The Words of the Edgerly Family
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The Words of the Edgerly Family |
Families from throughout Northern New England were pleased to spend the day together with In Jin Nim, Jin Sung Nim and their family at 46 Beacon Street in Boston on Sunday, October 19.
Our brothers and sisters made a diligent effort to prepare our beautiful and historic building for this special occasion. The cleaning, repainting, polishing, repairing, and decorating involved a community-wide effort, creating a strong sense of pride and unity in preparation for October 19. Our state administrator, Mrs. Yoko Miranda, and the wife of the State Director, Mrs. Kinuyo Edgerly, led the effort every day for two weeks. The building looked beautiful for the day of our big event.
Based upon our experience from God’s Day, our initial plan was for about 325 participants. As it turned out, about 415 people came to be with In Jin Nim and her family. During the service, about 215 people were seated in the sanctuary and rear hallway. An additional 200 people were seated in the Function Room, French Room, and Dining Room, all of which were set up with audiovisual feed.
In Jin Nim, Jin Sung Nim, and their family arrived at 46 Beacon Street at 10:00 AM and received warm applause as they came into the sanctuary. The YAM Band, led by Sarah Groenendyk and Tadamichi Hosokawa, provided powerful music for congregational singing, including a YAM-Band original titled “Jubilee”. State Director James Edgerly was the Master of Ceremonies, and District Director Rev. Richard Buessing introduced In Jin Nim.
In Jin Nim spoke for one hour and twenty minutes, giving a gracious, honest, confident and encouraging message that was enthusiastically received by everyone. Her message stressed that the quality of our movement and the love of God and True Parents are most directly expressed in the quality of our children. We need to become the movement that raises incredible children. Our children should be raised to attain excellence both internally and externally.
This is an age when we see individuals accomplish things that were previously unimaginable. The stories of Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Barak Obama all illustrate that an unimaginable breakthrough can be achieved by just one person. These stories and particularly that of Barak Obama should be considered as preludes to what can be accomplished by our blessed children, who have the potential to become people of power and influence. The world has never seen the combination of true competence and humility that our children are capable of.
Blessed children must understand that they have been “hand-crafted” by True Parents. Therefore, they are uniquely talented and uniquely gifted. They should be raised to be the “future Barak Obamas.” Through our families and our children, we need to manifest the beauty of our movement to the world. People will come to understand the parents by observing the children. In America, our blessed children are a beautiful blend of many races, like a tapestry representing all of humanity.
In Jin Nim expressed that, in her role as Chairman, she feels like a mother and that we are now her children. In that role, naturally she wants to make us better. She feels that the best way to do that is to bring us closer to True Parents. She wants the second generation to have personal experiences with True Parents just like their parents had. This way, they can understand just how incredible True Parents are and how incredible their own parents are for following True Parents all of these years.
She described the family as being like a sports team, with each person playing a different role but all focused on a common purpose and goal. There are defensive players, offensive players, kickers, and catchers. However, they work together to create a single family that represents our True Parents.
In describing the roles played in the True Family, she also used the analogy of the hand. She explained that there is not one mission that is more important than the others, any more than we can say that the ring finger is more important than the thumb. Each finger looks different and has a different role, but they function together to create a hand. In her family, siblings are working on various assignments with the Universal Peace Federation in the United States, Korea, Japan, and around the world. Each is playing a different role, but all in support of the victory in the mission of the True Parents.
In Jin Nim said that even in the True Family there have been obstacles and problems to work though. She knows that some marriage blessings have been easy and some have been nightmares. When we started our families, we expected our children to be angelic. But we found that our marriages and our children are something that had to be worked out over time. As the Principle teaches us, the most precious things in life are those that have to be worked out over an extended period.
We shared a laugh when In Jin expressed her interpretation of the meaning of “ideal family”: that is -- “I deal”, as in “I deal with this spouse” and “I deal with this family.” Creating an ideal family means choosing to make a total commitment to deal with the challenges of raising a family. This is the mission that True Parents came to complete -- the creation of the ideal family. This is an immense challenge that Jesus did not have a chance to accomplish. The mission of True Parents is to complete the mission of Jesus.
There are lots of training and testing requirements before one can be licensed to drive a car. The holy blessing of marriage is far more precious than a driver’s license. Unfortunately, we have not been adequately trained and prepared to receive the blessing of marriage, and we hardly understand what creating an ideal family really requires. We still do not have a cohesive educational track preparing individuals for marriage, preparing them to be spouses, preparing them to be parents, and an educational curriculum that is age-appropriate for developing blessed children.
She told us the story of how she and her sisters used to cringe when they heard Father chastising American women during his talks in earlier days. Her sisters would look at each other, saying “Here he goes again!” Her brothers used to chide their sisters after hearing these words from Father. Several years ago, Father announced the Pacific Rim Era and the age of women leadership. Now, her brothers are her strongest supporters in her public mission.
She reported that recently she became a naturalized U.S. citizen. When she visited True Parents in Hawaii earlier this month, In Jin Nim surprised Father by reporting: “You know, Father, now I am an American woman.” This gave Father a good laugh.
She gave True Mother credit for being an incredible fighter for sisters. Through her constant dedication to the mission of True Parents, she has restored the original position of mother and sister. On that foundation, women are now able to play a leadership role in the life of faith, as she is now demonstrating. One needs to have studied the long and bloody history of the world’s religions in order to appreciate the significance of women taking on roles of spiritual leadership.
In Jin Nim explained that on one hand, we don’t have much time. Some people favor only a traditional witnessing process, which is great. However, now we need to move faster. This means that that we need to use the Internet and the media, with the understanding that kids in this generation want to choose their own religion on their own time.
However, on the other hand, we may not appreciate how close we are to success. The foundation for our success is much larger and stronger than we may think. This is largely due to the accomplishments of Christianity. We are approaching a tipping point.
In Jin Nim shared that she was quite surprised to be asked by some families if we should teach our children about Jesus. She reminded us that Father received his commission directly from Jesus and that we can’t fully understand and value and love Father unless we understand the foundation that preceded him, established by Jesus and Christianity. In that context, she was very pleased to see that a passage from the Holy Bible (Ephesians 4:14-16) was included in the Scripture reading earlier in the program.
In Jin Nim recalled how exciting it was in the earlier days of our U.S. movement, when hundreds of people would attend workshops each weekend. She explained that the backpacker types that we witnessed to in years past have relocated their search from the street to the Internet. Therefore, we need to revamp our presence on the Internet, which is the “homework” that she has been working on. The audience loudly applauded the announcement of this initiative.
In Jin Nim referred to the fact that only about one third of the approximately 17,000 blessed children are actively connected to our movement. One of the most effective means of outreach will be to reconnect to those precious young people. She explained the importance of the “Witnessing Summit” coming up in Los Angeles in two weeks. While the title includes the “W word,” the summit is really a wonderful opportunity to get our children inspired about our movement. It is a place where everyone is treated equally, where everyone’s voice is listened to and everyone’s words are written down and analyzed. Her opinion is that the “witnessing summit” initiative is a good use of our movement’s resources.
In Jin Nim spoke most passionately when she explained, “Anybody can do drugs; anybody can have sex; but not everybody can be faithful and live a life dedicated to God and the world.” She went on to explain, My society is telling me to do whatever I want -- to get drunk, to have relationships, to only worry about my own happiness. You should be a rebel. A rebel WITH a cause. Rebel against this society. This is exactly what Jesus and True Parents have done. They are rebels, reacting against society, saying that we need to make it better.
Toward the end of her talk, In Jin stressed that all of our blessed children and blessed families are headed in the same direction, though the path for each may vary. We are all one single family. When she meets with parents who have children involved with unblessed relationships, she encourages the parents to take a positive view of this situation, explaining that the relationship presents an opportunity to witness to someone whom we may not reach otherwise; it is an opportunity to reach their parents, their in-laws, and their relatives.
In Jin’s talk inspired a big ovation. It was very special for us to have a daughter of our True Parents speaking to us openly, eloquently, and honestly, in our own sanctuary.
Following the Sunday Service, we enjoyed a one-hour talent show, emceed by Dan and Tamara Perry. The first song performed by the New England YAM Band was “Brand New Feeling,” written by In Jin Nim and recorded on her Cerulean Sketches CD. Soonia Loom and Patrick Yamane performed a beautiful duet of John Denver’s “What One Man Can Do.” Letisha Ferabolli sang “Memory” from the A.L. Webber musical “Cats.” Sarah Groenedyk performed an original song titled “Challenge and Victory”, and Iris Queseda read two original poems. The show concluded with an enchanting dance performance by Josh and Keishu Perry, plus a high-energy performance by the Worcester WAIT Team, which is composed of 19 brothers and 18 sisters.
At the close of entertainment, In Jin Nim and Jin Sung Nim were presented with flowers, and their entire family came to the stage to cut the celebration cake. Then we orchestrated a photo session that involved trying to fit every single person in the building into the second-floor sanctuary. After much coaxing, we got just about everyone in the room for the photo by Ken Owens. Undoubtedly, this was largest number of people to ever fit into that space!
Dinner tables with tablecloths and centerpieces were set up in three different rooms and in the first floor hallways, providing seating for more than 300. In Jin Nim, Jin Sung Nim, and their family were escorted to the head table. However, rather than sit at the head table, their children quickly disbursed and spent lunchtime and the rest of the day among our blessed children.
A delicious pesto noodle dinner was prepared and served by Hiromi and Catherine Ono’s Family Fellowship team. They did an excellent job, serving a wonderful meal. We also enjoyed sushi from Sakurabana Restaurant, Ginseng Up from Worcester, and LOTS of ice cream.
At about 2:30 PM, as lunch wound down, families who had to depart for home came over to the head table to greet and thank In Jin Nim. We then set up a greeting line. Over the next two and a half hours, In Jin met each family and member one at a time, asking their names and sharing brief but intimate conversation. No matter how we tried to expedite the process, In Jin seemed to insist on taking lots of time with each and every family. Despite having a cold, she stood for two and a half hours and met every single person in the building! No one complained about the long wait, as each one of us was so proud and grateful to meet her.
We gave In Jin Nim a big cheer as she completed her meeting with the last family. We could imagine that she must have been exhausted, never taking a break or sitting down even for a moment.
At about 5:00 PM, the schedule was complete. Jin Sung Nim gathered his kids, who were scattered around the building, and a large crowd lined the entry area to wish the family good-bye. It was a wonderful day. We were happy that so many families and members could come to Boston to share the experience of receiving God’s Words and sharing in fellowship with In Jin Nim, Jin Sung Nim, and their beautiful family.