This is the sermon given by FFWPU international president Rev. Hwang Sun-Jo at the early morning service at the headquarters church, Chungpa-dong, on June 10th. Continuing Father's tradition, kept over many years, of a six o'clock service every Sunday morning at the main church (similar to that also kept at Belvedere in America), church leaders and others nowadays gather there to hear the Korean church president speak. (Father sometimes still comes.)

Good morning brothers and sisters. I believe that you are in the midst of making conditions during this period of mobilization for the day of Pentecost, which started on the seventh of this month. I am grateful to all the blessed families around the world who have held nightly prayer meetings and fasted, or have done a hundred and twenty bows with their utmost sincere heart as we take part in the providential new beginning.

Today is the first Sunday since the Pentecost providence began. There isn't any need to emphasize how important it is for us to bring the victory that True Parents desire at this providential moment in history, the Pentecost. Today, I would like to talk to you about how we can successfully carry ourselves through this period to contribute to True Parents' victory.

Many things were unclear in the early Christian church. The Apostles Creed declares, "I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic Church [meaning the church universal, the Body of Christ], the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting." The Holy Spirit mentioned in the Bible is has been a subject of disputes among Christians, however, for two thousand years. After the direction concerning the Pentecost was given by Father, one of our church leaders asked me, "When will the Holy Spirit come?" I would like to give you a clear picture of what the Holy Spirit means to us.

After Jesus died on the cross, he resurrected spiritually to do his holy work for forty days and then went up to heaven. Near the time of his ascension, Jesus promised his followers that he'd send the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit came at Pentecost as the fulfillment of his promise. The Bible records that when the Holy Spirit descended, people began to speak in other tongues. What languages did they actually speak? No one knows. It is questionable whether speaking in tongues was necessary. Nevertheless, whoever wrote the Bible surely wanted to say that what had happened could not have been caused by human power but something far beyond that.

After the Holy Spirit came, followers of Jesus who had been scattered around came together to make one community. A new unified community was born, which was the starting point of Christianity. All they longed for at that time was Jesus' return. As he had told them he would return before they had visited all the towns of Israel, how could their faith not be eschatological? "Will he come today or tomorrow?" Even an oddly shaped cloud would make them wonder; thunder and lightening would intensify the longing of their hearts. But Jesus did not come. Seventy to eighty years passed. The followers, especially those who had directly met Jesus, started to have doubts.

They started to fight among themselves. The more difficulties they had within their own communities, the faster the spirituality that had originally made them Christians vanished. And then the Church started to develop its own theology. That was the age of the early Fathers. The church leaders started to change the main focus of their teachings from eschatological expectation to the actual words of Jesus' and to systematize the church structure. In about 100 AD, the institution of the Church established itself.

That church, however, was shaken by an outside force, Hellenism. Those whose ideas were influenced by Hellenistic philosophy tried to find the truth based solely on reason: "How on earth could it be the case that Jesus is God?" Arguments on such matters first took place within the Christian community and intensified the more the Bible was being shaped and the more the church was becoming institutionalized.

In the meantime, philosophers influenced by Hellenism started to attack Christian thought, which led Christian intellectuals, such as Clement [head of a theological school in Alexandria, northern Egypt, died circa 215 AD] and Tertullian [a priest in Carthage, ordained circa 200 AD] to come on the scene in defense of their faith. Debates raged on the Holy Spirit as well as on the identity of Jesus. Who or what was he? Was he God Himself? How much of him was God and how much of him was man?

Those who were in positions of authority within the Christian community chose to emphasize Jesus' divinity rather than his humanity. They believed that God existed as a trinity, that the Holy Son had existed before Jesus' birth on earth and through Divine Providence made his appearance among men. Thus, the theory of the trinity is also called the theory of identical essence. They rejected the idea that the Holy Son could be someone created by God. The early trinity theory entirely focused on Christ's transcendent quality. Church leaders wanted to differentiate Christ from people.

However, modern theology, especially Christology, is changing. Theologians are asking themselves, "What transcends God?" They want to find out the essence of God within Christology. "What is the meaning of God's existence for people? People are suffering, but what is God doing about it?" With these questions, they are trying to understand God's love and grace Christologically. Theology started with the attempt to find God living within Jesus, who was believed not to be one of God's creatures, but rather a part of God. It later changed directions to finding God in the relationship between Him and His creatures.

It is quite easy to understand the relationship between the Father and the Son, but what about the Holy Spirit? Christians say God exists as the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, but what exactly is the Holy Spirit? The Holy Spirit is said to be the spirit of God and that God reveals Himself to His creatures not in His own essence but as the Holy Spirit. The appearance of the Son is also understood in that way by some. It is disturbingly difficulty to understand.

What does the Holy Spirit do? Christians say it works in five different ways: It teaches. It performs miracles. It predicts the future. It discerns the incorporeal from the corporeal and it speaks in different tongues.

Christians themselves, though, have not been able to explain clearly how the Holy Spirit works as part of the Trinity. They describe it as "breath," "breathing," "air," "wind," and "smoke." God, the Father, has personality. So does Jesus, the Son. Christians can talk about the function of the Holy Spirit but cannot talk about its personality.

The idea of the Trinity did not exist in the beginnings of Christianity. It developed from the idea of one entity of God to the concept of two, that is, the Father and the Son. The Holy Spirit was added later. Though this idea is still disputed, both Protestant and Catholic theologians adhere to the concept of God as a trinity.

The forefather of the theology of the Trinity was Tertullian who said, "Mortuus est Dei filius; credibile est quia ineptum est; et sepultus resurrexit; certum est quia impossibile est" (The Son of God has died, it is to be believed because it is incredible; and, buried, he is risen, it is certain because it is impossible.) This was his final conclusion.

Chapter 7 of Exposition of the Divine Principle emphasizes the crucial nature of these questions: "For fallen people who seek salvation, perhaps the most important questions among the many they must resolve concern Christology. Issues which fall within its scope include the Trinity.... Until today, the controversies surrounding these issues have never been clearly settled."

The Principle attempts to clearly define the Holy Spirit. What is the Holy Spirit? It clearly has a role.

We can never clearly understand the Holy Spirit within the Christian doctrine of the trinity, the essence of which is one is three and three is one. To a certain degree, the Principle's view is quite similar to the view of Arius [a senior cleric in Alexandria; lived 256-336 ad] who was excommunicated for heresy by Church authorities. The oneness between the Holy Father, the Holy Son and the Holy Spirit may be understood when we understand the original value of God's creation.

The Holy Father is God, the Creator. The Holy Son is he who was born without original sin, having the value of an original human being, created absolutely by God and standing in the position of the Messiah. The Holy Spirit is spiritually in the position of the Messiah's wife, thus allowing believers to be reborn. Who is the Holy Spirit for the Second Coming? True Father has told us that the Holy Spirit is a feminine being taking the role of the bride of the Second Coming.

The Holy Spirit had a tremendous impact two thousand years ago; many people's lives were irrevocably changed. We cannot help but wonder what kind of role the Holy Spirit will play in this, the cosmic Pentecost. Many brothers and sisters may have a vague expectation that events similar to those that occurred during the first Pentecost will take place now: two thousand years ago, Peter's weak faith was strengthened, Saul was converted and Stephan was martyred.

Brothers and sisters! We are at the forefront of the Completed Testament Age providence. Blessed families are scattered all over the world. We have different nationalities, skin colors, cultures and ancestors. However, all of us started the new providential beginning with that one day of fasting on June 7th in obedience to True Parents' direction. This in itself shows that the Holy Spirit is working through all of us. One could not dream of this kind of worldwide, unified action two thousand years ago. That is today's miracle.

Catholicism taught that the most virtuous life of faith was one in which the faithful kept celibate, waiting for Jesus; to be single throughout one's entire life was exemplary. However, today, leading figures of Catholicism have received the blessing from True Parents. This is indeed no less a miracle than those that happened during the Pentecost of two thousand years ago. Don't you see that this is proof of the Holy Spirit working with us?

You cannot just expect the same kind of experiences as that of two thousand years ago. We do not have to depend upon some ambiguous spiritual phenomena. God's message as revealed by True Parents is testimony of the living God and of the Holy Spirit's work. True Parents' teaching is the most vivid work of the Holy Spirit for us-the most essential subject of concern during this cosmic Pentecost.

The message of True Parents, which is far greater than those coming from the spiritual world, is testimony of today's Pentecost. We do not need to have a revelation from the spiritual world to call us together in one heart, because we have had it from True Parents, who told us that June 7th was the first day of the cosmic Pentecost. If we had not received that direction from True Parents but had had to depend upon the spiritual world, the blessed families could not all have started the Pentecost at the same time and with the same heart.

The way that people thought two thousand years ago is totally different from how we think today. If we had received the same revelation that was given two thousand years ago, our church community might have been destroyed. Everyone would have had a different opinion about the message received. That is to say, there is no way all the blessed families in the world could have begun this providence on the same day. That we were able to is thanks to God's guiding us through True Parents' words, which are truth, life and revelation given us by God. True Parents' words are the core of this Pentecost; that is how we can understand how revelation comes to us during this cosmic Pentecost.

As this providential age begins, we can imagine there are similarities with two thousand years ago. At that time, revelations from Heaven changed lives. People whose self-interest had been the center of their lives were able to make God their center. They started sharing things with one another and created unified communities of love. The more they shared with one another, the more the power within those communities increased. They could proclaim their faith to the world and begin witnessing. An invisible force actualized a substantial community-that's what the Pentecost was.

Today is the same. We should focus on that point. We received a revelation from God not through the spiritual phenomena of speaking in tongues but through the words of our living True Parents. The question is not how we received God's message but to what degree we put the message into practice. Just like the early Christians, we must mobilize ourselves to witness, to give love and to create a community of love. That is the kind of change we must bring into this world.

True Father has told us that now is the age of unification between the spiritual and the physical; that in each individual, the mind and body will unite and on the cosmic level, the spiritual world and the physical world will unite. What he meant was not that the spiritual world should become the center of our work, but that True Parents' direction uniting the spiritual and physical worlds is the center of the providence. Their words are the sole center of the providence, the central message of the Pentecost today.

The only task we have is to actually implement what we have learned from True Parents. If we start moving in the right direction, we can create a community of love, creating evermore dynamic power among us. That is what you must understand. How are we to bring about this Cosmic Pentecost? It is wrong to harbor vague thoughts that the Cosmic Pentecost will take place and we will all be victorious thanks to spiritual phenomena. We already have all we need: the words of the living God unifying the spiritual and physical worlds.

The Pentecost should manifest through our following Father's direction, through Father's words and through making actual changes in our lives, such changes being works of love that generate dynamic power. Lastly, the Pentecost will come about through support from the spiritual world.

The spiritual world is not the center of today's Pentecost but Father's words are. Through Father's words, changes in our lives should take place that compel us to witness, to sacrifice and to strengthen our faith. On that foundation we ourselves oblige the spiritual world to help us.

We should expect help from the spiritual world after we have worked hard, not before. We have already received revelation and inspiration from God through True Parents' teachings. Of course, this was not possible two thousand years ago. People's understanding of God was still ambiguous and the Messiah wasn't there to help them; spiritual phenomena were necessary to inspire people to do what had to be done for the providence of God. Our experiencing the same kind of spiritual phenomenon, such as speaking in tongues, would only cause tremendous confusion.

We have True Father's words, the inspiration and revelation from God. What we need to do next is to create a community of dynamic love centering on those words here on earth. Help from the spiritual world is not central, but subsidiary. Only when we have our own foundations on earth, will the work of the spiritual world have the correct and original value.

Two thousand years ago, followers of Jesus experienced heaven at the Pentecost. Those who had scattered reunited. They regained power and courage. They were not afraid of martyrdom. Theirs was a community alive and vibrant. They were able to create their own heaven on earth.

Read Father's words. Can anything be clearer in describing the Kingdom of Heaven?

"When you have your own spouse, you must be able to selflessly put your spouse before yourself. Human beings are created to live for each other. Parents live for their children and children live for their parents. When they live for each other, a circular movement is created. The greater and faster that circular movement becomes, the more they do things for each other. That is the ideal form of love -- not square but round and in four dimensions. Living for each other means reciprocating. Therefore, if people live for each other, they interact more and more, creating a spherical form that leads them to eternal life." This is the truth, a revelation from God.

Creating the Kingdom of Heaven on earth requires that we live for others, just as bringing about a new Pentecost requires living for others. How can we build a community empowered by dynamic love? The answer is in Father's words. "The more we live for others, the faster our circular movement becomes. That is the ideal." That is true. The more we create a culture of living for others, the more power our community has. If we volunteer to take on more responsibility and even to suffer more on behalf of others, we can surely create a community of the Holy Spirit.

The purpose of the Pentecost is to create the Kingdom of Heaven. The Kingdom of Heaven is the fruit of True Parents' lives and words. This is the central message Father wants to convey to you. You must remember that.

We need to change. Our entire community must go through changes. Then the spiritual world will help us to complete our providential tasks. How can we rejuvenate our community to the point that it becomes divine? What is "my" role in helping our community become so powerful and dynamic that no member of it is afraid of suffering or even martyrdom? I pray for all of you to find and to follow your calling-to stand as the central figures of the cosmic Pentecost centering on Father's words.

Thank you.

[Originally published in Today's World, June 2001]

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