Lovin' Life Sermon Notes From January 16, 2011

In Jin Moon
Washington, DC
Unofficial notes

Before In Jin Nim gave her sermon a letter was read, written to In Jin Nim from a 2nd generation (Leon). It was a beautiful letter expressing love and gratitude for the care that In Jin Nim had shown in caring for his younger sister (now on STF) and the practical guidance that he had received from In Jin Nim's sermons, from Jin Sung Nim, and from his experience on STF. He is now blessed, a freshman in college, and beginning an "I deal" family with his wife in Seattle.

1) In Jin Nim greeted everyone, the members in Washington DC, the capital of America. She had been scheduled to be there earlier and expressed her gratitude for their patience.

2) This is a brand-new year and there are lots of things going on at Lovin Life. They are trying out different things to better serve the community.

3) Our True Parents are always concerned and interested about what is taking place in America and how the American members are doing. They delight in visiting us in America . Even though they are now in Korea they are constantly praying for our families.

4) The greatest perks In Jin Nim receives, as the senior pastor, are things like this letter (which had been read) from Leon. It sometimes gets very difficult, sometimes tiring, and the work weighs you down, but when In Jin Nim gets a letter like this from a young gentleman -- just starting out in a new relationship, looking forward to a life where he can have the opportunity to create beautiful family together with his Japanese spouse, but all the while dealing with things and approaching life, not as a burden but with so much to look forward to, with a sense of gratitude, of being so blessed to be living at this time with our True Parents -- this is one of the most inspiring things for In Jin Nim to hear from young people. It makes it seem like whatever we're going through as a community -- we are on to a good thing, where we can raise up young people, to not just dream, but actually want to experience and substantiate a life of true love.

5) We can wake up not just our community, but we have the opportunity to wake up all the sons and daughters of God around the world -- that is a beautiful thing.

6) In Jin Nim thanked Leon for his beautiful letter and the thoughtfulness of his language, incorporating some of the wisdom nuggets that he received during his time at Lovin and Life. His tone of warmth and love is incredibly uplifting. "Seattle you are very lucky to have such a fine gentleman."

7) A couple of days ago In Jin Nim spent time in a workshop with some of our children. One of the things she loves to do at these workshops is to put a name to the faces, get to know the kids, get a sense about what they have been going through and how she can better serve them. After coming back from the workshop In Jin Nim had a deep moment in reflection and meditation in which she thought of the words her father spoke. This quote comes from his message of peace. True Father defines what true love is all about; "true love, the essence of true love is not to want to be served by others but it's really to give to, and to serve others."

8) The great theologian of our community, Young Oon Kim, encapsulated what our True Father was trying to say when she uttered the words, "To be chosen or to be anointed by God is not to think that we are somehow better than anyone else, but to be anointed, blessed, or chosen by God means that we are chosen to serve."

9) And in the message of peace our True Father goes on to say, "True love is a love that gives and forgets." It's a love that does not tally up points -- what have you done for me lately, or what you did not do for me lately. And True Father goes on to say that true love is the kind of love where you want to serve others, not because we want to get brownie points, or a great present at the end of our journey, but because we take great pleasure (he uses the word pleasure) in serving others.

10) When In Jin Nim reads and reflects on the letter from Leon, in his desire to serve his wife, to truly take care of his wife, and do it with a grateful heart -- he is, in a way, trying to substantiate the teachings of our True Father in his daily life.

11) In Jin Nim, as a mother of a family, with five healthy robust children of her own -- (and you know there is a lot of true rubbing that goes on in her family too) In Jin Nim's children range in age from 14 to 24. They are at all different periods in their life, going through different struggles, joys, victories, and trials and tribulations that all our children go through. And when True Father teaches that the family is the textbook of true love he ain't kidding. There are a whole lots of tears, laughter, loving, and rubbing, but we all struggle and we all worked together in knowing that what we desire to accomplish together, as this team, as this family, is to create an ideal family.

12) Just as Leon said in his letter, as he deals with his new relationship in his new life, so to In Jin Nim and you, we have all dealt with, are dealing, and will continue to deal with in our journey to build this ideal family.

13) For a lot of the first-generation who came before the second and third, their time in the movement has really been that of sacrifice, giving up everything for the sake of the Providence . That meant giving up time with their families, and with their loved ones. In the time of the wilderness the most important thing we had to remember was, regardless of what we were dealing with or faced with, regardless of the obstacles in our path, the most important thing we had to remember was to be united with our True Parents. To follow True Parents as closely as a shadow.

14) When In Jin Nim's children played the Army games and board games that involved strategy -- the most important thing when you are on a combat mission is to act as one body. With a clear leader and with clear direction and a whole platoon, knowing that we live and die depending on the strength of our unity and the strength of our ability to work as one body.

15) And this is where we've been for the last 40 years in our movement, but in this time of settlement when we are no longer roaming around in different combat zones as single men and women, in these teams or platoons, almost like a military group going in and out of different places with different missions.

16) The time of settlement is slightly different. Now we have baggage to tote around, we have a mortgage to consider, grocery lists by which we make sure our children are fed. We have different concerns. We are no longer single men and women. We have spouses and children and we have different things that we need to consider.

17) Transitioning from the tight-knit one body platoon to integrating into the community at large and taking root and developing and becoming successful families in all communities and all around the world. That is going to take a little bit more effort, and possibly a different way of approaching our mission.

18) During this time when we started Lovin Life, unlike the wilderness era when there was a great deal of emphasis on sacrifice, sacrifice, sacrifice, what we need to think about in terms of building family and being part of a larger community, is to think about how we can apply these principles and have them take root in our lives.

19) The Divine Principle needs to be more than a conceptual understanding as to why our True Parents are so special, more than just a theological understanding as to why our True Parents are the Lord of the Second Advent, the Messiah. Divine Principle needs to be understood and applied in our daily lives so that we become a body, where, regardless of where we are, we become the embodiment of the Divine Principle itself.

20) When we think that the intention and desire of our Heavenly Parent was in creating humankind, to be his sons and daughters, you realize that our Heavenly Parent did not sit back on his throne and say, "Hey, I want to create a couple of kids to amuse myself." That was not the desire of our Heavenly Parent. He did not say, "Hey, I want to create a son and daughter to see how miserable I can make their lives."

21) What our Heavenly Parent wanted and so desired, his intention in creating his sons and daughters was to experience parental love. For those of us who have children of our own we can truly experience and understand God's love for us, for the first time, when we have kids of our own. Then we realize, this is the kind of love where we are willing to die for our children, to sacrifice everything for our children. In a way, we don't exist in light of what we want for our children. That's the kind of love our Heavenly Father had.

22) When Heavenly Father created his children he did not want them to suffer, he did not want them to be miserable, he wanted them to be fruitful, multiply, and to have dominion. He wanted them to be successful, prosperous, and fulfilled human beings.

23) But the history of religion has been the history emphasizing sacrifice and denial because of the fall of man, because the children fell away from God. The most important thing that the children needed to do was to connect back to God. That was the most important thing.

24) Once we have our True Parents here with us, we have to fulfill the true intentions, true desire of our Heavenly Parent -- and what he desires and intends for all of us is to be fulfilled, successful, and prosperous sons and daughters. When In Jin Nim uses the word prosperous she is not just talking about mansions, beautiful cars, beautiful men and women, but what she is talking about is internal excellence as well as external excellence.

25) So here we are, in Washington DC the capital of the United States . Here we are with our True Parents. We need to be thinking at this time of breaking news, our True Father has said many times -- there is so much in a name. He would tell each of his children that they must live to fulfill their name. He said, "In Jin, your name means march of virtue, so get to it."

26) When In Jin Nim thinks about Washington DC. When she named her boys, Preston, Rexton, Truston, and Paxton, where does the "ton" come from? In the old English ton means "from the town of." Preston means from the town of priests. Rexton -- from the town of kings, Truston from the town of trust, Paxton from the town of Pax . But when you look at the Korean or Chinese characters -- In Jin Nim wanted the Chinese characters given by True Father to be reflected in each name. Ariana is special because she is the only girl -- her name means faith and goodness. In Greek it means holy, devout, and good.

27) When we look at Washington -- ton means from the town of. Here is the capital of the United States and the name means from the town of washing. God is trying to say we have to do a bit of laundry work. Our Heavenly Father and Mother is saying we have to start washing this beautiful country of America. There is so much soot and dirt and lots of gook on this beautiful country. Let's start with a cold shower condition, inject a little shower head into the American consciousness and revive the beautiful diamond that God put into this country.

28) This country was founded because our founding fathers desired to exercise their religious freedom. They wanted to honor their Heavenly Parent and that is why they came to this great country. But over the years, decades, and centuries America has lost its understanding of the profundity of its spiritual heritage. The young people have forgotten God in their lives. We have forgotten the importance of family, that all this blessing comes, not just to be served, but it comes to America (as our True Father said) to serve others.

29) It is our duty to do right, to start the laundry process from the capital of the United States . We need to start washing the consciousness of the American people starting with our own community, with ourselves.

30) And God gives us little hints at the end -- Washington D. C. What D. C. means to In Jin Nim is that it is time to start washing the consciousness of the American people, to reawaken their great spiritual heritage that God gave to this country. With a clear direction (D) that has been shared and given to us by our True Parents, by truly uniting and being centered on the direction and guidance of our True Parents, then we can truly inspire and empower ourselves to connect (C). Not just our young men and women, but to connect the world.

31) What does Washington DC mean to you? It means let's wash the consciousness of the American people beginning with ourselves, to reclaim our spiritual heritage under the clear direction and guidance of our True Parents so that we can inspire and empower the world to connect with God as one family under God.

32) At this time of the breaking news, when we are constantly talking about the deadline, Jan 13, 2013 -- we are not talking about 2013 as though that's when the world will end, we are saying that there is a lot of work to be done before 2013 so that we can be better prepared to launch into the next level.

33) For those of you who are followers and watchers of NASA, as In Jin Nim is, when you look at a launch -- it often takes place in three stages. If we use that as an analogy when we look at our community -- the first generation has done the hard part. It's that first initial takeoff when there is shake-down and rattling to get out of the atmosphere. That is what it was like for the first generation. Our True Parents came and shook the living ga-jesus out of your parents.

34) The incredible thing about our first generation, your parents, is that they held on for dear life. They are still here!

35) What we need to do, once we get out beyond the Earth's atmosphere is to start soaring. The second generation needs to take the momentum, starting on the foundation of what the first generation gave through a lot of rattling and shaking -- we need to go a little bit smoother, a little bit faster, and a little bit happier. And we are going to travel to a place the first generation has never been to.

36) But in your (1st gen) children you will be traveling every step of the way. So do not feel left behind, because you see lots of young faces coming into positions of leadership. Encourage these young men and women. Encourage them, "I am passing on my baton to the next phase. Go a little smoother, a little faster, a little happier"

37) And for In Jin Nim, having experienced the torturous and difficulty of going through the first tribulation type of blessing, when True Father declared to our community the importance of 10-10-10 we are now living under the direct dominion of God.

38) And for the first time because of the good foundation that had been laid by the parents, all of you, the second generation, now has the chance to own up to who they are. Not just in knowing that they are eternal sons and daughters of God, they can now start to pick their own spouse. When In Jin Nim heard that, she said hallelujah! Because, what we want -- we don't want to wish upon our children a whole life of rattling and shaking and hanging on for dear life. We want them to go a bit smoother, faster, and happier.

39) This is what Lovin Life is all about. It's about understanding that we are in the time, the age of settlement when we are living under the direct dominion of God. This is a chance for our children, 2nd, 3rd and 4th to be grateful, to honor our parents, and then to start owning up to who we are, taking it one step further.

40) In Jin Nim spoke to the youth in the room -- we as the generation of peace have to change the culture of America , we have to change the culture of the world. The beautiful thing about our movement is that we have the horizontal and the vertical.

41) We have the horizontal, the wonderful values that the Western civilization has to offer -- like communication and how to work as a team. But the East also has valuable components to offer our community, such as the importance of being vertically grounded, vertically united with a father and mother. This means for the younger generation -- learning how to exist and build a culture where we learn to honor and respect our elders, where we are grateful for the first generation's suffering.

42) When In Jin Nim was visiting with the young men and women of the workshop she shared with them an e-mail she received from her eldest son. Someone sent it to him and it made him think of her. It went like this (this is not exact) -- 3 years old: mommy I love you, 13 years old: "Mommy, whatever! 15: mommy, you are so annoying!!! 18: I want to get the bleep out of this house. I can't stand it!!! 25 years: "mmm?" 30 years old: "I want to see my Mom." 50 years old: "If only I had listened to my Mom a little bit better." 60 years old: "I would give anything to have my Mom with me."

43) What this e-mail is saying is that this is true for all of us. We have all been there. We have all felt this. As a community when we are thinking about raising another generation of young people to be grateful, honorable people, we need to be mindful that this process takes place regardless if you're from Africa, the Amazon, Seoul Korea , or Washington DC -- this is a process all people go through.

44) Many times when young people are in the 15 year stage of life, when everything about the parent is annoying -- at that time they only associate with other 15 year olds who think the same way. You get a group of people who all agree that their parents are annoying. Then how can we lead them back to a vertical understanding of who they are and how they should be to their parents.

45) In Jin Nim feels that True Parents are the greatest gift to America because they bring a little bit of Asia . When In Jin Nim first came to America and went to school, at first she could not understand what the kids were saying, but when she began to understand what they were saying she was so shocked -- at how freely, without second thought, there was a lot of criticizing of their parents. Where she came from you could not do that. You do not articulate or bring down your parents, talking about them in such a fashion.

46) In Jin Nim remembers when she was 11 or 12 there was a big girl in her class. She was the most vocally critical of her parents. For In Jin Nim, with an Asian ear, she would never dream of saying those things. You would never call your parents by their first name. It was a wake-up call for In Jin Nim. And In Jin Nim wanted to find out why this girl had this desire to trash her parents. And so In Jin Nim befriended her and she heard from this girl about all her suffering. In Jin Nim told her that in Asia they would never do that. The girl responded by saying that she is now in America. "Try a little criticism." In Jin Nim responded by asking why would she trash the very place where she came from. By trashing our parents, are we not trashing ourselves? This shows that we don't appreciate ourselves, we loathe ourselves, and because we don't know how to criticize ourselves we criticize those who are closest, our parents.

47) When In Jin Nim met this girl's parents she realized that they were not so bad. They were good people, but because this girl herself was so over weight, over 200 lbs. and she was angry with life, how dare God make her so big, so unattractive. She was angry at the world. She could not be like a beauty pageant girl -- and so she decided to be the opposite, to become negative and hate the world and her parents.

48) One time, in one of their talks, when she broke down she was able to admit to In Jin Nim that people treated her like an invisible tree and the only way she could get peoples attention was by receiving their sympathy. When In Jin Nim heard this it stuck with her -- how young people always seek validation and when they don't get it from their parents or their peers -- they end up creating a crisis. "I am so miserable," and start getting the attention so that they can control what people say or feel about them. Young people do this all the time

49) Imagine if we could apply a little bit, the philosophy of living for the sake of others in our lives, and help young people realize that living for the sake of others starts by understanding how incredibly blessed we are, how incredibly blessed we are to be living, not to be 6 feet under, but to be living. And how incredibly lucky we are to be healthy, young, and full of possibilities.

50) If we can inherit a little bit of the Eastern culture and tradition of learning how to respect our parents -- in the East, if you have nothing good to say about your elders, you are encouraged to say nothing at all. That's a good exercise to start practicing in our daily lives. If we have nothing nice to say about our parents, then say nothing at all. Perhaps this might be an occasion for us to start working on ourselves.

51) A lot of second generation who have seen their fathers and mothers suffer, seen them give up everything and dedicate everything to the Providence -- their car, everything to Providence, they can feel somehow as if they are entitled, entitled to malign the first generation for all the things that they have not done for them.

52) We need to start thinking and realize that it is because of their suffering and sacrifice that we are here, living at this time of the breaking news. We have the opportunity to not just hear about our True Parents but to actually be with them, hear their words directly -- not like some people who will come after us, hundreds of years later wondering what Rev. Moon and Mrs. Moon were all about, what they might have been like. They are here with us. And so, starting with that in and of itself, be grateful for your parents.

53) As we move on through life, as we go through the different stages, we need to interact with each other, we need to start talking with each other, we need to start -- instead of judging- begin asking questions. How are you? How is your family? How have you been?

54) We need to start thanking each other. "Mommy, I want to thank you today for being my mom. I want to thank you for making coffee cake whenever my wife has one of her tantrums -- thank you for listening to her, taking her off my hands.

55) We need to start respecting each other. We need to start thanking each other. We need to start creating a culture that will reverberate down to our children.

56) Many times the 2nd generation might feel like you guys (1st gen) are failures. "I am not Donald Trump, I am not Albert Einstein, I'm not … I gave up all that for God. And maybe sometimes we may feel like failures, but when In Jin Nim celebrated the 40th anniversary in tribute to the 1st generation, the True Family wanted to say "you guys are champions!" -- and that you accomplished what the 12 disciples of Jesus Christ could not do. They were not there when Jesus died on the cross. Not one of them offered to die in place of Jesus Christ. But all of you stood by our True Parents, you walked through the wilderness with our True Parents, all of you were willing to die and go to prison over and over and over again together with our True Parents. So you guys are the greatest champions.

57) You need to start feeling good about yourself, feeling how incredible you are to this whole Providence. If you start feeling wonderful, if you start humming along hallelujah, if you start loving life -- your children are going to pick up on your vibes, on your spirit. And if we can do our job at headquarters and continually support our children to be all that they can be -- to be great men and women of God, to not just dream on, but actually start substantiating -. The Good Book and Ecclesiastics 11:4 "He who observes will not sow, he who regards the clouds will not reap." This is not a time to be fence sitters. Breaking Time means getting rid of our fears and diving in and get on board because the train is here. What Ecclesiastics is trying to say is that we have to get off our "hynees" We have to stop regarding and observing and start experiencing, start substantiating, start breathing all the good sowing that has gone on for the last decades.

58) In this time, this age of settlement, time of harvesting the single most important thing that we need to concentrate on is this spirit of gratitude to God our Heavenly Parent and to our True Parents and to each other. We need to start being grateful for each other. We need to start actualizing and practicing love. It's the little things that we can do in life. It's the little ripples that travel the furthest, the small things like "thank you," "I love you," that mean so much. Together these, as a community, can create a grand tsunami so that the whole world can partake in the revolution of true love that is taking place.

59) So do not wait for the new brothers and sisters coming into our movement to remind us how precious we are, how precious True Parents are. Be an agent of change. Let us remind ourselves -- and start perfecting and changing our lives.

60) As we go forward think about what an incredible time it is, to be living at this time with our True Parents. Please think about the importance of Washington DC and the responsibility of America to truly direct and guide the world to connect with our True Parents, starting where? With "heavenly washing" and we, every one of us, is going to start. Right?

61) God Bless and thank you.