As you can see the service is a little different today, it will not be like this next week. I gave a sermon last week on "How the best is before us, is yet to come." One of the things I spoke about was how your life can instantly change! (laughter and applause) I believed it when I said it, and I believe it even more now. This past week has been a roller coaster week for us. We found out just a couple of days before, we got a phone call before True Parents made this announcement, and we had just two days to prepare. It was a sudden event. I’d like to share with you some of the things I shared with the brothers and sisters in attendance on that day when I did the inauguration ceremony.

When I was in Japan, we were visiting a family in Tokyo. The father is a wonderful gentleman. He works in real estate, he’s very successful and has two companies in Tokyo. He has only one daughter, and they recently sent her to get blessed. She was blessed to a wonderful Korean gentleman. When we talked with them, the young man said he was a son of a minister in Korea. My wife said, "That’s wonderful, I’m so glad to meet you! Also I’m the daughter of a minister!" At that moment I said, "Hey wait a minute! I’m the son of a minister too!" There was a silence, and then everyone burst into laughter. It was not expected. We usually don’t think of True Father as a minister.

Of course we say "Rev Moon", etc, especially in the West, I think that’s clearer, but in Korea in the most recent history of our movement, we’ve seen True Parents being elevated as King and Queen of Peace, being anointed as King of Kings, and also "Entering the Palace" Ceremony. Many times I felt, and I want to share this with the membership, that many members have expressed that they feel distant from True Father’s identity as a minister.

When I reflected on that, I was move to think that when Father was preaching in North Korea, when he was going around witnessing to one person at a time, trying to explain to them the entirety of the Principle, etc, he was a minister. When Father was imprisoned in North Korea, imprisoned in Hungnam prison, he was a minister. When he taught at the old HQ church down the road, and when he got blessed with True Mother, he was a minister. When he went to America he was a minister. When he fought communism and met Kim Il Sung on the victorious foundation he was also a minister.

My point is that even to this day I believe Father is still a minister. Every day being out there talking with the congregation, every day giving devotion and sincerely, doing HDH, every day to meet the members, meet with brothers and sister.

In my view, I really believe that we must get back to this root of ministry in our movement, that we can’t loose this side. I reflected on my own start in ministry. I had a chance to talk with Father and ask Father, "I don’t know what to do, how to start." The first thing Father said to me was, "Give chongsong, give sincerity and devotion." Chongsong as you know is True Father’s favorite Chinese character, and is composed of the character "to speak" combined with the character "to become." Those together combined is the character "chongsong", which essentially means devotional sincerity, to actualize your word, etc.

Before the inauguration ceremony I spent all day with True Parents from morning to night, and Father explained to me two main teachings that I received that day. I was sitting next to him, and Father was looking forward, and he leaned over to me, and he said, "Don’t worry! Stop worrying! There’s going to be many people to help you." Right after that, he said, "Keep giving sincerity, keep giving devotion, keep giving chongsong." He explained to me that it’s important when you’re in a position to be able to go to the lowest role. When you’re in a high position, be able to go to the lowest. Don’t ever loose your humility. He said, "That’s the real power of chongsong that when you are able to give sincerely, as when you do spiritual practice."

When Father goes out and meditates on the boat, all these kinds of things, these practices help him, and he was telling me to continue that. That way we can always check ourselves. We can always reflect and look back at ourselves. When I look at my own strength standard, giving a sermon on purpose, strengths and joys, and when I look at what God is calling me to do, I really do believe it is ministry.

Up to now in our movement, particularly in the east in Korea, ministry has really become about mobilization to bring people to a certain event or a particular ceremony that we are having. Or it’s been a way to move up through the organization. I really believe that ministry is very simply about expressing, and being an avenue for True Parent’s love and God’s love. It is the character… chance to have compassion for others, it is to believe in the goodness of the original mind of people. When you are hurt, it is to practice patience. It is to practice empathy. It is to practice forgiveness. It is to have faith that God is guiding us, that He is directing our steps, that He is lighting our path. I really believe that if we are to succeed as a church, then it is so important that we are able to become member-centered; a church that is able to learn how to serve our congregation, a church that takes care of the congregation, to love the people of the nation.

There’s an old statement in one of the ancient texts in the East that says, "If the saint loves the people, will the nation not flourish?" I really do believe that in our own roles as ministers, it’s not so much that the members serve us as ministers and acknowledge our roles as ministers, but that it’s the opposite. It’s that we recognize that our roles as ministers is to experience and to express the love of True Parents and love of God to our membership, to our brothers and sisters, to the precious children of God.

In essence, as I was speaking to the ministers, I said "I really believe True Father’s secret to ministry is simple: it’s to give sincerity as he told me to do; it’s to not be arrogant, as he told me to do; and third point: don’t worry so much, God is guiding us!" I really do believe those are quite wise words of wisdom.

The last couple of days, every single person I met has come up to me and said, "What will happen next n the church?" I’m going tell you what True Father told me, "Don’t worry!" (Laughter)

I really do feel this is my role, to continue ministry, to continue to practice spiritual practice, spiritual discipline, etc. I know that the role that Father asked me to participate in, that this is not enough, that the church is not only comprised of ministry. The church is not only comprised of caring for the congregation. There are also many other responsibilities. Personally I feel most in my strength zone, most in my God zone, when I’m doing services, or when I’m writing sermons, or writing books, or practicing spiritual discipline, or working with the congregation, or visiting families. I really feel personally that is where I have to remain. Knowing this, Father asked specifically my brother Kook Jin Nim to help me with the organization the church, so that I can very gratefully focus on my strengths which are spiritual practices and continue to do ministry.

We will continue with Kook Jin Nim, to work and strengthen our organization. I told the membership that every decision we make will be for the benefit of the whole church, it will be for the benefit of the members. Decisions will not be made for the benefit of single individuals because they may have personal relationships. Every single decision that we will make will be for the benefit of the whole. We will constantly work to make sure that the church grows and continues to organize in that fashion. Every decision of course will be reported to Father, we’ll get his approval, etc. I believe Father is so proud of us.

For many years, many people gave up on true family, "They’re never going to get along, they’re always fighting, look at the division in the Second Generation," etc. We heard a lot of those things. It’s been a real clear thing for me, that when Kook Jin Nim and I stood up, when we moved to Headquarters Church he was by my side. As an elder brother, he is the most able type elder brother that one could ask for. He is so supportive. He knows that his strength zone is in another place than mine. In working together, we can synergize and I should create a better result and better organization and church environment for the membership.

Father really acknowledged that, that day. I was so grateful because Father asked him explicitly to work with me, to continue to improve the church organization in all its aspects. I want to say that this is a very large church. It’s spread across so many nations. One of the most critical things to understand is that big changes create big havoc in big organizations. We know that and we want to continue to work judiciously and to work logically, rationally, so that the changes are appropriated for the particular circumstance of that church -- of that nation, in working with those particular organizations; and that there will be a synergy effect so those organizations can grow and flourish.

So many people have told me over the last few years, "We’re not a church anymore. Why are you focusing on church? Why do ministry? True Father has told us that we are now FFWPU, we’ve closed down the church, we’ve opened up the Federation for World Peace, etc." In my view and as a scholar of religion -- I’ve studied religion and religious tradition, and one thing that I know in common that all religious traditions have, I realize that also we have.

All religions have rituals, all religions have theology-centered text, the teaching of the masses, they have organizations, centers for teaching, spreading those teachings, etc. We have all those things; we have every single one of those things. No matter how much we may say we are not a religion, when the scholars look at us they will see a religion, and when the society looks at us they will see a religion.

For me, it’s very important that we understand that primary identity. Without the religious dimension, without our religious conviction, there is no meaning in True Parents. There is no meaning in Divine Principle. There is no meaning in the fifty years of sacrifice that all the brothers and sisters have given. In fact, if we remove the religious aspects of the movement, it just pushes us into a social movement. But we have a larger mission than that, we have a larger purpose, we have a purpose to understand True Parents. In the Principle, clearly it says that nations must accept True Parents, not just work with them but to accept them as the Messiah. Christianity was supposed to accept True Parents as the Messiah. So we have a very clear picture that True Father is suppose to come with the understanding as a religious teacher.

Of course the church is not only that, but it is the primary identity of our organization. I told the Japanese family when we were visiting them, and we were discussing, as we left the family and we hugged and parted our ways, I asked the father (he’s handicapped, his leg is hurt, but he’s running a successful business and he has such an amazing positive environment in his home, he’s helping his son-in-law go to study in the West) and I asked him, "How do you do it, how do you do this? How do you stay so alive; how do you create such a positive loving environment?" He told me one sentence, "It’s because of True Parents."

When I heard that, and I left his home, I felt a rebirth. It’s so clear, anything that we may accomplish in our lives in these respective roles, it really is because of True Parents, it is to bring glory to God and True Parents, to True Parents in their very special role that they play here on earth. I believe if we keep that central focus, not only can our lives instantly change, but we can build a really strong church, a church that is healthy, that is positive, that can help people grow spiritually, that can nourish people and help them move to higher and higher heights. When our other types of organizations, like non-profits organizations, our businesses and others, are working in conjunction with a strong church, the world is forced to take notice, the world is forced to acknowledge the very important foundation that True Parents are leading.

In sharing that with the membership, I really felt if I had to encapsulate my own thesis within that inauguration speech, it’s "Stay true to God’s calling for you." In your life, it’s what you really feel God is calling you to do. For me it is ministry. I know that I have a whole new array of responsibilities. But learn to work with other people that can help you actualize your other larger responsibilities when God changes your life instantly, or when He promotes you, etc. It is so important that we are able to learn how to work with people that can help us fulfill those responsibilities, while at the same time staying true to our strength, staying true to what God is calling us to do.

I believe if we do that, we will have more synergy, we will have more effectiveness in the work that we do. Personally, in my life, and I hope in yours as well, that if we are able to act on the principles, these very simple principles of staying true to God’s Calling, not avoiding God’s Calling for you, and accepting it when He’s giving you responsibility that is bigger than the one you may have, or the one that you may thought was your limit. If God is asking you to step up, to take that step of faith, you can do it; you have the talents that you need that God has prepared you in that way. Even though we may not see the future, 10-15 yrs down the road, let us believe that God is asking us to be the people that he has created us to be, that we can actualize that destiny that He has asking us to actualize.

It’s really been such a crazy week for us. I do want to assure all our brothers and sisters around the world and our congregation here, that we’re going to be back here next week, we going to still be doing ministry, we’re going to be here, the service will be back to normal. We’ll be focusing with our other team and working on the organizational aspects of church growth and create strengthening of the church. But really our focus will be to continue ministry, continue to visit families, continue be here with you all walking our paths of faith together. Brothers and sisters, if we can do this together I do believe we will find more victory; we’ll find more illumination; we’ll find more peace in our lives.

If you can accept this message, let’s give a round of applause for True Parents, and let’s return that glory back to God. (Clapping) Let us pray:

Dear Heavenly Father, thank You for this day that You have gathered us. Father, we pray for all Your sons and daughters that are here today. We pray that You may bless them in their lives. Father, we know that in one instant You can change our lives completely. Father, that with one touch of Your heart, our lives can completely change. Father, we pray that we may remain open to Your guidance; we know that You are directing our steps, we know that You are guiding us to the land of our fulfillment.

Father, we know that we will actualize the destiny You have prepared for us. Father, we pray that we may go forth from this place with a renewed hope in our future, Father, that we may become a greater blessing to this world and that we truly may actualize Your peace, Your victory, and Your illumination here on this earth. Please be with each one of these families, across the world and in this sanctuary today, we are praying for each one of them and Father bless them eternally. We pray these things in our name, Aju, Aju, Aju