Hyung Jin Moon
April 18, 2008
Cheon Jeong Peace Palace
I am not someone who deserves compliments like the ones I've received, so I feel sorry; and in particular, I don't know if I deserve this glorious position given me today, so all I can say is I'm truly grateful to True Parents and all our members around the world. The entire True Family is also grateful. Thank you.
After I began my ministerial duties, I had an occasion to go to Tokyo, where I visited the home of a Japanese blessed family. The father, whose is leg somewhat disabled, is nevertheless an excellent man and the head of a real estate office. He has only one daughter, who had received an international blessing. His son-in-law is a Korean. I talked a little with the son-in-law, and he was very proud of the fact that his father is a minister. When my wife heard that, she was delighted to say that she too is a minister's daughter. At that point, I felt left out so I also said to everyone in the house, "Hey, wait a minute -- I'm a minister's son too!" [Applause]
With the entrance ceremony into the Cheon Jeong Peace Palace, True Parents became the King and Queen of Peace and achieved all sorts of victories. To tell the truth, I've often heard that people who attend and serve True Parents feel that they do so from a little bit far away; people think of True Parents as a little bit distant to be ministers. I firmly believe that our True Father and True Mother are always working as ministers. They are always guiding us as our ministers, and though they have become True Parents and the King and Queen of Peace, True Father was and is a minister.
When he was preaching to each and every person in North Korea from the age of sixteen, he was a minister. When he was imprisoned in Hungnam and in Danbury, he was a minister. When he was blessed in holy matrimony to True Mother at the former headquarters church, and when he taught there, he was a minister. When he went to America, he was a minister. When he fought communism, when he carried out the victory over communism movement and when he met Kim Il-sung, he was a minister.
In short, we can keenly feel the truth of the fact that when True Father achieved all his victories, he did so as a minister, that is, it was as a minister that True Father laid such a victorious foundation. Even now, True Father wakes up at 2:00 AM every day and offers devotions, attends Hoon Dok Hae and guides our members every day. When I see True Parents guiding us even now as ministers, nurturing us and leading us as our ministers and of course as our parents, I have personally come to feel deep in my heart how precious the ministerial tradition is to True Father.
When I was given the honor of being able to begin a ministry, I asked, "Father, what should I do?" and he answered succinctly, "Offer much jeongseong." [Jeongsong means devoted effort. In our church we use it to refer to making prayer or other conditions, or just offering our most sincere, dedicated effort.] Yesterday, I spent all day with True Father and he taught me two great things. First, he said, "Don't worry too much." He said I shouldn't worry, because there would be many to help me.
Second, he told me to give jeongseong all the time, because when we give jeongseong, we are humbled. Especially because there is a great possibility we can become arrogant when in high positions, we need to give jeongseong, because only then can we clearly know who we are in front of God and True Parents. We can keep in our minds we are the hands and feet of True Parents and help them in their work. I firmly believe this. From the time I started in the ministry, and of course began holding Sunday Services, I have continued to give jeongseong every morning because True Father has always said that jeongseong should be the center of a ministry. Though it has only been a short while, I am truly grateful to True Parents for giving me an opportunity to be a minister. From my personal point of view, I've come to feel that my calling is the ministry.
Meeting with many ministers has moved and touched me deeply. I've come to know that our church leaders have been working so hard and that they are truly amazing people. Notably, for many events, we generate huge mobilizations the like of which no one can imitate. Furthermore, even though becoming a minister in our church could be seen as a way to gain greater power, many leaders have been living very sacrificial lives for the sake of God's will. Father has said that the core of ministry is very simple.
Briefly, a minister is a person who conveys God's love and True Parents' love. It's simple. I strongly believe that if a minister cannot give True Parents' love and God's love to others, he will find himself in great difficulty. I have come to believe that real ministry is caring and having compassion for others, believing in the good of others, practicing patience, empathy and forgiveness even if others hurt me; it is having faith in God and True Parents' presence, help and guidance even when the path before us seems dark and gloomy.
What I believe is this: If we are to succeed as a church, our ministers should love our members, and our ministry should be member-centered. It is my strong conviction that if the ministers love and serve the members of the congregation, the members in turn will serve True Parents tens, hundreds or thousands of times better than the members have been served. I've come to think that it is not the members that must serve the ministers, but that it is the ministers' mission to stoop to a lower position and serve their members, thus making them into even more devoted sons and daughters of True Parents.
I believe True Parents' secret for our ministers is very simple: work in a loving manner, give jeongseong, and don't become arrogant in front of True Parents or our members; also, as True Father told me -- don't worry too much about the future but march forward in the certainty that God and True Parents are guiding us. These are the secrets of a successful ministry.
I think being a minister agrees with me. I like leading a religious and prayerful life and meeting people. Visiting our members' homes has also frequently moved me. As their minister, I am visiting the homes of the members of my congregation and meeting each family. I cannot even find words to describe how moved and touched I have felt on many occasion.
Nevertheless, I know that ministry is not enough in itself. If I am to serve the world as international president and hold the presidency of the Korean church, the largest vision and clearest objectives are needed. Even so, doing the actual work of a minister is essential to this. It is a great joy for me to conduct services, write sermons, study True Parents' teachings deeply and work with the members.
True Parents, also, know well that this is what suits me best. [Applause] Knowing this, True Parents have specifically asked other True Family members to help me a lot. In particular, True Father has asked my older brother Kook-jin nim to help his younger brother. [Applause] Kook-jin nim is a genius, as anyone would freely admit, and he is especially a genius at organizing things, so True Father has given me a great mission, the great task of working with my older brother Kook-jin nim and our vice-president Lee Dong-hwan to strengthen our church organization and propel it forward as an outstanding organization.
Kook-jin nim is always working for our family, and he is so affectionate. Because he is so affectionate, he cries easily and loves his younger brothers and sisters. [Applause] He is excellent. As his younger brother, I am really, truly proud of him. Every decision we make will be for the benefit of the whole -- the whole church and its members -- not for any particular individual. Most especially, we will report every decision we make to True Father for approval, and only when he approves it will we carry it out. I believe Father is truly proud to see his sons working in unity and supporting each other.
A few years back, many people believed True Family members could not work together because we are all very passionate and we would fight among ourselves, but we have shown them otherwise. We are working together, and we will continue working together to uphold the legacy of the True Family and True Parents. [Applause] I strongly believe we are different from members of the second-generation in famous Korean business conglomerates, who are always fighting among themselves. [The infighting and scandals within several family owned Korean conglomerates are common knowledge in Korean society.] Our church is different. Ladies and gentlemen, our bloodline is different. We will leave an example in history of the True Family uniting and working together on the frontline.
Whenever I visit places or meet people, I hear some people say why we need the church, while others say we are no longer a church because True Father founded the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, and that he himself has said we are not a church, and not a religion.
As you may know, I studied religion for seven years, and I learned there are several distinguishing features of a religion. All religions exist in a religious context, don't they? These are rituals, theology, central texts, and transcendental teachings of the master and so on. To speak plainly, we too have the same context. We also have religious texts, rituals, theology and our center, True Parents. No matter how much we say we are not a religion, in the eyes of religious scholars and society, we are most definitely a religion.
In this regard, if we were to eliminate the religious aspect of our movement, would we be any different from a social movement? Without the religious context, we could not explain True Parents, the Divine Principle, True Parents or the Messiah. If this were the case, how would we be any different from a large corporation or a social movement? Am I not right about this? We manifestly have a theology, our Divine Principle and True Father's teachings and we have True Father himself. Therefore, without a doubt we should strengthen our church. I strongly believe that we need to develop our church further, so that more people can really serve and support True Parents.
When I visited the Japanese family I mentioned before, the family in Tokyo, and met the father, though his leg is disabled and he has other physical difficulties, I saw he is a very positive person, and his daughter and son-in-law respect him very much. I asked him, "How can you be so positive and happy, and make a lovely environment to live in, when you have so many physical difficulties and a paralyzed leg?" He answered me simply, "I can live like this because of True Parents." That family was truly grateful to True Parents. When I parted from that family, I felt something pulling at my heartstrings and also got the feeling of having been born again. No matter what we do, we are not doing it for ourselves, and all victories we win are thanks to True Parents. Since True Parents are with us, we will continue to achieve more victories in the future and build a glorious future together. [Applause]
I have a dream to make a church that those in our second and third generations can proudly proclaim they are members of. When members of our second or third generations are with other people, I want them to be able to say, I am a Unification Church member, and I'm proud of it. I want them to display this to society. When they register in a school and are asked what their religion is, I want them to be able to write that they are Unification Church members rather than "non-denominational Christians". [This is a standard question on school registration forms.] Such a time will certainly come. [Applause] Let's make a church that can praise our True Father and True Mother for millions of generations to come! I'm positive that my older brothers Hyo-jin nim, Heung-jin nim, Young-jin nim and other members of the True Family in the spirit world will work with us, and great and amazing miracles will occur. Everyone, let's all give great glory to True Parents, and in so doing, offer our True Parents our resounding applause!