The Words of the O'Connell Family
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The Words of the O'Connell Family |
With each month, CARP service seems to be building up momentum and vibrancy, with new faces and an ever increasing number of people attending. This month's service was well attended and filled the room, not only by those over 18 but also by some HARP members, carrying on from HARP service which took place in the morning (sticking around for the football afterwards). There was a really joyful atmosphere as people gathered in the coffee room to greet friends and catch up, with some of the HARPies taking the opportunity to play some video games on the big screen, with Teresa serving the coffee and a great lunch served up by Uncle Anthony McGuigan.
The sermon, entitled "Viewpoint", was given by Tim Read. As always, Uncle Tim delivered a truly inspiring and enlightening message, conveying how our viewpoint on life effects how we are able to go into the future. Particularly in our life of faith, our viewpoint is very important in determining our experience of God and the spirit world in our daily life. Uncle Tim drew on some amazing quotes from the Cheong Seong Gyeong (pg. 615) about how to develop ourselves spiritually. Father conveys that "there is a gate in your mind called the mind's gate" and "the way you set the gate to your mind is the most important matter in your life of faith." Therefore, each person should discover the best time to pray as it is at that time when the "degree of your response to God is greatest" and "as you continue to delve into that sphere, you will find the gate." Uncle Tim elaborated that when we are able to go through this gate we will find ourselves being able to connect with God throughout the day, whether that be experiencing a sense of profound peace as you're walking through a park, or overhearing someone's conversation and finding that what you had heard had answered a question you had been asking. Achieving this state will therefore change our viewpoint, and we can start to work on the deeper aspects of our life and become aware of much deeper things.
I found this to be a truly profound message, as recently I had been feeling that my own life of prayer was becoming somewhat habitual, and more of a duty than a time in which to deeply communicate with God. I realized through this message that finding that time and environment in which to really experience God changes our viewpoint on all aspects of our life and allows us to go onto another level in terms of our lives of faith and our perception of the spirit world and how they are working to guide us.
The photos show some of what was a great Sunday for the Youth in 43LG -- for more photos (and other interesting things), check out the album on the youth ministry facebook page at www.facebook.com/pages/Unification-Youth-Ministry-UK/144757972255858