The Words of the Burton Family
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The Words of the Burton Family |
Long-time Unificationist Jack LaValley is a respected small-group leader in the West Rock branch of the Unification Church, yet members in other communities are giving good reviews of his newly published "Study Guide" which aims to help small groups of fellow spiritual seekers plumb the true depths of A Peace-loving Global Citizen, by the Reverend Sun Myung Moon.
Mr. LaValley was inspired to select from the Founder's narrative key passages that had deeply moved him, and from these passages he made "exploratory questions" that could be discussed during weekly group meetings he conducts in Irvington, New York.
"As I worked through this process I discovered the questions I was creating called upon readers to consider how their own lives reflect the teachings and lifestyle of Rev. Moon, and to how they have been responding to life since their own childhood," he wrote in the current issue of Unification News. The resulting study guide is being used by small groups in New York and in the Maryland church and can be downloaded on Lulu.com for a few dollars.
Ed Bolton, a participant in the study group, had this approving comment: "Rev. Moon's Autobiography is a very full picture of his life. The biographical details are priceless. The Study Guide Jack created as a companion volume to the Autobiography complements the book effectively. Key parts of the book are summarized and the Exploratory Questions in the Study Guide challenged me to answer with honesty and clarity."
Mr. LaValley explains that the Study Guide began after he had a rebirth experience through reading and re-reading the autobiography. "From the moment I got my hands on Rev. Moon's autobiography back in November 2009 I couldn't put it down. Over the next four months I read it five times," he has written. "At some point during the third reading I suddenly got the inspiration to create a study guide as a companion volume to the autobiography. When I received this inspiration, I wasn't exactly clear on how I'd put the study guide together, but that didn't matter. I felt compelled to do this project and complete it as quickly as possible. There seemed to be a force or power pulling me along, urging and encouraging me to make the study guide," he wrote in Unification News.
Mr. LaValley has been leading a small discussion group of fellow Unificationist members every week in the Irvington, New York area for nearly four years. The group was created along the lines of similar groups started by Rev. Rick Warren, an expert on church growth, and readings from the Founder's speeches as well as masterpieces from other religious and spiritual traditions that have been carefully studied.
Mr. LaValley, reared in Plattsburg, N.Y., joined the Unification Church in Washington, D.C. in 1972. He put in three years on a mobile fundraising team before being handpicked by Rev. Moon in September 1977 to be part of his Security detail. He fulfilled that role until September 1997. During that time Jack traveled around the world with Rev. Moon and his family, and attended them at their residence in Westchester County, New York and Seoul, Korea. Mr. LaValley was blessed in marriage to Ms. Wha Ja Oh of Seoul, Korea in 1982, and they are the "very proud parents of three wonderful children," one of whom also has joined the marriage blessing.
"The greatest thing that happened for me in reading True Father's book is coming to the reawakening of the profound love True Father carries in his heart for me and for all people in the world. I had let that awareness slip away from me," he says. "During this particular period of tumultuous upheaval in our church we all need to focus on is this intangible thing: his heartfelt love beyond measure, eternal, enduring, and unchanging. This intangible heart of love that pulses and beats ever so powerfully within Rev. Moon's bosom -- God's love -- will never fail us and never disappointment us, and will always lead us in the right direction."