The Words of the Cooper Family
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The Words of the Cooper Family |
Hyung Jin Moon visits guests at True Parents birthday banquet
Last night was a long night. In a room with lots of elder European brothers. A few times in the night I really thought I could have been in a jungle with a bunch of lions and tigers growling. We got to the Peace Palace at 6 am. After 1 hour sitting on the floor waiting for pledge to start at 8 am decided to go and sit on the chairs in the back with Daniel Bessell and Jack Corley. That was a saving grace. Big screen too so we could see everything fine and still walk by the time everything was finished.
True Parents looked well and happy. I had serious jet-lag still, but I do remember Father saying:
"Excuse me while I take some water. If I drink I am thirsty and if I smile it means I am happy. There, that is a short sermon."
Barak Obamma sent a congratulatory message, and so did a number of other prominent people.
Later we had an early lunch down at Chung Pyung training center. Most memorable bit: Kook Jin Moon was on the schedule to give a toast. He got up and said: "I have a confession of faith to make. True Parents are not only my physical parents but also my spiritual parents." He went on to state clearly who they are as the returning Christ. Hyung Jin Moon did like wise in front of 1000 people. True Parents smiled, so I guess by what Father said in the morning this meant they were happy about this.
In the afternoon we had the opening session of the national leaders meeting. Kook Jin Moon, In Jin Moon, and Hyung Jin Moon all spoke. The spirit and message was strong and clear. Here are some of my notes:
"Our church policy is to declare True Parents for who they are, and if we do so perhaps Father will not feel the need to give marathon long talks, and then he can be more free to rest."
"True Parents saved our life and that is why we declare them as our lord and savior. We should get comfortable with that and start sharing that truth. I guarantee if you do, that it will change your life completely, and you will understand why people talk about being born again. Something changes inside of you, when you declare your faith."
I could connect with the main message, but occasionally the case was not fully developed and some of the points were possibly not fully intended. Kook Jin Moon made the point that we are not here to be a social movement. But surely we want to be socially relevant. I think what he meant is that our primary purpose is to bring people to True Parents. Anyhow, that is when I started to feel European. Talking with Daniel Bessel I realized that our default mode is to analyze, and when the rationale is woolly we get frustrated. My conclusion was that rather than get annoyed better to take on greater faith and then offer rational and thoughtful feedback.
One elder 2nd Generation Unificationist who must be around 30 now said to me in the bus that the denial of our faith generally leads to people losing it. He said that many of his friends who grew up being encouraged by their parents not to let people know that they were followers of Rev Moon, and Unification Church members tended to eventually drift away. While those who were open and honest tended to find it easier to stick around.
The other thing I am experiencing here is culture shock. Was never so aware of that before. I always came to Korea thinking this is Father's nation. But I think I have arrived at a point of separating the two out. So now I am becoming aware of how alien Asian culture is for me. I think it is an important step in coming to understand the people in a more real way.
There was the usual thing when we were waiting for the above mentioned speakers to arrive in the room. The shear number of people involved in getting the mics ready, calling on their mobiles up stairs to see when they were coming down, starting a song, rechecking the mics, etc. And on the 4th set of mansai's today I was not giving it quite the 100%. Just all very alien to my cultural background. I am sure I could learn a thing or two if I open my mind to it. But, can't imagine what it must have been like for True Parents to live in the West for so many years and raise their family there. I guess I realized Father is not Korean, he is the Son of God. Big difference.