True Mother designated Cheon Won Church (in Hyojeong CheonWon Complex, Korea) as the international headquarters church and has asked that it develop into model church. Now, as is clear also from this sermon, a major church of ours in Seoul is being twinned with the headquarters church.
Sincere members in Korea are putting in a great deal of effort to make the church service into a more pleasant and personal experience.
We thought that it may be of interest to readers to see what kind of sermons are being given here at the main church, and as the sermons are interpreted [live] into English we have the chance to publish an English translation of some of them. This content may be of interest to the casual reader, but it may also be helpful for church leaders looking for an idea or two for their next Sunday service, or to understand aspects of the developing providence.
Please click here for sermons and testimonies from Cheon Won Church services from earlier weeks.
Peace Nuri, Rev. Park Sang-seon, June 5, 2022
Hello brother and sisters ~ it’s good to see you. And greetings to all of you families online sharing this time with us!
This is our first Peace Nuri of the month of June. I’ll be giving the services during this whole month of June. In May, Rev. Kim Hong-deuk delivered the grace-filled Word with all messages of importance for the Family. And special thanks to Director Song Kwang-seok for his hyojeong testimony sharing. I am also grateful to the families who come to do the weekly hoondok reading.
Last Monday May 30 was the 1st day of the 5th month of the Heavenly Calendar—we held the 68th Anniversary of our Founding at the Cheon Bok Gung this year. Church pastors from all over gathered for the Commemoration. In 1954 the Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity was established and in 1994 Family Federation for Unification and World Peace was founded. At this ceremonious event True Mother changed the name of the Cheon Bok Gung Church to Cheon Won Gung Cheonseung (“Heavenly Victory”) Church. Mother blessed the Cheonseung Church that in time to come it will play a pivotal role in advancing toward substantiating a heavenly unified Korea.
During this founding commemoration event, there was an event to congratulate pastors who have devoted 15 or 33 years of service, and to congratulate those pastors who are retiring at the age of 70. In addition, there is a time for conferring the Hyojeong Pastor Award and the Hyojeong Blessed Family Award. In our church, the family of Lee Jong-hyo received the Hyojeong Blessed Family Award, so today I wish to congratulate you once again in front of all our family members here. In particular, as they introduced each of the seniors retiring at the age of 70, I was reminded of past times I worked with them, and I send my applause of respect, gratitude, and congratulations from my heart.
At this commemorative event, in a special report from General Director Yun Young-ho, he proclaimed that this is the day to launch the 60-month providence until 2027. Now, from May 31 to 2027, a 60-month providential period has begun; today is the 7th day. 2027 should be the year of victory for the establishment of Heavenly Unified Korea and the year in which the foundation for the establishment of a Heavenly Unified World is laid globally.
A Korean prophet predicted that 2025 will be the year of North-South Korean reunification. It will not come just as she said, but it will come about according to the providence of Heaven.
Not so many years ago, when East and West Germany broke down the barriers and became reunited, East Germany declared that East Germany’s socialism had succeeded. On the day the Berlin Wall between East and West fell, West German Chancellor Helmut was not in Germany. While visiting a neighboring country, he heard the news that the wall had come down. Later, he recalled that the door to the reunification of East and West Germany was slightly opened by Heaven and reunification was made possible, and they seized the opportunity.
That’s the way it happens. When the moment comes and Heaven opens the door to unification on the Korean Peninsula, we have to open the door wider at that moment to achieve the unification of the Korean Peninsula. We are convinced that heavenly providence will come by 2027, i.e. within the next 60 months, and when that time comes, we must be mentally prepared to welcome our brothers and sisters from North Korea as one family. To welcome them as one family means to understand their difficult and trying circumstances and to have the attitude of willingness to share hardships together.
So now, a national movement is unfolding across the country to prepare for the reunification of South and North Korea. The International Headquarters is creating an environment where foreign leaders and experts can be invited to support and cooperate with Korean unification through the Think Tank 2022 Forum and the Heavenly Unified Korea Peace Forum. All institutions and organizations such as these are uniting to hold national leaders lectures for the reunification of North and South, show the vision for the peaceful reunification of the Korean Peninsula in the hearts of all the people, and carry out a national movement to long for the reunification of South and North with one heart and mind.
Just as an important aside, before announcing the start of this 60-month special providence, General Director Yun Young-ho visited Africa at True Mother’s direction and laid an important foundation. I don’t have time to tell you everything, but I’ll give you a brief rundown. This visit to Africa was a visit mainly to two countries, Senegal and Niger. Senegal holds the chair of the Union of 54 African countries, and Niger hosts the chair for the Economic Community of 27 West African countries. These two countries already have a winning foundation, as they hosted the 2018 and 2019 World Summits. Dr. Yun met the presidents of these two countries and discussed holding the World Summit once again. What is the purpose of the World Summit? The main purpose is to support and cooperate toward the peaceful reunification of the Korean Peninsula.
The reality that Ukraine has not lost to Russia after more than 100 days of intense fighting shows how important international support and cooperation are for the reunification of South and North Korea. Because many countries are supporting and aiding Ukraine, they are not being pushed back in the fight against Russia. More importantly, since the President of Ukraine and the people of Ukraine stand together to protect their nation, other countries are also interested and willing to help. How about Afghanistan in 2021 last year? After the Americans withdrew, they said they would hold out for six months, but when the Taliban launched an attack, the president fled to another country, so who is trying to protect the country? In less than a month, the Taliban took over the country.
The same goes for our country. No matter how much Heaven gives us an opportunity to reunify the Korean Peninsula, we cannot seize the opportunity God has given us unless we people, including our President, become one, and many neighboring countries cooperate and support us. Under True Mother’s command, the IHQ is putting all its energy into eliciting global support and cooperation for the peaceful reunification of the Korean Peninsula, led by Director Yun Young-ho. At the center of it all, the leaders and people of our country are carrying out a campaign to root for the reunification of the South and the North with one heart.
One of the important things we discussed during our visit to Africa was to establish a council of religious leaders in the African Union of 54 countries. This type of recommendation has long been emphasized by True Parents: that a UN assembly of religious leaders should be like the Senate of the United Nations and that the existing general assembly of national leaders should play the same role as the House of Representatives. In fact, such proposals were made through some national presidents and prime ministers. However, this time, it was proposed to create a senate composed of religious leaders in the African Union, and in fact, we are preparing to hold a religious leaders conference in South Africa in July, inviting two religious leaders from each of the 54 countries. To discuss such issues, we met the President of the African Union, President Macky Sall of Senegal. Senegalese President Macky Sall already participated in hosting the World Summit in Senegal in 2018, and after the World Summit, he invited the leaders of the country to participate in the Blessing Ceremony. He also fully understands that religious leaders in the African Union should act as the Senate.
The reason the Senate composed of religious leaders should be formed first from Africa is that religions around the world are losing their spirituality, but Africa is where the spirituality has not yet lost its light. A representative example of this is Prophet Radebe of the “Revelation Spiritual Home” in South Africa. After seeing True Mother, he understood and accepted the providence of the only begotten Daughter, Heavenly Parent’s Holy Community, and the providence of CheonBo blessed families. If these religious leaders become the center and the religious leaders of all African countries unite and raise the lamp of spirituality again, it is believed that the light can spread throughout the world again. The beginning will be Africa. I’d like to ask a big round of applause for the victory of African religious leaders in working for a new pan-African senate!
Director Yun Young-ho is now visiting Cambodia. The reason he went there is to meet Prime Minister Hun Sen, who is the chairperson of ASEAN, the Southeast Asian Union, and discuss important matters at this time. In mid-May, he held an important meeting online with Cambodia, and the content was surprising. Prime Minister Hun Sen was Chairman of the Korean Peninsula Peace Summit Preparatory Committee in February. When sending invitations to the world leaders for the Summit for Peace on the Korean Peninsula, they sent invitations in the names of the Prime Minister of Cambodia, President Ban Ki-moon, and UPF Chairman Thomas Walsh. With this as an opportunity, I did a lot of research on UPF, and what was suggested through the online meeting this time was that Cambodia has decided to become a UPF member nation at the national level and will urge other countries to become UPF members at the national level as well. At the time UPF was originally established, it was intended to play the role of an Abel United Nations. Now this recommendation is being put forth substantially by the leaders of countries themselves. Are you surprised to hear this proposal being made like this?
When True Parents founded UPF, they clearly said that it should play the role of the Abel United Nations, but who at that time thought that the national UPF assemblies would come to take the position of Abel nations before the UN? Now, under True Mother’s direction, Director General Yun is visiting Cambodia; he is visiting the first country to become a member of the UPF, which was established as Abel United Nations. He reported that Prime Minister Hun Sen not only made a proposal, but also instructed parliamentary officials to legally make Cambodia a member of UPF. Will you give a big round of applause for this wonderful providential triumph?
When I heard the special report from Director Yun on the anniversary of the foundation of FFWPU last Monday and the start of the 60-month special providence was proclaimed, a thought came to me. This is that tomorrow is Memorial Day (현충일), and Korea is a country with a special tradition in that regard.
Before the President attends the presidential inauguration, he must visit the Memorial Cemetery to pay his respects and write down his heart’s resolution in the guestbook. It is not just presidential inaugurations: people who hold other important positions in the country visit the Memorial Cemetery to pay their respects before taking up their office. What kind of place is the Memorial Cemetery? It is a place where those who sacrificed for, or made great contributions to, the country are interred. As our nation has been protected through the hard work and sacrifice of such people, it is the place to go to make a pledge in front of them with the resolve to further develop our nation into a country where their sacrifice shall not have been in vain.
I think it was meaningful that last Monday’s event to commemorate the 68th anniversary of the founding of our Family Federation, and to declare the start of the new 60-month providence, was an occasion to celebrate the retirement of those who have served in the ministry, and to commend them for their dedication. In front of our pastoral colleagues and seniors, and in front of our seniors and our blessed families and family members who have made sacrifices with all kinds of hard work and sacrifice on the road of the providence, I think we had an occasion to make a new determination for a providential victory in the coming 60 months, so that the hard work and sacrifice of all those people will not have been in vain.
In addition, I had some time for determination and resolve to begin this 60-month period toward victory in 2027, thinking of those who are walking the path of providence together with Heavenly Parent and True Parents, who are still working hard in the mission field—and those who have gone on the path of martyrdom. I will speak about some missionaries and martyrs whom I can remember. I will first read from Mother’s memoirs, p.142[Korean]:
“One day in the early 1980s, a letter was delivered. It read, ‘My last moment on earth is approaching. This is my last time to greet you in this world. I will see you in heaven. Please live long and healthy lives.’ It was a letter written by a missionary who was imprisoned and about to be executed. My body stiffened as if my blood had frozen. Even my tears froze, and I was at once a mourner. I stood there without saying a word for a while. My husband and I had to bury in our hearts these people that we loved.”
There are many people who were martyred in the course of our providence. I can’t tell you everything during today’s service. I had nearly 5 years of experience doing missionary work in Africa. At that time, after meeting a senior missionary working in a mission in Africa, I never had the thought that missionary work in Africa was difficult. This person is still doing activities in Africa. As he went to Africa in 1975, he has been doing missionary work in Africa for about 47 years now. He is in the country called Benin, in West Africa. He is Japanese, Missionary Sasaki. I was in the Republic of Congo [“Congo Brazzaville”], which is not so far away.
I had the opportunity to meet and talk with him in Africa. First, I asked what kind of determination he had when he started missionary work in Africa. Here’s his answer: He said he initially began missionary work in Central Africa. He said the first thing he did when he went to Central Africa was to go to a cemetery and buy a gravesite where he and his wife would be buried when they died. Hearing those words, I no longer thought missionary work in Africa was too challenging or difficult.
Let me introduce one more person. I also met this person while I was in Africa, and this person went on a mission to Asia and is still in Asia. This is Robert Kittel, from North America. He went out on a mission to Pakistan in Asia in 1975, and he is still in Asia. This person received a revelation at the beginning of the fourth year while attending college in the United States, and so he went around visiting all the religious groups around the school to listen to God’s Word. Then one day he met the Unification Church witnessing bus at his school. At that time, they were doing witnessing activities using buses in the U.S. He met the witnessing bus and heard the Principle and listened for 7 days. But after 7 days, they said the bus was moving on to another place. He was startled and thought about what to do, but thought he should go along, even though he was due to graduate after 4 years of college. So he arranged everything, quit college, and joined the witnessing bus to do activities together. Then, in 1975, when missionaries were sent to 127 countries around the world [actually it was 95, making a total of 127], he was sent to Pakistan in Asia. At that time, he bought a one-way ticket to Pakistan. Pakistan is a Muslim country. Christians cannot do witnessing there. And people there speak Arabic. Even though there was not a single member of our church there, he started the mission, and after a year had passed he said he reflected deeply.
“Shall I go back to America or continue my mission work?” he asked himself. “Do I truly love Pakistan? Is there anything I love in Pakistan?” If there was, he asked himself if he could continue his missionary work, and searched for what he truly loved in Pakistan. I asked him, “So, did you find something you love in Pakistan?”
“Yes, I found it,” replied Robert Kittel.
“What was it?”
The answer was, “One of the kinds of fruit in Pakistan is the mango, and the mangos there are so sweet and delicious compared to the mangos in the United States.” So, in the end, he decided to continue the mission. Later, he went on missions to various countries in Asia, mainly Muslim countries, and he is still in Asia.
Can you give a round of applause for these missionaries?
For what are we treading this path of toil and sacrifice? Let’s look at a verse from CSG:
“The core of what the Unification Church teaches is simple. It is the establishment of an ideal family that can please God.”
We are people who dream of living in an ideal family that can please God. So, what is such an ideal family?
“Then in what ways are blessed families different? The members of a blessed family cannot be separated from each other no matter how hard they try. …Since the kingdom of heaven is a place where the family must enter together, the family must be united. If a member of that family has done wrong, the whole family must wait until the wrongdoing of that family member can be resolved and atoned for. That is why, one way or another, each family member needs to reach perfection on this earth before passing into the spirit world.”
Heaven is a place a family enters together, and it is our faith that if even one member of the family cannot enter the kingdom of heaven because of some mistake, we must wait until that family member can enter and then enter together.
When one person in the family makes a mistake, we have to wait, but that doesn’t mean just one family. All of humankind is one family under our Heavenly Parent. Therefore, heaven is the place that all of humankind should enter together.
The Peace Road Movement is one of the movements for all humankind to achieve a world of peace and thus heaven together. Just as our families cannot be separated, neither can all of humankind. Peace Road is a movement for all people not to fall away but to become one. Today, Peace Road Chairman Song Gwang-seok shared a testimony. Let’s look at the hoondok content about Peace Road once again:
“The International Peace Highway will rearrange the current inequality by creating access to existing natural and human resources. This will bring about a leveling of wealth. Leveling means that a little is taken off places that are high and added to places that are low. As a result, the two have the same height. This will require sacrifice from those with greater material possessions or knowledge. Building a world of peace cannot be done with one-time charitable acts or donations. Only sincere love and continuous sacrifice is capable of creating a world of peace.
I will conclude.
Heavenly Parent will open the door for all humankind to become one, and for the peaceful reunification of the Korean Peninsula. But we must open the door wide and go in. Heaven is a place we cannot enter unless our family enters together. Likewise, heaven is a place where all humankind cannot enter unless they become one family and enter together.
We are people who have such a dream: We have a dream of living in a family that Heavenly Parent will be pleased with. Furthermore, we are people with a vision that all humankind will become one family with Heavenly Parent and surely achieve heaven on earth on this earth.
There are people who have been martyred along the way, and there are people who have gone through hard work that cannot be put into words. Above all else, True Parents are taking the lead and putting everything into action. Furthermore, Heavenly Parent is with us on this path.
Now, as we launch the 60-month providence toward 2027, we ask all of our family members to once again engrave the dream and vision of one human family in their hearts, to be thankful for being able to share a strong beginning with Heavenly Parent and True Parents, and to move forward with an attitude of investing your all without reserve. Thank you.
Please join me in prayer.