Hyung Jin Moon
April 18, 2009
Headquarters Church, Seoul Korea
Transcribed by: Naoko Isa Brazil
Edited by Bruno Klotz
Welcome Remarks:
Hyung Jin Nim:
Brothers and sisters, good to see you!
Yeon Ah Nim:
Good afternoon, brothers and sisters,
It is a beautiful spring day. Don’t you think so? (Yeah!!) This afternoon I saw a beautiful white butterfly flying around.
Hyung Jin Nim:
Let’s give it up for the butterfly!
Yeon Ah Nim:
Today we are blessed with beautiful weather and wonderful company around us. I hope this week will be filled with God’s blessing and love! We are always honored to have you here in this sanctuary and for those joining us, wherever you are, we are welcoming you as well.
Hyung Jin Nim:
Welcome, brothers and sisters! We are so happy to see the white butterfly today. Of course we’re much happier to see all of YOU guys here today, because when we take time to honor God, He always honors us back. And you know, whenever we take time on Saturday (we could be doing other things instead) to give Him praise, give Him honor, then that gives Him strength, that makes God excited. So in the coming week God is going to be helping us. We’re going to get more things done, in a less period of time. We’re going to be more successful, we’re going to get more creative ideas. If you believe it let’s give it up for God and True Parents!
Brothers and sisters, I’d like to start with Cheon Seong Gyeong, Page 703. Father says here in the "Fruit of Life and Divine Spirit" Section:
"This lifetime is but a moment. This lifetime will determine whether we are connected to eternity or to the moment. You are all the historically resurrected bodies of your ancestors. How long is this history? The purpose of this long course of history was eventually to create one person, you.”
I love that, I love that! Whenever we feel discouraged, whenever we feel weak and beaten down with our troubles and our challenges and our work, we’ve got to remember the purpose of our long history. Wow! God is there to create me, to eventually create me, so that I can bring joy to True Parents and God. "This lifetime is but a moment," Father said. When we take that into heart, we realize that it is such a precious moment. It is so precious. You know, we have here with us today Sun Jin nuna, her nickname is Santa Komo. That means Aunt Santa. Our kids call her Santa Aunt. That’s because she’s always so giving, and wherever she goes she’s showering blessings.
Yesterday they made brownies and ice cream with my daughter. She was in heaven! And I realized how amazing God is. Because Sun Jin nuna actually bought all those ingredients for another thing, not for making brownies. But yesterday my daughter was in the cooking mode and she was making egg sandwiches and everything, so she inspired Santa Komo. And Santa Komo said, "You know what? We’ve got chocolate chips and brownie mix, and we’re going to make some brownies," and she was just on cloud nine! She was so happy! And I said, "God is good. He organized all that, so that we can see and experience this incredible moment."
That’s how God is! Let’s remember that when we take time to give God goodness, to give Him thanks, He always repays that. That always comes back two times, three times, four times. Multiplied it comes back to us. Brothers and sisters, today I want you to be encouraged, I want you to shake off those chains of the news reports that say that this is going to be the worst year yet. We’re going to have our best year yet. How about this? We’re going to have our greatest year yet! And in this year we’re going to rise to higher levels of victory. We’re going to have deeper connections this year. This year we’re going to get more intimate with our children. We’ll build stronger bonds of love and relations; we’re going to have miracles this year. In 2009, this year, we’re going to see more fruition in many different aspects of our lives in which we had not seen any growth in.
If you believe it, let’s give it up for God and True Parents! I’m ready. I’m ready for 2009. I am totally ready, because we’re halfway through it. I’m ready for it. Brothers and sisters, it’s good to see you all today. Welcome once again.
Opening Prayer:
Heavenly Father, thank You so much for allowing us to come here together. Father, we come here to give You joy. We want to come here to give You praise and thanks for all You’ve done in our life, Father. We know we could be sitting at home and worrying about what’s going to happen in our future. We could be worrying about all of the things we should do.
But, Father, we choose to be strong. We choose to have faith; we choose to believe that our future’s going to become better. Father, we choose to believe that You are planning things, that You are planning people for us to meet, people who will bring us to new levels of victory and blessing. Father, we choose to believe that those chains of the past are broken, and that we can move forward in 2009, not as the victim, but as the victor.
And, Father, we pray and we choose to believe that we will be stronger this year, that we will have deeper connections this year, that You will prepare more wonderful relationships for us. Father, we pray and believe that we can become all that You have designed us to be, destined us to become. And, Father, we want to get that into our hearts. We do not want to leave here today the same way we came in. We want to leave here with more victory, more hope, more strength, more encouragement, more blessings, so that we can become greater blessings to this world.
We thank You so much, Father, for bringing us here today, for allowing us to participate with You. We thank You so much for giving us strength today, giving us love today, giving us hope and inspiration today, giving us what we need today. We thank You so much. We want to thank You in advance, and we honestly want to offer all glory to You. We want to do that every day. We’re going to start each day with that victorious mind, offer every day up to You. We thank You so much. We do the same this day as we do every week, we offer all the glory to You with an everlasting love and tremendous gratitude. We pray this in our own names, as central blessed families, aju.
Hyung Jin Nim:
You know, brother and sisters, when we sing those songs of praise and victory, think of what you’re doing. You’re speaking power over your life; you’re declaring words of strength and words of hope and words of power over your life. You’re saying, “I’m not going to live in guilt and condemnation in 2009; I’m going to rise above." You’re saying, "I’m not going to let the enemy, who tells me that I’m inadequate, weak and abandoned, steal my joy anymore. In 2009 I’m going to rise higher, I’m going to become stronger, and I’m going to become a true child of God."
See brothers and sisters, I want you to know what you’re doing when we’re singing those songs. We are declaring something powerful over our life; we’re changing the direction that our life can go. And that’s what we really want to do. That’s what we want to do when we pray. When we pray sometimes we have to do it by faith. Sometimes we’re praying for something like, "God, I know You’re going to help that friend." "God, I am praying for that child to come into his own, to accept You and move forth into victory and strength." "God I’m praying that You’re going to get us through these tough times, and not only get us through, but that You’re going to get us through even stronger, even more successful. "
That’s what we’re doing when we’re praying. We’re declaring words of strength, words of faith over our life. We’re shedding the old shackles of despair and the chains of guilt and remember that we are forgiven, and we move on into our futures, to the new horizons that God is opening for us.
This is the thing that is happening when we pray. Brothers and sisters, we’re going to take time out to pray. If you need to pray, if you’ve been lied about, if you’ve been cheated in your life, if someone has talked behind your back sometimes, then you need prayer today. If you need to pray, we want you to come on up, receive prayer, to come pray with us, and share your heart. Let God KNOW your troubles, for He will redeem you from them.
Let us let Him know. Don’t just keep it all inside, but express it. Let it out. But we’re not going to just let it out. We’re going to move on. We’re going to move on with strength in our prayers, strength in our lives. We’re going to move on so we’re not the victims moping around in 2009. We’re going to be the victors, that are strong and victorious. If you believe it, let’s give it up for God and True Parents this day!
So I want you to come for prayer. Maybe you feel, "Hey, I never prayed before, but I want to do it today," maybe something inside of you is tickling you to say, "I want to pray today." If you feel that, I want you to come up. Not with a heavy heart. If you have things that you are going through, you need to pray about it. You need to pray WITH US about it.
And when we pray we don’t want you to go back to your seat and say, "Did something happen? I don’t know if something happened. I prayed about it but I don’t know if something happened." That’s not what we want you to do. We want you to go back and say, "You know what? God started something today. From today, I’m not going to be weak anymore. From today, I’m not defeated. From today I’m born again! From today I’m strong; from today I go forth with hope." That’s the way we want you to go back to your seat when we pray.
Brothers and sisters, if you feel that you need prayer today, please come up to the front. We’re going to pray with you. Let’s take this time for prayer. For those who are in their seats, let’s continue to sing the song, continue to offer our prayer, and if you really feel that you want to give the person next to you a prayer, please do so as well. Let’s take this time for prayer……
(Prayer time)
We pray all these things, Father, we pray and we are grateful in 2009. Thank You so much. We pray these things in our own names, Aju.
Thank you, brothers and sisters, for extending your heart. I hope you declared some powerful things over your life. I hope you declared, that all those negative things people were saying about you in 2008, all those things that came up in your mind and said, "I’m not going to make it this year, next year," I hope those things are disintegrating today. I hope that in 2009 we’re going to become stronger, we’re going to become more victorious, and we’re going to be able to share God’s true love even more.
Let’s start with that right now. Let’s all stand up! It’s time to share God’s true love. Let’s encourage each other, encourage the person next to you. If you came with your spouse, it’s time to say "Thank you" and "I love you,” at least 3 times! Start the week off right, brothers and sisters. When you do that, God is going to bless you this week!
Main Sermon by Hyung Jin Nim:
Brothers and sisters, we have a very special group of presentations today about the growth stage level of Cheon Bok Goong (CBG) that we will be moving into in December. So we have the professional teams from the different companies that will be helping us with the interior and the exterior. We have today with us the representatives from the company Isaac; let’s give them a round of applause! They’re going to be helping us. They’re one of the top companies in Korea. They have a tremendous reputation and have come up with such creative designs for the CBG growth stage. Yeah, komapsumnida (thanks).
So we’re going to share that with you all today. Are you a little bit excited about that? (Yeah!) Okay, it’s only our World Temple, well, the growth stage. I’m going to speak very briefly and we’re going to have a couple of other speakers here today.
In the Age of Liberation it’s so important for us to realize that True Parents have opened this age. Actually they opened this Age of Liberation, because they were able to inherit God’s true love. And they were able to become His true object partner. So the thousands and thousands of years of loneliness that God had to endure, True Parents were able to liberate God from that. They were able to console Him, to be with Him, to allow him to participate in that kind of reciprocal relationship. That’s why the liberation age has come.
You know, one of the things that we also feel that we have to do in the liberation age, as our 5%, is to now liberate True Parents. That really means that we must be able to give them more joy, it means we should be able to be proud of who we are, proud of our faith and share it. Did you know, by the way, that True Parents' autobiography book is now a national best-seller? Let’s give it up! Oh my God! I think our little birdie may have told you that before. A blue jay may have told you that the other day. But I tell you, it’s an amazing age. And it’s an amazing age for us here in Korea. Because there’s no other situation like this in the world.
We’ve been to the American church, we’ve been to the Japanese church, to many, many churches around the world, but there is no situation like this that we have here in Korea. We have a turnaround with the media. We have a really increased relationship with wonderful people in the Korean society, professionals, politicians, etc. They are really getting much closer to understanding. And we are able to discuss and share our faith. We’re now at a stage where True Parents' book is a national bestseller -- what an incredible age. It’s the age of liberation, brothers and sisters!
And this age of liberation is really our time. It’s our golden age, like we talked about last year. It’s our time to come forth; it’s our time to be proud of who we are and whose we are. It’s time for us to shake off those old feelings that say, “We’re not going to be able to do it… it’s not possible." Well, with men it may not be possible, but, as you know, the old Scripture says, “But with God all things are possible.”
We have to know that this year 2009 is the beginning stage of the Age of Liberation in this perfection stage. We’re now moving forward to actualizing that vision that True Parents have given us for 2013. That’s the reason why today we want to share with you the progress that has happened.
We have brothers and sisters from all over the world, from all over the world -- incredible! Just amazing! You know, we have so many victories coming in from Europe and America, South America, of course Korea and Japan. All these families really coming together! Let’s build our temple, let’s build the new temple for the entire world to see. Let’s not stay at this level anymore. We’re not going to just stagnate at this anymore. I’m tired, I’m done with that. We’re going to move into our new age of blessing, our new age of confidence, our new age of liberation, our new age of success and victory. That’s what we want to move into. Brothers and sisters, that’s exactly where we’re going today.
Today we have some incredible presentations, but let’s always remember that this is now the liberation age. When we enter into this Temple, it’s only the growth stage, but it’s a totally different level. This was the former city hall of Yongsan, which is one of the most incredible areas in Seoul, right in the middle of the city; there is nobody who is not going to see this Temple. And when you look at the design, you’ll say, "Oh, I can notice that on the screen. I can notice that and I can see, wow, Tongil-kyo IS developing, it’s improving." Let’s give it up for Unification Church!
So brothers and sisters, we want you to be encouraged today, we want you to be strong and encouraged. We know all the team of Isaac. They’re basically like preachers, so they’ll come and they’re going to inspire you. I hope so, I’m praying for that. I’m praying! They’re really professional people, wonderful brothers and sisters, who came up with such creative designs.
We had a whole group of companies that were bidding. We had three exterior and engineering companies, that made up different designs, concepts for the growth stage CBG Temple, and we also had four top Korean interior design companies that came and reported and gave their presentations.
Basically our top leadership was there, and we elected. And these were not only the old leadership; it’s also the new leadership that’s in place. So we have a lot more young people, young professionals, that are in the leadership, and so there was a great balance. We did an election. We did a democratic election to see which one was the most popular. And Isaac won the day and another interior company, Kukbo, won the day, and they came up with the most creative concepts. They were right on in understanding that now the Unificationism is moving to the next stage. We’re not going to stay in the past anymore, we’re moving into the future. Let’s give it up for Unification Church once more!
We’re not staying in here. So they understood that, they were right on with that, and they came up with the concepts that represent and express that. So we are going to be proud to move into that Temple on Opening Day and really to be proud to worship together, to be able to witness together, to share our faith together, and be proud Unificationists, the way we should be!
I want to give it up now for the next brother, who’s going to come up and give you a brief report about all our blessed central families. Remember, this is not a Temple that one leader can claim to have made. It is not like in the past where we have the building of something, and then the picture -- no, no, no. WE built this, the brothers and sisters of the world built this for True Parents. Let’s give it up for brothers and sisters! This is OUR Temple. This is OUR Temple! You see, you have to understand that. This is different. And this is a temple that we’re going to be able to minister in, share our faith in, commune in, do activities in, etc.
So we’re now going to invite Jeong kukjang (department leader) from the Chedan (Tongil Foundation) team, to give a brief report about that kind of a bid. Let’s give him a warm welcome as he comes up.
1st PPT Presentation:
Annyeong haseyo. I’m the Special CBG Project Group leader of the Tongil Foundation, Jeong. This is the initiation of the CBG Project. The present stage is the formation level, and we are moving into the growth level toward the end of the year. Hyung Jin Nim has developed this Church into having services with over 2000 people a week, and over $100,000 in donations per month. Hyung Jin Nim became the International President [FFWPU] and we’re now ready to move into the growth stage. As a foundation of faith we are planning to raise 210,000 members as an offering to God.
Until today at HQ Church you have donated close to 7 million dollars, out of a total of 20 million dollars in Korea. Thank you so much! We have just recently purchased this civic center for 85 million dollars. It had been appraised for over 100 million dollars. We’ll be investing an additional 15 million dollars for renovation. We are beginning the remodeling renovation process on June 15th, at a cost of about 10 million dollars. We actually need an additional 10 million dollars. So Kook Jin Nim is spearheading the efforts to raise money for the renovation.
Situated next to the civic center there is a park. It is currently a US military base, but it will be developed as a park. That takes place 2015. The park area is huge, like the area of the Central Park. So naturally, when people stroll around the park, they are going to stop at our church; therefore the 210,000 new members!
We are now trying to raise 500 million for the completion stage CBG, and we’ll be accepting donations from members as well as from people in the society. So far from July 2008 to March 2009 we have raised money for the growth level CBG, and for the completion stage CBG we’ll be raising money until 2010, January 2.
Actually the HQ Church has donated the most. The other regions donated from $1.4 millions all the way down to $300,000. Members have generously given over $20 million, and actually HQ Church has given over one third of it. God bless you!
2nd PPT Presentation:
Good afternoon, everyone! My name is K. S. Kim, interior designer from Kukbo Design Company. It’s a very fine day, nice wind, and it is very pleasant for me to have time to share with nice people like you. Let me explain about the design of the new HQ Building.
There are 3 concepts for us to build the growth stage Unification Church HQ Building: The first is about harmony of time. We wanted to make harmony between ancient and modern concepts. Second is unification culture: We wanted to make the CBG in harmony between oriental and western culture. The third point is the balance of space.
We wanted to make a space that shows harmony between something opulent and moderate, between something social and contemplative, between something open and closed. As you can see from the circles, we wanted to make harmony among all of the three points, not just focused on one point. At the center of this circle, there is always the Unification Church HQ.
As you can see, this is the bird’s eye view of the growth-stage CBG. It has 5 stories, one basement floor and four above ground. This is the 1st floor; the composition plan shows the main movement and the side movement of the visitors. In the middle of the first floor there is a café and a meditation room. At the upper part there is the office area. The top of the first floor is planned as a VIP area. On the right there is a nursery, and children can enter the building through another main entrance. In the very middle of the floor there is a circular hall that people can approach from any direction; its form looks like it’s floating on water. The large area of the first floor is designed as an open area where people can communicate freely.
We can see the 3 movements of visitors. These are some images of the first floor and the left side view of the first floor when they enter the building. It’s designed to give an impression that people are warmly welcomed. Here is the right view of the first floor; on the left you can see the circular hall and on the right an open café to communicate freely.
In the circular hall we tried to express holiness, through the water image. This is the inside of the hall which looks like it’s floating on water, where people can pray.
This is the 2nd floor; an area for VIPs and space for workshops and training. On the right there is a lecture hall and a video center. This is the plan for the 2nd floor; you can see the movement of visitors. The greatest characteristic here is a space for meditation. This is the main lecture hall on the 2nd floor.
Let me explain about the 3rd and 4th floors. There is an auditorium, some public space and roof. This is the plan of the auditorium and the movement of visitors. The auditorium will have a vertical element to express holiness. There is the hallway to approach the auditorium, on the 3rd floor. We tried to use natural materials. We really hope that you can gather your hope and faith to build the completion stage CBG. Thank you!
The left-side view. Upper view of the auditorium. This is the medium-size lecture hall. In the basement there is space for community and a restaurant.
Next the VIP room; we tried to use eco-friendly materials to give a feeling of nature. Nursery for children, our future leaders. This is the image of the nursery. I hope your children can play here and plan your bright future.
These are finishing materials -- we try to use natural materials. Thank you for your warm heart and donations and we will try our best to build a good building.
Hyung Jin Nim:
Brothers and Sisters, let’s give it up again for Kukbo Company -- they’re helping us with the interior designing. The next company will be Isaac, with the exterior and engineering part. Remember, these are preliminary designs which will be modified as we go along. Let’s welcome Isaac.
3rd PPT presentation:
Let me explain about the construction area. There is a saying, "Things that are most Korean are most international." The building will be located in Yongsan; that is at the center of Seoul. We participate in this project thinking we will build a building at the center of Korea, embracing east and west. The previous Yongsan-gu Community Center is a typical office building. Since this building will be located in the center of the city, we tried to consider the religious aspect and the city aspect, too. This building should be able to show its own quality regardless of changing trends. We tried to express people’s life course as a religious way through its front view.
Let me explain the surroundings. There is a green zone to the north, an open space to the south, Yongsan City Park to the southeast, Yongsan Park Tower to the northwest area. This building will be located in the center of a high-ranking housing area which is currently attracting a lot of social attention. Our main design concepts are Faith and Unity. First, we expressed faith by praying hands, and unity is shown by open arms, embracing the world regardless of east or west.
The basic form of the building expresses the message of hope. We can have hope when east and west make harmony. There are three main colors, white, yellow and blue.
The landscape architecture plan; there is a deck, narrow path, water fountain and entrance. Here people can enjoy nature in the middle city. In the backyard there is an open place where people can meet their inner self through meditation and prayer.
This is the roof floor; the ceiling design expresses future and vision for the world. There is a cloud garden, outdoor concert hall and meditation path. On the roof there is an open space that can be home to people who seek tranquility and peace.
People can see the character of this unique building from everywhere. We’ve separated the movement of visitors and movement of cars. Now you can see the landscape architecture plan. The elevation plan of the building expresses peace, which is the Unification Movement’s ultimate goal. It’s made of yellow marble. Glass and granite express clearness and purity of religion, symbolizing holiness and spiritual authority. There is a dome in the upper part, symbolizing hope in the form of praying hands.
Thank you very much!
Hyung Jin Nim:
Let’s give Isaac Company a big hand. Brothers and sisters, at the top of the building there is going to be the Unification Mark. So all the brothers and sisters who live in those apartments, when they look down and see our Temple, they’re going to see that beautiful thing illuminating the night sky. Let’s give it up for Unification Church! It is now our time!