Father's words:

During the exodus, it is a virtue to focus on following the leader, but when you enter Canaan, you live by the give and take of brothers and sisters. From today on our membership around the world should perfect that way of life. Even if I am not here, it should not matter. You already know the secret of going to heaven -- loving one another.

At night you should think you are a parent to someone. Pick someone to care about the next day, and the following day pick another person. It does not matter if he is younger or older. The cardinal rule is to forget yourself.

The arrival of the era of the fourth Adam's realm -- in general you understand what this means, I think. Are we talking about the realm of the fall? No. We are speaking beyond the realm of the fall. What is the first Adam's realm? It is the realm of Adam and Eve who fell. How can we characterize the era of the second Adam? It is the realm of the chosen people from the time of Jesus. The third Adam is the time of the Lord of the Second Advent. It is an era of needing indemnity because there is a conflict between God and Satan.

What can we say of the era of the fourth Adam?

The Arrival of the Era of the Fourth Adam's Realm Oct. 24, 1999 Happy True Children's Day. Welcome home, brothers and sisters.

Today the title of my sermon is "Back to the Root." Not "back to the future." I think the summary of Father's speech is going to be the quotation mentioned on your program. I read Father's speech, given in 1981. I believe it's a real core of Father's speech. Based on that, today I would like to share several points with brothers and sisters.

First of all, in 1981 Father proclaimed wonderful things, which we have to remember all the time until we feel the Kingdom of Heaven. Father said, during the exodus it is a virtue to focus on following the leader. But when you enter Canaan, we live by the give and take with brothers and sisters, not by commandment but by love, and give and take with our brothers and sisters. That kind of proclamation was made in 1981.

Brothers and sisters, what do we mean by that? Exactly Father said, I am declaring a new beginning. The leader-centered movement is over. Do you like that? The member-centered movement is going to begin. What does it mean, brothers and sisters? It does not mean that your relationship with your leader is not important. Am I right? But it means that it is more important to unite with your tribe of people on the earth.

As you know, we have 12 different kinds of people in the world. I can say there are basically four kinds of people -- spring, summer, fall, and winter. We have those four kinds of people, at least.

One day I heard something from Father. Father does number one, right? (Meaning he urinates) Usually Father doesn't flush the toilet after doing so. But Mother does. Father's idea is to save water for mankind. He feels that flushing the toilet after urinating is a waste of water, so in order to save water he doesn't flush each time. When Mother goes to the bathroom after him, she flushes the toilet right away because of the smell. That is a difference between Father and Mother. Father's character is more summer-like, and Mother's personality is more autumn-like. Different characters, but they are our True Parents. They show us wonderful loving heart. Whenever we see their loving hearts, we can see the example of true parents.

We need to think about this point, the four basic types of people on the earth, and at most 12 different kinds of people. What does it mean that the leader-centered movement is over and the member-centered movement is going to begin? I believe that from now on we have to think about our members more and more than before. Even though we have different nationalities and personalities, we have to show our love toward the whole world. If we don't overcome those differences of personality, differences in all kinds of matters, I don't think we can say we are true Unificationists, or members of the Family Church.

Anyway, regarding flushing, the best way is the Japanese way, which I admire. The Japanese way is to separate liquid and solid for flushing. After you do number one, you flush up and only a small amount of water comes out. If you do number two (bowel movement), you flush down and more water comes into the toilet. I think this is the best way to flush.

Brothers and sisters, while we are marching toward Canaan, our duty is to follow orders. But once we enter Canaan, we don't live by commandments, but by love. Jesus' most sacred act was washing his disciples' feet, and saying that he didn't come to be served but to serve. That is the highlight of the Bible, showing Jesus' heart and love toward the whole world. Because of that, all the disciples gathered together and they became the body of Christ, witnesses to Christ, and they started to change the whole world. Therefore, brothers and sisters, the meaning of the member-centered movement is, in my opinion, that we have to take care of brothers and sisters, in many different ways.

When we look at our situation, I found there are many difficulties and barriers in daily life in our church. Some people really don't like a certain person's character, and that person doesn't like somebody else. During the 20 or 30 years in our movement, we saw shortcomings and problems in other families and in other people. Therefore, we cannot get along very well with such people. Brothers and sisters, I believe that because of that we can unite together more easily than before.

One day a sister told me, Keiko Burton is my sister. She is not my Japanese sister. Also, Mrs. so and so is not my Korean sister; she is just my sister. I was very moved by this sister's comment. This gentleman is my brother, and this lady is my sister. She is not a Japanese sister or Korean sister. Therefore, I would like to challenge all of you to work with 12 different kinds of people. If you are an autumn-type personality, you can work to with a summer-type person. If your personality is winter-type, you can work to like a spring-type person. Then all barriers can be turned to the good side.

Therefore, brothers and sisters, according to Father the new era, the member-centered era means, I believe, to take care of our members, loving each other. The core of fourth Adam-ship is loving each other, not relating through an external structure or something like that.

Let me read Father's words. Brothers and sisters, God is almighty. But, Father says, even after his effort of thousands and thousands of years, the world has remained sinful. In order to achieve His goal, God gives us the rule that we should love our brothers and sisters as much as we love Him. Each of us should be God to each other, treating each other as we treat God. Amen. That's what Father is saying to all of us.

Even though God is almighty, He couldn't take care of the whole world and all its many problems of sinful people and wars and plane crashes. Many people die because of earthquakes. Therefore, brothers and sisters, I believe that God sent Jesus Christ and True Parents as representatives of God. He cannot show His love. Therefore, through the True Parents He wants to show us how to love each other. After that all brothers and sisters can just follow the True Parents, like Jesus' disciples followed him.

God is almighty, but still the world is sinful. We have to love our brothers and sisters as much as we love God. So each of us should be God to each other and treat each other as we treat God. I believe that is the responsibility of tribal messiahs. Tribal messiahship is the reflection of True Parents. We have to show to our brothers and sisters and to the world what True Parents are doing.

Look at this beautiful offering table, which was made by several sisters. They made a wonderful offering, and it was made for all of us. Because of their effort we can share this wonderful thing. As you know, our wonderful sister Muriel Johnson Hausner passed away. Unfortunately I could only visit her two times. But because of Bill and Donna Selig and Gloria Johnson, she has been taken care of. I was so moved by their effort. We have to give them a big hand. (Applause) Their time is as precious and scarce as ours, but they wanted to spend some time with our sister who was soon to pass away.

Honestly, brothers and sisters, Almighty God cannot take care of all brothers and sisters. The regional director cannot take care of 350 families. It is my honest confession to you. I cannot take care of all of you, so we need somebody who can take care of one or two brothers and sisters as a representative of True Parents, as a reflection of God and Jesus Christ. In that way we can take care of our whole congregation, all our blessed families.

One day a brother came up to me, crying, and said, "Rev. Lee, I lost my job today." At that time I had nothing I could say, but I could listen to his painful heart. I cried so much because I have limitation to take care of this brother who lost his job. I believe there are many people out there like this brother and sister.

Brothers and sisters, God is almighty, but the world is still sinful. True Parents gave us a member-centered movement and tribal messiahship. We have to show our loving hearts to brothers and sisters. Let's each take care one brother and one sister, and from there we can build a heartistic community here. Father continues to say that the important thing is that you must unite among yourselves. If you sometimes don't get along with your leader, but you take care of brothers and sisters, that leader will look for you because without you he cannot be successful. I know that, brothers and sisters.

I don't mind if you don't get along with me, but I really care about taking care of brothers and sisters. I am telling you that Abel is only Abel when he saves Cain. Let's try our best. I will try to do my best, and also you have to do your best.

Brothers and sisters, my conclusion is, simply want to love each other. This is a simple truth, our root, but it is not so easy to practice. But we cannot give up in this moment. We have to practice.

I would suggest three things. Our Father gave us clear direction how to take care of members: you should think that you are parents to someone. Pick someone to take care of the next day, and on the following day, pick out another person. It doesn't matter if he or she is younger or older. The cardinal rule is to forget yourself. So brothers and sisters, before you go to bed, please think that you are a parent, and pick out one person to take care of the next day.

Practically speaking, I'd like to suggest, let's make three caring phone calls a day. Yesterday when I came from New York, I suddenly thought of one sister and called her on my cell phone. Let's do that. Let's make three caring phone calls to our brothers and sisters, in addition to business phone calls. In that way we can reach out to all brothers and sisters, even those who don't come to church. Let's take care of brothers and sisters who used to come to church. From there we can take care of our members.

Secondly, almost everyone has a problem, or lives with a problem. Do you think so? Almost everyone has a problem, is a problem, or lives with a problem. In order to take care of bothers and sisters effectively, we need lots of ministry based on small groups. Small groups can reach people and change their lives. A big church cannot reach all members. Community-based groups are the way to reach brothers and sisters and cure their wounded hearts and change their lives. Therefore, based on small groups we need to create ministries and take care of members.

According to St. Paul, the Holy Spirit gives to some people the gift to be apostles, and to others the gift of prophecy, healing, miracles, administrators, helpers, evangelists, pastors, and so on for the building of the body of Christ, which is the church. So there are many ministries. Each of us has a gift we can use from brothers and sisters. Therefore, there is not one ministry that is more important than another. We are called out of the world to be a people in ministry to one another and to the world. I believe it is the way we should go for a paradigm shift, from leader-centered movement into a member-centered movement.

Let me give you one example of Christianity. Small groups gathered and studied the apostles' teachings, experienced fellowship, broke bread together, prayed together, pooled resources to meet one another's needs, enjoyed one another's company and praised God, and engaged in outreach that brought growth. If we apply this principle to our community, let's start it together based on Hoon Dok Hae. Experience fellowship and break bread together, pray together, pool resources to meet our brothers and sisters' needs, enjoy one another's company, and praise God and True Parents, and engage in outreach that will further growth in this Washington community.

Brothers and sisters, finally, I'll read Father's words one more time. He said in this speech, "Be honest, confess whether you are happy you met me. Are you happy you met True Parents? If you say you are truly happy to meet me then you are greater than I am. Bless you. Sometimes I regret meeting God. I feel I have grabbed a tiger by the tail. I never let go, but sometimes I wish I had not met God. There is no way I could let go, so I just hang on to the end of the tiger's tail."

Father said there is no way he could let go after meeting God, so he is just hanging on to the end. I know you have different problems, but hang in there. Don't give up. Let's love each other and hang in there. God bless you all. Thank you.

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