To STF Graduates

In Jin Moon
June 28, 2009

On June 28, 2009, Rev. In Jin Moon held a celebration for STF graduates at the Manhattan Center after Lovin' Life Ministries.

Hi, everyone!

Did you have a good lunch? (Yes!) And I heard you got to sample some of the best of the Message Board that we’ve had. Did you like that? We have a great Second Generation and a great First Generation working together every week. Whenever the Sunday Service is done, they say, “Thank God for another miracle,” because they are always working against the deadline and at the same time trying to make sure that the service that we just had is ready to be put on the Internet and to be sent out to everyone in the field. They are doing a great job, and certainly this ministry would not be what it is without them. And I’m hoping that you can feel that this ministry is your ministry. It’s really not about me at all. It’s all about you and what you can be.

My husband introduced me as his boss, for comic relief, I think. But he’s more like a partner for me. It’s wonderful to have a man who can be supportive of his wife. And I have some wonderful news for you. While my husband was talking and spending some time with you, my father and mother called me about 30 minutes ago. I brought them up to date with all the things that are going on this Sunday, especially that we have the graduating class of STF here together. So Father and Mother send their love.

They decided to visit and spend some time in Reno because this year is the tenth anniversary of Young Jin’s passing. So they wanted to go there and say a prayer, and also spend some time with several brothers and sisters there. When my parents think about Young Jin, since I was like the surrogate mother for my siblings when they were growing up, they very much think about me and what we’re doing here. My father and mother wanted all of you to know that they’re wishing you their heartfelt congratulations for a year well done, and maybe two years well done for some of you. They are hoping that you can be the kind of proud Americans that can usher in a new time for this great country.

My father and mother have great hopes for this country; hoping that we can come together and realize how incredible the time we’re living in is, the time when the Second Coming, our True Parents, are here. We’re walking on a daily basis with them; we’re breathing with them; we’re working together with them. Something like this is not going to come again. I’m sure when you grow up and have children of your own they’ll be asking you to tell them stories about how it was when you walked with True Parents. And your grandparents will probably be asking you to tell the tale of your experiences with True Parents. So this is a precious time.

My father is my boss, so he’s always telling me the different things that I must be doing. I’ve been giving him a little update about some of the changes that are taking place at Headquarters on 43rd Street, the different renovation processes that have taken place and will be continued to turn it into a beautiful center and hopefully in the future into an institute for marriage and families. I talked to my father about the different ongoing programs that we have and that we have a great young adult minister, the son of the Gavins, Jaga. We also have people like Dave Hunter and Reverend Thompson. We are constantly developing new programs to interest and involve people.

Just recently my husband came back from spending some time with the American Clergy Leadership Conference ministers on Thursday, and he found out that one of Rev. Jenkins’s assistants happens to be a ballroom dance instructor. So I mentioned to my father, “I would really like to have an ongoing ballroom program at the 43rd Street Center, so that people can come and dance and maybe make the relationship with their spouse a little better. It doesn’t always have to be about wearing slinky clothing and just meeting people; it can be something beautiful. It can be something that actually helps a couple feel closer to each other and share a passion that they can be involved with a couple of times a week together. At the same time, when we have ballroom classes, guests cannot walk through the first floor of Headquarters without realizing that we have ongoing programs. So we are creating an environment where people can be interested and stimulated and yet at the same time take something away that they can apply to their own lives.”

And then I said, “The most important thing is, Father, I’m going to have fun.” I’m going to have fun witnessing, I’m going to have fun dancing, and I’m going to have fun sharing with different people. I think that is how you can create an attractive vibe and once you have the vibe, you don’t have to do that much. People will be attracted to you and to what you’re doing. And people will be attracted to our movement because you guys are really awesome. And all you need is someone to remind you how awesome and incredible you are. The world is literally your oyster. My father knows it, I know it, your parents know it, and that’s why they’ve always asked you to try your best to become excellent people.

What I am working hard on every day is to inculcate a sense that this is a very important time and to seize upon this incredible time by becoming agents of change. What I mean by that is a group of young people, or yourself, deciding, “I am going to live or walk my life with God.”

So starting from that first step forward, you clearly need to know what kind of a person you need to be, especially if you understand the Divine Principle. You want to love and take care of your fellow siblings, friends, classmates, and yet at the same time be such a confident person, a person of internal pride in who you are as God’s son or daughter, that you’re not easily tempted and you don’t really have to be a people-pleaser all the time because you’re very secure in your skin.

If you know who you are and you know who you want to be, there’s very little that “Mr. Temptation” can do to have an effect on you. Even if people come at you with drugs or with different kinds of stimuli, or even a beautiful man or woman says, “Come and spend some time with me,” you’d be thinking, “For what? Do I spend time with this person to be used and abused like the rest of the world? Or should I concentrate on myself by making myself into a perfect embodiment of a quality called true love?” So when the time is right and your parents maybe recommend you to somebody, then you can walk down the aisle with a great deal of confidence and pride, with the support and the encouragement of your parents and True Parents, to say, “We’re going to be starting our life together as a Blessed couple.” And that will be the next phase of your life.

But I know that for the young people in the audience, quite of few of you will continue onward in dedicating your life for another year at STF, and many of you will be going back to school. I would encourage those of you who are going back to school to keep your spirit consistent, to keep yourself in check, and yet at the same time seize this opportunity to become excellent students. Become excellent in your passion because what I would like to see all of you become is the new Generation of Peace that I often talk about when I visit the young people of this country.

I met somebody this morning who came up to me and said, “Oh, I love those acronyms that you give,” and I responded back, “Sometimes those acronyms are wonderful because it’s like a pneumonic device that helps you remember, in very short amount of space and time, what you need to remember for the day.”

When I think about the Generation of Peace and I look at the word peace, what I’m seeing first is the letter P. And with that letter, I remind myself is that I have to have Pride and confidence that I am God’s daughter. And it’s not a boastful pride. It’s not something you talk about; it’s something that you carry within knowing who you are, being secure in your skin. And then the letter E for me symbolizes Excellence, the kind of excellent human beings we should be, not just internally but also externally; not just who we are but also what we are. So you know you’re the son or daughter of God. Now what are you going to be? How are you going to apply yourself and your passion so that you can take care of your family and your friends?

And then comes the letter A. For me it reminds me to be Altruistic, meaning living a life for the sake of others, living a life in service of others. If you happen to be an independent, charismatic, and capable person who happens to be picked as a leader, it just means you have an added responsibility to really serve your team, to really serve your people. By making the people great, then you become great.

And when I think of the letter C, I’m thinking we should be the kind of young men and women with an innate sense of pride who are excellent, both internally and externally, living a life of service in the spirit of Cooperation. This means that it’s not about you and it’s not about me; it’s about who we are as a family or who we are as a team or community. With the spirit of cooperation, we live a life that’s eternal. We’re not living a life that’s like a short circuit breaker -- a great deal of energy one day and nothing the next. Something eternal means it’s ongoing, it’s consistent. When you look at a light bulb, you are seeing light because there is consistent electricity flowing through the light bulb; that’s why it casts such a brilliant light unto the world.

So if you can remind yourself that this is the kind of young person you should be, that this is the kind of young movement that we can and we will build, and that you will be a part of and we will be a part of, then there is nothing that you cannot accomplish.

Father always says that you have to start with yourself, and you have to decide what you want to do every day. So decide that you want to be Heavenly Father’s daughter or son who wants to be a part of this Generation of Peace. Remind yourself from time to time how peace is achieved, starting with yourself. If we all do this, each and every one of us in our own way putting our individualistic flavor and signature on it, then we’re going to have a really exciting, vibrant, and stimulating community that we can call our own.

I always like to remind young people that we come into this world naked before God, meaning we are raw potential. And we also leave this life naked, meaning that we don’t take with us whatever we do with our lives, our great accomplishments. What we take with us is who we are. But if we can think about living a life for the sake of others, what we are will create something that will last in perpetuity: taking care of your family, taking care of your children. We come into this world humble. We can do many great things. But when it’s our time to go, then with a heart of gratitude, we can thank God for the wonderful opportunity and leave humbly naked, just as we came in. And when we meet our maker, our Heavenly Parent up in heaven, then I hope that our lives can be something that He can be proud that He participated in, that He feels great joy from. And in that way we will be able to spend eternity with our Heavenly Father in joy, happiness, and love. Isn’t that we all want, brothers and sisters?

So, I hope that today can be the end of something wonderful but also a beginning of something wonderful as well. That should be basically your modus operandi every single day. Just as God gives us the incredible gift of sunrise, God also leaves us with the incredible gift of sunset. Just as we have shared in the beauty and the delights of the day, we can also rest and take comfort in the silence of the evening.

As a musician myself, I can say that in the language of music not only is melody important, but silence is just as important and sometimes even louder than the melody itself. So it’s all the juxtapositions of day and night, of sound and silence that make our life beautiful and exciting.

So go forward, and spend your summer wisely. Don’t forget to honor and thank your parents, who’ve wished you well in your journey for the last year or so. I’m sure just as you’ve been hitting the pavement fundraising and witnessing, they’ve been at home praying every night for your well-being. So please love and honor your parents, love and honor your siblings, and become the kind of men and women that we all can be proud of.

God bless, and congratulations.