded this movement or wrote down the Principle, his own personal motto as a young man was – before I would conquer the universe let me first master myself, let me gain control over myself. Father has taught us that that is the most difficult and challenging thing in the universe – to become a person of integrity.
26. Integrity comes from the same root word as integrate which means to bring two things into one. To remove the separation, to remove the barrier, to integrate. To become a person of integrity means to bring together our mind and our body, our words and our actions, our values and our lifestyle. And it is challenging. It is not a simple thing. And to become a person of integrity, and bring our mind and body together, is also about maturity. Maturity has been defined as the capacity for self-control. To be able to delay if necessary the things that I want for my own gratification when there is something else more important. As father said in the quote, when we realize that within ourselves, God can dwell within us to that extent. Also, we can here and feel and connect to God's will through our own pure clear. God can speak to us through our own conscience when we realize that level of unity. But it is not easy, it's daunting, overwhelming.
27. We use the word perfection. How many of you are intimidated by the word perfection? Phillip Schanker's hand is up. It's a little intimidating. But, do we really want a static absolute, perfect, nothing wrong, everything working – it almost sounds boring. But Hyung Jin Nim has taught us that we actually have miss translated that term from the Korean. It is more about completion and fulfillment than it is about being some kind of perfect, doing everything right all the time, showing the best – it is more about completing and fulfilling. In fact, what Jesus said in Matthew, be perfect as your heavenly parent is perfect – the original Greek uses the word that means mature and complete. Mature yourself, become complete. Is that a little bit less intimidating? In fact for many of us we start to suspect along the way that it's as much or more about the journey, about the investment, about the attitude and heart, as it is about reaching a static final goal. It's about the life we live and the heart with which we live that life. (He commented on why he needed notes. "I need notes for my own security because I'm not a genius like In Jin Nim")
28. There was a time in Phillip Schanker's life when he lost hope in his own perfection. He lost hope in his capacity to reach that goal. No matter how good people thought that he was, the fact that he was a leader, the fact that he could teach the principle, no matter how eloquently he could speak about the ideal – he knew the gap between what he was saying and how he was living. He knew the contradictions within himself. He knew the dirty secrets and the hidden things, the struggles that he was facing, that others didn't know.
29. His life became less and less about his own spiritual growth, and more and more about completing his mission, fulfilling his job, helping the church reach its goals, realizing the numbers in this or that province. It was in the hills of Korea in a 40 day workshop in Chung Pyung that he realized he was wrong and God showed him something deeper. He read the Principle eight times during those days. In one statement in the principle of creation, and the first lesson about individual completion – it jumped out at him. It said that a perfect or complete person resonates with the heart of God so that that person could not sin, could not act against God, because it would hurt too much to violate God's heart. And suddenly he realized, it's not just about getting up at 4:30 AM, it's not just about disciplining myself and doing everything to a T. and living up to some external rules, it's about cultivating a heart for God.
30. He asked himself, "could I become that person? Could I become a person that loves God so much I couldn't hurt Him?" And what he found is that yes, he can. He has hope to become such a person. And the prayer God spoke to him in those hills – (and that doesn't happen to him very often. He doesn't use these words easily.) he felt God say to him, "Phillip, it is not just about perfect in the world or realizing the goals and ideals of the movement, it's about you becoming the person that I created you to be, realizing the potential that I placed in you. That is what it's about." It's about God dwelling in him and coming through him, as Phillip. Isn't that who True Father is, isn't that what True Parents are proclaiming and embodying? Only for them? Or is that everyone's goal? That is a path on which we are headed.
31. On that foundation then the next level of unity, the next barrier that must be broken down is between who? Man and woman, between husbands and wives. It's not easy. Father said it's the second most difficult thing to accomplish in the universe after uniting our mind and body. Men and woman are designed to be not the same, but different. Some call it a cosmic joke. We love differently. We're wired differently in our brains. Our brain chemistry is ruled by different hormones that raise different priorities and sensibilities. We love differently and we need to be loved differently. My partner needs to experience love different than I know how to love. I need to go beyond myself. It takes wisdom, maturity, patients, self-reflection, humility, sacrifice, and the capacity to forgive – to be able to make a relationship work.
32. Some of you have experienced international, intercultural marriage. It's not so easy to bring two cultures or nations together. But which is more different, two nations or two planets? Two planets. After all, men are from Mars and women are from Venus. There is so much truth to that statement. If you never had the opportunity, it can be so mind opening and liberating to learn about the differences between the way men and women are designed. There's no time to go into it – but a few things; Woman need to be heard. For their feelings and emotions, not necessarily to be solved all the time, but to be validated and understood. If a woman shares how she feels it's not necessarily complaining, even though it feels like it to you. Woman's brains, the right side is for feelings and aesthetics and the left side for linear thinking, are 40% more interconnected than men's. While men can only operate in one side at a time, both sides for woman are on all the time. It's true. Hallelujah!
33. And so, woman can multitask, think and feel at the same time which most men don't know how to do. Woman bond and connect through sharing. In intimacy, they need to feel connected in heart in order to open up to physical and sexual intimacy. Men on the other hand need to be respected. In case you haven't noticed, sisters, we don't respond to well to criticism. It doesn't really work. It may feel good to get it out but it won't accomplish what you are after. And men can't accomplish easily more than one thing at a time. And men tend to bond by doing things together rather than talking. Talking is not necessarily a stress reliever for men. Men can also use physical closeness and sexual intimacy in order to feel emotionally connected. That's a cosmic joke if there ever was one.
34. And so we need to go beyond ourselves to understand our partner. And just like God spoke to Phillip Schanker in the hills of Korea, if you ask God about your marriage He would surely say it's not about looking good in church, it's not about covering up your problems, or living separate lives, or keeping your commitment because of obligation or duty. "It's about becoming the embodiment of love that I brought you to be."
35. Why do you think our senior pastor has so often preached about the challenges in blessed families, even in extreme difficult situations and severe problems like sexual abuse? Was it to demonize any group or person? No. Was it to shock or upset? No. It's to underscore that the way to become an ideal family is to – deal with whatever challenges are inherent in realizing that family, whatever baggage or challenges are there from our personal, our emotional, or our ancestral past.
36. It is so classic, that couples will hide their struggles until it is almost too late. Phillip Schanker works with the Blessed Family Ministry in the United States. They don't know about the challenges and difficulties people face until they are almost over. Or, often we are not aware of the struggles going on in our neighbor's lives or our friend's lives or we don't want to know. Or, we make excuses, or live in separate places, or seek comfort outside of our marital relationships. All of these are not the way to heal and grow, and they are not what our Heavenly Parent wants us to do. And In Jin Nim is creating a culture where our families deal with the challenges that they face, amen?
37. When Phillip Schanker was blessed, he was engaged in 1978, they corresponded as pen-pals for four years. He was in the clouds. They would send beautiful long letters in different languages that had to be translated. His wife would draw a beautiful H. for her name and a beautiful P for Phillip and then wrapped them around each other at the bottom of the page. This was so romantic and so ideal. He wrote her 25 letters and she wrote him 40 letters. But somehow when they started their married life -- he didn't know where the romance went. She was a single-minded, mission focused, get it done kind of person. She came to bed every night with three or four layers of underwear. "I don't know where the romance went."
38. And he came to a point in his marriage where he lost hope. Not losing hope in the marriage, because he was committed, but he had no hope to be happy. Because, they were so different. She was a single-minded, focus, self-reliant, independent kind of person. He was a broad, complicated, emotional, needy, sensitive person. (not any more – ha ha ha). It became more difficult to understand each other. He liked to sleep with the windows open with cold air and snuggled in bed. She liked the windows closed and burning hot. He liked to shower in the morning. She showered at night. She didn't want him coming to bed filthy. They slept at different times. Their schedules were different. And it became challenging and complicated. His culture taught him that the deepest things need to be expressed verbally and talked through. Her culture taught her that the deepest things should never be spoken or they become silly and cheap and immature. So he looked like a silly, cheap, immature guy when he would want to talk about things.
39. But their relationship got better and better and better. The point he wanted to share, that transformed their relationship, was when they each decided to love the person they were married to for who they are, not for who we thought or expected them to become. That was the transformation point. Hopefully it won't take as many years to get to that as it did for them. They were only at kindergarten when she left this earth. Their relationship had just begun. When his wife stopped trying to change him, to become the person that she could then love, and when he let go of the silent complaint that he kept inside because she wasn't giving him what he wanted or needed, and they just started to love the person they are married to, then they began to change. His wife transformed into the things that he had given up on, and he hopes he did the same.
40. Once when she was serving True Parents and True Father asked her, "how is your husband?" She did a full bow before him and wept as she told him, "Father I am so sorry, I never understood the value of the man that you gave to me, but now I am so grateful to have him." Even though, unfortunately, their children saw them struggle many times, they also saw in the last seven years of their life; peace, harmony, and companionship, even though it was just beginning. Don't delay in coming to that place.
41. Father said unity first. When we create and realize unity, and unity comes by give-and-take, by relationship – to the extent of our unity, God's love comes from outside. When he realized that (unity) within himself, God's love could come into and through him to others. When he realized that within a relationship, then a dimension of love that is beyond our own capacity of heart can enter and lift us up and our perspective can be transformed. If unity and communication breaks down – that is the time, when it is overwhelming and beyond what we can do, that is the time to seek help. Mediation, someone who can stand in-between, who can understand each one and help each one understand each other. That is not the horizontal Western psychology, that is Divine Principle. That is the application of the Divine Principle.
42. In the next few months our Blessed Family Ministry will be working with the Ministry department at Lovin Life to roll out "Blessed Life" a renewed Ministry to support our families. We have been poor in the past and we have a long way to go, but we are going to be introducing new resources, introducing more curriculum that can be done locally for all of our Blessing education – and more ministries and counseling. We have been poor, but thanks to In Jin Nim's emphasis, support, and encouragement we are moving in a direction to be able to support our families and our young people more effectively. Even now many of us are not aware of the counseling network that is there at the Blessed Family Website. Many are not aware of the unification counselors – and the 350 person directory, around the country, marriage affirming counselors that are available where you live. Many are not aware of the 15 ministries, some long-established and others brand-new that are there at the Blessed family ministry website. And more is coming in the coming months.
43. There are many levels of unity we should talk about, but time does not permit that investigation.
44. True Parents has paved the way, starting from the individual and family level to create every single level of unity, to lead humanity toward realizing the kingdom of heaven – not by a jeweled city that drops down from the clouds. And if you're in the right denomination you are chosen to go in. (And if it were our denomination we would probably mess it up in a few hours.) But a practical process of realizing the kingdom within ourselves and within our relationships – expanding the foundation of the Blessing, investing in and raising our members, building a clan and a tribe through blessed families.
45. And in Korea and in America, True Parents faced prejudice, persecution, misunderstanding and hatred – and they responded only with love. Phillip Schanker saw with his own eyes when Father was unjustly convicted and sent to Danbury prison, when the verdict was read Father jumped out of his seat and went straight to the prosecutor, the person who had denied Father a trial by a tax judge who knew the situation, and demanded a jury so he could inflame prejudice, and many other stories – Father went straight to him with his hand out to embrace the prosecutor, but the man stumbled backwards and exited out a side door.
46. Even more, Phillip Schanker knows, True Father went to Danbury in America, not simply because of religious persecution and prejudice – which even the Senate Judiciary committee and the National Council of Churches saw and acknowledged, but Father went to prison because of the mistakes that were made by those of us who manage the accounts and made the legal decisions – we should have done things differently, but Father never blamed, judged. He went to Danbury embracing it all, saying that God had sent him there. That is the real substance of Father's heart. This is why in Danbury prison, dozens of prisoners who expected an arrogant religious leader, found a genuine friend, a real person, a humble serving man.
47. Father has lived a life of embracing his enemy, ultimately even Kim ill Sung, the dictator of North Korea who spent time, money, and resources to destroy Rev. Moon. And because of that embrace, as his elder brother, today In Jin Nim is there representing True Parents.
48. We are a movement of unification uniting races, religions, and cultures. But it is not going to simply be done by conferences and campaigns and ceremonies, no matter how historical or profound they may be, we also have the responsibility to live a lifestyle that creates the kingdom in ourselves and in our relationships. "Have I made that point abundantly clear?"
49. That is the path we need to go. In Jin Nim's consistent emphasis is that, if we become that kind of community, live a lifestyle that breaks down barriers, creating harmony within ourselves, in our marriages, and our families, with our children and in our community – as we accomplish that, our friends, our neighbors, our nation, and the world, will want to be a part of that community. They will naturally be drawn.
50. How do we realize this? In the Scripture we read this morning St. Paul told the Philippians very clearly, "I want you to fulfill my joy, I want you to become of one accord, of one mind in having the same love." But he did not say we would accomplish that by thinking alike, living the same way, doing all the same things, or even believing the same things – he said, "lose selfish ambition, lose conceit, practice lowliness of mind, which means humility, become humble, and learn to give value to others more then you seek value for yourself and look out not only for your own interests, but for the interests of others." Paul in his [First] letter to Corinthians, 12:19 – 27, he said, "our beloved community is like the body of Christ and every member is valuable." What if we were all heads or hands or feet, where would that leave the body? Our diversity is our strength. The head can't say to the feet we don't need you. The eye can't say to the butt we don't need you. It's not only the parts that everybody can see, the parts that are beautiful and exposed, but our weakest parts are some of the most important and we must value the weakest parts. The parts that we consider worthy to be covered up, or dirty, are actually vital and crucial, and everything needs to be valued equally. This is the spirit of In Jin Nim, this is the heart of embracing that she has sought to teach us, and it is the way to realize that unity in that kingdom.
51. When we consider the challenges in our own movement at this time – these issues are arising because they are there to be healed, they are there to be resolved, and we are at the final frontier, the final challenge to establish the foundation for True Parents' victory. Aju? Amen? And we also can understand the heart we need to practice in order to realize that foundation and bring joy and victory and liberation to our True Parents.
52. Phillip Schanker closed with some reflections on intergenerational unity. Those of us in the first generation had experiences like he shared with us; they fought for, struggled to find and realized this faith. "And so it is precious to us. Our children, and our children's children, grew up in the faith and it is a different path as you know, and they struggled sometimes to find their own faith.
53. So our children don't see this faith and don't see True Parents, and don't see our tradition exactly the way we do. And maybe that is the way it is supposed to be. Maybe they are meant to carry this faith to a new level, to broaden, to deepen, and to go places you and I could not imagine. Not to repeat what we've done. Not to live it exactly as we might expect them to. We dropped them off at a camp, would bring them up to Sunday school – 'of course they are getting it just like I got it.' And then you find out it doesn't work that way. Does it? If you haven't noticed it means your children are too young. You'll figure it out soon. And for our elders, although we fought with the world, although we networked and reached out and did a lot of outreach work, many of us only have close relationships with people within our community. We have lives that are too insular, too isolated, too unfamiliar. We have had our own language and our own culture, our own way of doing things. One pastor heard the Divine Principle and said this is an amazing truth, it is more important than the Reformation of Martin Luther, but people will never join this movement, because you are too strange."
54. All of this has changed because of True Children, creating a standard, attending True Parents absolutely. "Are they not?" at the same time creating a relevant and renewed community and faith that our children can identify with and relate to. Our sons and daughters grew up differently. They grew up in the midst of this society, faced by the differences between their own value system and how they were raised and those of others. They struggled in different ways and their path to find their faith was not an easy one.
55. So how do we protect True Parents tradition and value, while at the same time embrace the diversity and the inevitable choices that many families and youth in our community are going to make? Do you understand my question?
56. "Brothers and sisters, my answer is that we have to do both. If we just protect the tradition (and Father said these days tradition is more important than lineage – for if we lose tradition then we will lose the value of our lineage), but if we only narrowly protect tradition we will become an isolated movement of the few, and alienate many others. On the other hand if we become just an open and embracing organization where anything goes, we will lose tradition.
57. Phillip Schanker is inspired by the example that our international president Hyung Jin Nim, and our senior pastor are setting, attending True Parents and respecting tradition absolutely, while at the same time embracing the diversity that is developing in our community. Can we do both? Can you affirm what you stand for and still embrace the choices of others. I think we have to do this Brothers and sisters. Not hide from it, not push it out of our community, not deny it. Then, what about when our children lose their way, what about when they struggle and go through difficulties, how can we affirm the values that we raised them in and clarify our expectations, and still love them unconditionally, no matter who they are or what they do. Brothers and sisters we have to do both. Do we not? We have to find a way to do both. That is parenting. That is what our Heavenly Father had to experience. That is what Father had to go through. Just as he had to embrace his eldest son in his darkest time, and just as his youngest son testified that when he was struggling over the death of his brother and he told his father he wanted to follow Buddhism, instead of being judged as he had expected, his father embraced him and supported that path and guided him through that back to the way of a blessed child."
58. "I have heard from every one of the True Children that I've spoken with, their confidence in the root identity of each of our blessed children and who they are and how they will live up to and live out and express that inherent value."
59. "The leadership of True Children is vital. That is the point I want to leave you with. Last August at the OSDP workshop I heard Rev. Yu [Jeong Og Yu] share these words, 'We were trained, the elders were trained by True Father. He taught us how to do everything. He ran the service, led the songs, led the prayer, gave a sermon, did everything – and we got used to doing it in a certain way. So when we suddenly see meditation and gongs and incense or rock music and excitement – it is difficult for us to understand at first' and Rev. Yu said to the elders of our movement, 'we need to learn, as Father has taught us, to not continue to try and come to True Parents directly on our own foundation, but come to True Parents through True Children.' Brothers and sisters if we can accomplish that, our future is in great hands. It's a complicated and confusing time of transition, but I am so inspired by the leadership of In Jin Nim, I would like to give another sermon about her."
60. "Thank you so much for the time this morning. Please have a wonderful week and God be with you."
1: So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any incentive of love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy,
2: complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.
3: Do nothing from selfishness or conceit, but in humility count others better than yourselves.
4: Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.
5: Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus,
6: who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped,
7: but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.
8: And being found in human form he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross.
9: Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every name,
10: that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11: and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
12: Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling;
13: for God is at work in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.
14: Do all things without grumbling or questioning,
15: that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world,
16: holding fast the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain.
17: Even if I am to be poured as a libation upon the sacrificial offering of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with you all.
18: Likewise you also should be glad and rejoice with me.
19: I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon, so that I may be cheered by news of you.
20: I have no one like him, who will be genuinely anxious for your welfare.
21: They all look after their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ.
22: But Timothy's worth you know, how as a son with a father he has served with me in the gospel.
23: I hope therefore to send him just as soon as I see how it will go with me;
24: and I trust in the Lord that shortly I myself shall come also.
25: I have thought it necessary to send to you Epaphrodi'tus my brother and fellow worker and fellow soldier, and your messenger and minister to my need,
26: for he has been longing for you all, and has been distressed because you heard that he was ill.
27: Indeed he was ill, near to death. But God had mercy on him, and not only on him but on me also, lest I should have sorrow upon sorrow.
28: I am the more eager to send him, therefore, that you may rejoice at seeing him again, and that I may be less anxious.
29: So receive him in the Lord with all joy; and honor such men,
30: for he nearly died for the work of Christ, risking his life to complete your service to me.
Mother, mother
There's too many of you crying
Brother,
brother, brother
There's far too many of you dying
You know
we've got to find a way
To bring some lovin' here today - Ya
Father, father
We don't need to escalate
You see, war is not
the answer
For only love can conquer hate
You know we've got to
find a way
To bring some lovin' here today
Picket lines and picket signs
Don't punish me with
brutality
Talk to me, so you can see
Oh, what's going on
What's
going on
Ya, what's going on
Ah, what's going on
In the mean time
Right on, baby
Right on
Right on
Father, father, everybody thinks we're wrong
Oh, but who are
they to judge us
Simply because our hair is long
Oh, you know
we've got to find a way
To bring some understanding here today
Oh
Picket lines and picket signs
Don't punish me with
brutality
Talk to me
So you can see
What's going on
Ya,
what's going on
Tell me what's going on
I'll tell you what's
going on – Uh
Right on baby
Right on baby
For you there'll be no crying
For you the sun will be shining
And I feel that when I'm with you
It's alright, I know it's
right
To you, I would give the world
To you, I'd never be cold
'Cause I feel that when I'm with you
It's alright, I know
it's right
And the songbirds keep singing
Like they know the score
And
I love you, I love you, I love you
Like never before.
And I wish you all the love in the world,
But most of all, I
wish it for myself.
And the songbirds keep singing
Like they know the score
And
I love you, I love you, I love you
Like never before.
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not
travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down
one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the
better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as
for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden
black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how
way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages
hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the
one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
1: Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I do not want you to be uninformed.
2: You know that when you were heathen, you were led astray to dumb idols, however you may have been moved.
3: Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking by the Spirit of God ever says "Jesus be cursed!" and no one can say "Jesus is Lord" except by the Holy Spirit.
4: Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit;
5: and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord;
6: and there are varieties of working, but it is the same God who inspires them all in every one.
7: To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.
8: To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit,
9: to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit,
10: to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues.
11: All these are inspired by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills.
12: For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.
13: For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body -- Jews or Greeks, slaves or free -- and all were made to drink of one Spirit.
14: For the body does not consist of one member but of many.
15: If the foot should say, "Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body," that would not make it any less a part of the body.
16: And if the ear should say, "Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body," that would not make it any less a part of the body.
17: If the whole body were an eye, where would be the hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell?
18: But as it is, God arranged the organs in the body, each one of them, as he chose.
19: If all were a single organ, where would the body be?
20: As it is, there are many parts, yet one body.
21: The eye cannot say to the hand, "I have no need of you," nor again the head to the feet, "I have no need of you."
22: On the contrary, the parts of the body which seem to be weaker are indispensable,
23: and those parts of the body which we think less honorable we invest with the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty,
24: which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving the greater honor to the inferior part,
25: that there may be no discord in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another.
26: If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.
27: Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.
28: And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then workers of miracles, then healers, helpers, administrators, speakers in various kinds of tongues.
29: Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles?
30: Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret?
31: But earnestly desire the higher gifts. And I will show you a still more excellent way.