Rev. Sang-seon Park’s talk on May 12, 2024 at Cheonwon Great Church, Seorak, Korea
Greetings! The title of today’s sermon is ‘The Ironclad Law of Growth and Development.’
I will read a passage from True Parents’ words (CSG 1039-34) “Everything that lives will inevitably develop. As things progress, something new comes into being. This is the Principle.”
I grew up in a farming family, so I spent a lot of time barefoot in the soil and have plenty of experience planting, tending, and harvesting grains. After passing the winter, when spring comes, the fields are quickly covered with green barley. I never saw that around here, but these days, walking to and from church, I see green barley growing and covering the field, and I’m reminded once more how nature is truly amazing. I was surprised to see the barley growing day by day. It felt like when I planted corn in the field, how surprised I was to see the corn grow quickly. I’m amazed at how powerful the soil is, and I also wonder where the power comes from that causes the crops to grow.
Spring is such a season. I think this is the season that makes us think about taking root, growth, and development. I would like to talk about fundamental principles of growth and development from True Parents’ words.
(CSG 1090-8) “I do it for the church so that I can become bigger, I do it for the country so that I can become bigger, I do it for the world so that I can become bigger, and I do it for heaven and earth so that I can become bigger. How big is big? To reach the highest level.”
Ultimately, one of the important principles of growth and development is that we grow and develop as much as we work for the good. Why is serving others the ironclad law of growth and development? To put it another way, living for each other is the same as becoming one. Growing as we live for the sake of others is the same as saying we grow and develop as we become one. We must become one in order to progress.
(CSG 630-22:) “There can be progress only when two become one. If two do not become one, there is absolutely no development. This is the ironclad law of the universe.”
So Father said that two becoming one is the iron law of development and an important factor toward realizing the heavenly kingdom.
(CSG 1081-33:) “What is the one factor that can create heaven? It is unification. Heaven cannot be realized without going through the Principle-related process of unification. Only through unity can heaven be achieved.”
This means that when two people become one through a life for the sake of others, growth and development is possible.
What I will tell you from now on is what I heard from elders among the 36 couples.
True Parents first built a training center at Cheongpyeong in 1971, so this year marks the 53rd year. The training center built 53 years ago can no longer be seen, and new providences, including Cheon Jeong Gung and Cheon Won Gung, are being developed around that original site.
I didn’t know much about the process that took place before True Parents settled down here, and I just wondered whether Heavenly Parent helped guide them to a place like this, or if True Parents found this ideal spot and settled down through their abilities. All I had to go on was vague suppositions.
Not long ago, I happened to hear a story from an elder of the 36 couples about the journey True Parents took to settle down in Cheongpyeong. Hearing that, my thoughts completely changed. True Parents did not just come to Cheongpyeong one fine day. Before venturing on Cheongpyeong, they started near Incheon, where the Han River meets the West Sea, working their way up the Han River to the North Han Branch, staying various places, pitching a tent at night, spending the night by the riverside, looking for the right spot that True Parents felt was propitious. That’s how they did it. Along the banks of the North Han River (tributary of the Han River that flows through Seoul) in Yangpyeong, and that they spent many days pitching tents here and there by Cheongpyeong Dam. After all that searching, Father finally decided to set up our training center here in Songsan village in Seorak township.
When True Parents were trying to settle on the place they had envisioned in their hearts, they did not wait for heaven to tell them or for the spirit world to lead them. Instead, True Parents went up the Han River themselves, camping by the water or spending the night in various locales. By spending a lot of time in direct communion with water, land, sky, trees, and air, they set out to find the best place that suited what they had envisioned in their mind. They spent a lot of time tuning into oneness with the water, the mountains, the land, the wind, and the stars. All the time they spent pitching their tent by the water was all in the context of their life for the sake of others. Through those times of becoming one, being concerning for the sake of those to come, this place was found. True Parents gave it the name Cheon Won.
Let me share one more story. While Father was imprisoned at Danbury, I often wondered how he lived in prison. He woke up early in the morning, prayed, and met with Mother. As Father said, he moved the headquarters of our church to Danbury, instructing leaders and conducting providential work from prison.
There is one episode I can never forget about Father’s life while he was imprisoned at Danbury. It is said that at Danbury Prison, a food truck came by once a day so inmates could purchase vittles or daily necessities they wanted. When the PX truck arrived, Father would purchase items through Mr. Kamiyama, who was serving time with Father. One day Father told Mr. Kamiyama to buy more food and miscellanea than usual, and told him to give half of it to one prisoner. Mr. Kamiyama bought the goods as Father directed, gave half of it to the inmate Father mentioned, and brought the rest to eat with Father. While eating together, Father talked about that fellow. Father was watching prison inmates buying food from the mobile food service, and he noticed one person who didn’t go to the truck to buy anything. Father said he watched that person for a few days, but he never went to the truck. Father thought perhaps that guy lacked the money to buy anything from the truck, and probably he had no family or friends to send him money. So Father bought food and told me to give half of it to that poor soul.
The reason I’m telling you this is that you may think Father’s mind is totally different from ours, but I want to tell you that is not the case. Father found out after observing for several days that the man he watched in jail never went to the truck to buy anything. It was not something that spirit world or someone else taught him. After watching for a while, Father noticed that everyone went to the truck to buy stuff, but that one person never went out to the truck. Noticing that pattern, Father got an idea about that person’s situation. While others used money sent from outside to buy delicious snacks when the food truck showed up, Father imagined how much this person wanted to go and get some snacks. It’s not that Father possesses any special abilities or powers. Rather, he took interest in others’ lives, and could finally understand that person.
Taking an interest in and understanding another person’s life is the starting point for becoming one with someone. As we come to know them, we come to realize there’s something we can do for that person. That’s the way Father did things.
Dear members of Cheonwon Great Church, there’s a reason I’m saying this today: Less than a year remains till the Victory Entrance Ceremony for the Cheonil Sanctum in 2025. True Mother keeps urging us to create the environment where Heavenly Parent can freely operate and abide on this earth.
I am making effort, praying how to unite our hearts, trying to figure out how our movement can grow and develop as a church and fulfill our central responsibility of realizing the will of Heavenly Parent and the ideal of one human family. As I strive to find the answer to the question how our church can grow and develop according to True Parents’ words at this time, I’m concluding that the answer will come from how well our church practices living for the sake of unity.
So, what sort of life is this, living for the sake of becoming one with the residents and leaders of Seorak township, the area where Cheon Won Church is located? I think just waiting for the church to develop, when our church is not actually living to benefit or striving to become one with Seorak citizens is like moaning that there’s no grain to harvest whereas the field was not plowed and seeds were not sown in the spring.
But I think our church is specially blessed. If we pay a little attention and seek to harmonize with the leaders and residents of Seorak municipality, to become a church that cares for others, then opportunities will be created for such an environment.
Yesterday, our deacons and elders boarded the cruise boat. To celebrate Family Month as a church, we supported senior pastors, elders, and deacons in our church to join the Gapyeong cruise. Some of our elders and deacons invited friends and neighbors, and they all had a wonderful time. It plainly made a good impression on local citizens.
A visit to Nami Island was part of the Gapyeong cruise, with members of the Seorak-myeon local government invited. Gapyeong Cruise sponsored the event. I think the big occasion was specially featured as a promotion among the Seorak community.
We took the time to host a busload of people and guide them on a tour of Cheon Jeong Gung Palace. Korea boasts many poets and avid readers, and they regularly hold meetings. Yesterday, we were planning to host a poetry recital aboard the cruise vessel, but circumstances didn’t allow it, so we held the poetry reading at the Hanwon Teahouse, dined at Hyojeongyeon Restaurant, then took the Gapyeong cruise to Nami-seon. I planned the itinerary to include a tour of Cheon Jeong Gung. Since I’m friends with the chairman, we arranged the program schedule together. It worked well.
Cheonjeonggung and Cheonwongung are becoming the subject of many people’s attention both internally and in society at large. This means we’re coming by more opportunities to harmonize and make oneness with many people.
If we live according to the words of True Parents, we will definitely develop. As things progress, something new comes into being.
All our members are maintaining Cheon Shim Won vigils around the world, praying to unite with True Mother and for the development of our church. Let’s all engrave in our hearts the ironclad law of growth and development through the words of True Parents. If we unite, we’ll surely make progress. To become one, we must follow the principle of living for the sake of others. Living for others brings unity. If we live for the sake of others and become one, we’ll grow, our family will grow, our church will grow, and our nation will grow.
The life of True Parents, who have lived for the sake of others, was not of a different dimension from ours. If we change our thoughts just a little, we can live a life of serving others as shown by True Parents. Cheongpyeong is a land discovered through living with concern for others, in the way True Parents have lived. There’s no need to talk about how the land is developing. Our Cheonwon Church is the blessed church of the world, established in that very land. Our church is blessed and all our members are blessed. Dear members of Cheonwon Church, let us have confidence and conviction that our church will grow. Aju!
Through the life we live for all of us and the life that seeks to become one, we will all grow, our families will grow, and our church and Korea will rise tall in the world and become a source of blessing for the entire nation and people.
These days, our church, centered on our new president Kim Young-seok, encourages our IWs to follow the model of the Japanese missionaries, the 2nd generation families follow the newly reborn second-gen families, and reorganize the Korea peninsula and regions, and pondering how to become more united. We meet to discuss whether it is okay to undertake so-and-so if there are members who are struggling alone. There will be a similar meeting after today’s service, and we invite your active participation.
To conclude, recently churches not only in Heavenly Korea but all around the world are determined to grow and develop our church and are pooling their utmost sincerity. But this jeongseong is not just for the development and growth of our church. Shouldn’t our country grow further politically, economically, and socially? You might say that you’re satisfied at having achieved this level of economic growth and democratization, but that is not the case. We’ve a long way to go. Even globally speaking, we know how much pain and tears were shed through wars over a long period of history, yet today’s world has proven still incapable of stopping such wars. Aren’t there enough talented people? How many good people are there? No money? Can’t we learn? However, we’ve still found no way to stop wars breaking out.
There is no hope for this world unless the prayers and devotion of our members come together and open a new path in this world. We are working hard to gather the prayers and sincerity of our family members and open a way for the righteous religious people and righteous people of this world to become one. Our sincerity and prayers will never fall fruitless and we will reap their fruits.
We must become absolutely one with True Mother. Our concern, attention, and love are needed if we are to help our families, friends, neighbors, and local communities become one. That is a life for the sake of others.
Where there is a life for the sake of others, a life of unity, interest, and love, the fruits of development and growth will inevitably be seen. Aju!
Let us pray.