The Words of the Davis Family
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The Words of the Davis Family |
Center:
Class organizer, Pastor Tom Corley and writer Gregory Davis
Pastor Tom Corley of the Long Island Unification Church Community was given a unique and historical opportunity to give a workshop on world religions at Stony Brook University. He was invited to come to the class and give a presentation on the Unification Church and its founder, Rev. Sun Myung Moon. Of course he was thrilled to do this, and it was this author's great honor to accompany him on this journey.
The class date was Wednesday, November 17, at 10:30 a.m., and we arrived with books and DVDs in hand with great optimism. We were greeted by about 30 "students" mostly from our generation (50+) who like "Bob," the retired gentleman who invited us, were members of a "club" of Adult Continuing Education that partnered with the University. I guess that was our first surprise. However, our students were very gracious and respectful -- they seemed genuinely interested in hearing who Reverend Moon was (is he still alive?) and about the Unification Church in the 21st Century.
After a brief, respectful introduction by our host, Pastor Corley shared a few of his insights on our movement based on his experience. Wanting to get a sense of who was in the audience he then asked what were the various religious backgrounds of the group? It seemed that it was comprised of about 60 percent Christian, 20 percent Jewish, and another 20 percent other religions and two atheists. Yet, most of them had some knowledge or had heard of our church and/or Reverend Moon so, understandably, they had some misconceptions as well. One woman who was surprised that she was "hearing about Reverend Moon" (oh is this HIS church?) kind of amazed us. We assumed that the entire class had known this was the Unification Church of Reverend Moon. Apparently, not.
Certainly, Pastor Corley had his work cut out for him -- so much to say with so little time. He began by explaining that he wanted to share our teaching so that there was some understanding of what we believed and why. Responding to one student's comment about the fall as having to do with the eating of an "apple", he very briefly explained The Divine Principle's explanation of the fall as being a sexual relationship between Eve and the Archangel Lucifer and then Eve and Adam. On that question alone one could easily spend an hour! The room became very still -- I don't think those students expected to be hit with that! After a moment's pause and few deep breaths, Pastor Corley got back to the script. He acknowledged that certainly Reverend Moon was widely misunderstood, which helped the students relax a bit.
After a few minutes of a video presentation of our Lecture Series DVD on the introduction to Divine Principle and the three Blessings by Kevin McCarthy, he asked, "Are there any questions"? The hands shot up, including our host's. He wanted to know about Reverend Moon. How did he receive his calling and what was his training? Did he see spirits? It wasn't clear if these were his questions or if, as the facilitator, he was just directing the conversation. Of course there were many questions, too many. Pastor Corley did his best to respond to as many as he could, however the allotted hour went by very quickly.
After the question and answer session, we passed out brochures with contact information and books of Reverend Moon's best-known speeches. Almost all of the students were eager for the books. Several of the students came up after the class to ask personal questions. One such woman asked me about the concept of the fall being a sexual relationship -- it was clear that this was an issue that had struck her. Others had shared personal experiences and asked for more information. Certainly, an impact had been made.
To this author it was clear; Pastor Corley gave an excellent overall presentation and was "in his element" teaching the Divine Principle and sharing the Breaking News with eager students. Yes, history was made. But it was only the beginning!