The Words of the Kim Family Before 2008
|
|
The Words of the Kim Family Before 2008 |
Byung
Ho Kim
Another parable he put before them, saying, "The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed which a man took and sowed in his field; it is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is the greatest of shrubs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches," (Matt. 13:31-32)
Whenever our members come home from a long day of fundraising, I am so happy and grateful to see their pure attitude and faith. They sincerely count every penny. Some have been fundraising over the course of 10 or 12 years or more, but they are still happy to raise mom y for God's providence. It's beautiful to see them willing to sacrifice their own comfort for the sake of others and live an extremely simple lifestyle for years and years.
A few days ago at a ministers' meeting introducing the ICC, one of the clergymen raised the question of who was paying for their trip to Korea and Japan. "Is the money coming from what you Moonies fundraise on the street?" he asked. That question made me think about people's concepts concerning our fundraising activities. Some people think that Rev. Moon asks the members to work hard but then uses the funds for himself, leaving the members with almost nothing.
So when I came up to the microphone I answered, "Yes, money we raise from fundraising on the street is used to help support the ministers' conferences. By doing so we feel we are serving Christianity and America" Then I added, "Fundraising is indeed very difficult, but we are happy to raise money for such an important purpose. We try to uphold the original Christian ideal to be sacrificial and serve others before ourselves. This is the way Rev. Moon has taught us" I believe the ministers understood that we were not being forced into doing this but were simply glad to give our best for the larger purpose.
This reminded me of an experience I had near the end of the Korean War, when I was about 13 or 14. I was a country boy living in a small town about 30 miles from Seoul. One day some American soldiers drove into my hometown in a jeep. Dozens of kids came up and surrounded them. We were so curious to see people of a different color -- people with white skin and blue eyes and golden hair and big noses, and even some with black skin. At that time all of us were poor and hungry, and we had heard that the Americans were very rich, so we crowded around the jeep. The soldiers took some of the leftover chocolates and biscuits from their army rations and threw them into the crowd. All the children and even the old men scrambled frantically to get the food because they were so hungry, but I felt very ashamed. I couldn't take even one piece of what they threw to us.
My pride was hurt -- it could have been personal pride or national pride, but in any case I felt very ashamed. It's true that we were extremely hungry, so we were in a position to grab anything, but how could those Americans give food to us like that?
I was so shocked. I thought, "That's how you give food to chickens -- just throwing it on the ground. We are not animals. How can they give food to us in such a heartless way?" This shameful feeling built up in me a resentment toward the American soldiers.
In Korean tradition, when you give something to someone else, it is most important how you give it. You have to have an attitude of politeness and humility. Even when you give a glass of water, for example, you bring it on a plate or a tray and use two hands. The Japanese kneel when serving others. In Korea, if a child serving his parents uses only one hand, his parents will get very upset. That is not the proper attitude. An elder may serve the younger using one hand, but still with respect and gentleness.
I didn't expect those American soldiers to give out food with two hands, but to see them throw food into the crowd like scraps to chickens made me very angry. After that, I made up my mind not to have anything to do with Americans. In school, when I had to stud -- English, I was always reminded of those soldiers, and my resentment came out: "Why do I have to study English?" I never opened my English book, so my grades were terrible, and finally I gave up trying to learn.
In 1975 Father said to me, "I'm going to give you a mission that will take you all over the world" I said to Father, "I don't know any English. How can I travel all over the world?" But that same year I came to America for the first time. When I first arrived, just saying "Hello" or "How do you do" was very difficult for me. I had to study hard. Practicing English was not easy, and I am still not comfortable speaking it.
The point is, if those soldiers had given out the food in a respectful way, I think they would have been much more loved and respected by us. On their way home those soldiers must have thought, "Oh, we did something good today. We gave food to those starving children," not realizing how much resentment their way of giving caused me. Throughout history, many Christians have had the same attitude. They serve, but too often for the sake of their own image. They pride themselves in being generous but actually lack a heart of offering with love. Many Americans feel good serving third world countries, thinking that their generosity will gain them respect. But on the contrary, the poor can easily feel that rich people are arrogant, even when they are not.
So when I heard that some of the ministers wonder why poor Moonies are supporting American clergymen, I realized how difficult it is for them to understand. We are doing the complete opposite of what usually happens in the world. Even though we are a persecuted minority group with very little ourselves, we offer our best to more established ministers with the deepest respect and love. This is almost incomprehensible to them.
Many people have wrong concepts about the Unification Church. They think that Rev. Moon is rich. Well, I also believe that he is rich -- rich with love. The Unification Church is always giving generously for the sake of the society, the nation, and the whole world. Father's only concern is to save all people and restore the world. This is his great desire, which is also God's desire. How can we, practically speaking, fulfill this great desire of God? We must support these projects ourselves, on a practical level. Father asks the Japanese members to support the ministers while they are in Japan and the Korean members to support them while they are in Korea -- and they do it willingly.
But what about America? Our foundation here is very small, but Father cannot stop his loving restoration work. So even though our church here doesn't have much money, we members must be responsible for helping to restore America. We do this in part by fundraising.
From the money that we raise, we use for ourselves only the minimum needed to live. We save even our pennies to try to support the projects of our movement, especially the American ministers' conferences, because we believe that in this way we can help the ministers become a stronger force for God. We believe that if they know the Principle, they can become closer to God. If they can understand God's plan for America, they will become more responsible to help this country. Therefore, we gladly go out fundraising and offer the money we raise, counting even down to the last penny, humbly for the sake of God.
Some of the ministers are astounded by this kind of generosity, because usually when people give, they make sure they have enough for themselves first before donating the rest. But the ministers see that we raise money on the street not for ourselves but to support them! We're giving our souls and our hearts and our spirits because this is what Jesus taught -- to give yourself completely for the sake of your brothers and sisters.
Most of the ministers are grateful for their experiences in Japan and Korea, but some may not know how they are supported or clearly realize how much we have sacrificed. As long as we maintain our pure, sincere desire to support others, I think we can be proud. When people begin to understand what we have done, they will be deeply moved.
Think about the early Christians 2,000 years ago. They were persecuted so much that they couldn't fundraise or witness. They believed Jesus was right, yet they weren't able to practice his teachings in daily life. Even just believing in Jesus was a condition for them to be persecuted and killed, but they persevered in their faith anyway. Since they had to hide in the catacombs, they couldn't practice Jesus' commandment to love their enemies in a substantial way. They couldn't actually do anything practical for society; all they could do was pray and be willing to give their lives, faithfully believing in Jesus Christ and the truth to the end.
Those early Christians couldn't see anything sprouting from the seed, but after 400 years of keeping the faith, Christianity was finally accepted. Christian culture and influence began to spread quickly all over the globe. This is incredible, because the seed they started with was very small, like the mustard seed of Jesus' parable. That seed was underground for 400 years. They couldn't see if the truth was working in society until 400 years later; they just believed. This is Christian history.
What about the Unification Church? Where did we begin? The seed was planted by Father a little over 40 years ago. For 40 years we Moonies have been trying to practice the truth, and by now we have seen many branches sprouting from that seed. We see Father's vision being realized substantially in the society, the nation, and the world.
Yet we are still living sacrificially, almost like the early Christians. Someday, established American Christianity and the leaders of the whole world will say about us, "Those Moonies were truly sincere and pure. They really practiced truth and love. Through all the persecution, they remained faithful," Someday people will realize what we have been doing. I hope that soon, because of our worldwide foundation, we won't have to rely so much on fundraising on the street. Soon we will develop more efficient ways of funding our church, not for our sake but in order to save the nation as quickly as possible.
I hope that at that time, even when we have millions of dollars, our attitude will still be to use every penny for the sake of the world. When most people become rich, they stop counting pennies. But since we Moonies are working for God and the world, we must remember to dedicate every cent for God's purpose. Father is desperate to spend that money for the sake of building God's Kingdom.
God knows that Father is using the money for an entirely selfless purpose. That is why He keeps giving blessing upon blessing to the Unification Church. As long as we keep this pure and beautiful tradition of giving our best for the sake of the world, I believe God will continue to bless us beyond our dreams.