Rev. Park Sang-seon’s Sermon at CheonWon Church, givn on January 7, 2024
As we welcome the new year, I hope that the families of CheonWon Great Church members will be filled with the great love and blessings of Heavenly Parent and True Parents.
Last week, as we welcomed the first day of 2024, it was great grace that Blessed Families from all over the world were able to join us in a special vigil at Cheon Shim Won. As we welcome the new year, we often think about wanting to greet the first Sun of the New Year on a mountaintop or by the seaside. Our church family held a special vigil at Cheon Shim Won to mark the first hours of the new year with Heavenly Parent and True Parents who have gifted this to us.
True Mother re-proclaimed the motto she gave to welcome 2014 as our motto for 2024 and reminded us of her message back then. The motto proclaimed by True Mother on the first New Year’s morning in 2014 is “Let us become the true owners of Cheon Il Guk, practicing true love that resembles our Creator, Heavenly Parent.”
Centering on the slogan and words of True Parents, she announced that 2024, the Year of the Blue Dragon, will be the year in which we soar toward the dream of becoming one human family attending Heavenly Parent. She asked us to set aside 40 days of special jeongseong, and requested that we devote ourselves to it.
The motto and words given on the first morning of the New Year 2024 are words we must all engrave in our hearts and fulfill throughout this year 2024. I’d like to take this time to think about how we should all live in 2024, focusing on the motto and words proclaimed by True Mother. In her talk, True Mother spoke about what we must not forget even for a single day, and what we must not forget even for an hour or even a minute. First, True Mother said, “We must not forget our Heavenly Parent as we live our daily lives.”
And True Mother said there is one thing that all of us must not forget, not just for a day, but for an hour or even a minute: That is the “True Owner.” True Mother declared that we should all become true owners of Cheon Il Guk, and that a true owner is a master who resembles the Creator, Heavenly Parent. If we want to become the true owners of Cheon Il Guk, we must resemble our Heavenly Parent.
If you want to resemble your Heavenly Parent, the only way is to always engrave the words Heavenly Parent has given you in your heart and always think about your Heavenly Parent. But how can we become like our Heavenly Parent if we forget them? That is why she said we must not forget our Heavenly Parent as we live our lives every day. So she emphasized that we must not forget, not only every day, but even for an hour or even a minute, that we must become the true owners of Cheon Il Guk.
We stand in front of our Heavenly Parent and offer the Family Pledge. During Sunday services, important events, worship services at home, prayer meetings, etc., we stand in front of our Heavenly Parent and recite the Family Pledge, with its 8 verses. There is a common phrase that is repeated from verses 1 through 8. What is that?
“Our family as the owner of Cheon Il Guk…” We say the Family Pledge, and that oath is not made by just anyone, but by our family, who have become owners of Cheon Il Guk.
True Mother said we must not forget even an hour or a minute. She refers to “true owner” of Cheon Il Guk. I think the reason True Mother emphasizes “true owners” like this is because she realizes that we have not yet become the true owners of Cheon Il Guk. Let’s look again at True Mother’s words about the sense of ownership.
I hope that we will become citizens of Cheon Il Guk, a new nation, with a sense of ownership and responsibility in all aspects of life, mission, family, public. Mother said that to become true owners of Cheon Il Guk, we must change—and that change is possible when we each assume a sense of ownership and act responsibly.
Think and think about how to take responsible action with a sense of ownership. “We must think, think again, invoke heaven’s wisdom, and use all methods, abilities, everything we can as humans to change things.” she said.
If Cheon Il Guk experiences difficulties, who will suffer the most? It is the owner of Cheon Il Guk. The owner has the hardest time. When a house catches fire, people come out to watch. It is said that the largest number of people flock to watch fights and fires. Is there anyone among those who come out to watch for whom the experience is more painful and difficult than the owner of the house that is burning down? There may be people around the owner who lament and sigh how hard this must be, and try to offer help in some way, but no one is suffering more than the owner of that house.
When True Parents first visited the United States, they said America was on fire and America was sick. It’s not that America called True Parents and asked them to cure the nation’s ills. America didn’t recognize that it was on fire or the extent of its malaise.
True Parents are the son and daughter of Heavenly Parent who truly love America. They went to put out the fire because the America that Heavenly Parent loves was on fire. True Parents, who did their best to awaken America from its slumber, are not American, yet they preached the word all over the U.S. with the same love and concern as the true owners of America and did everything in their power to straighten out America’s youth and families. They poured out their whole selves! A movement arose where young people and righteous people in America became masters of their country through the words of True Parents.
Whoever strives to lead our world to a world of true love and peace is the owner of this world. True owners of this world are those who do not watch as bystanders the disasters and wars this world is experiencing; but try to solve the problems with the same heart as the owners of the world. Such people are the owners of Cheon Il Guk.
She said we need to change this world into a world of true love and peace. That requires heavenly wisdom, and in seeking heavenly wisdom, we must think and think again and use all our methods and abilities. She said that is the attitude of a true owner. Day by day we must not forget our Heavenly Parent, but seek God’s wisdom. Our wisdom alone has its limits. Mother also said we must take responsible action with a sense of ownership by mobilizing all the methods and abilities that we have.
Another important thing True Mother emphasized in the motto is practicing true love. We must become owners of Cheon Il Guk who resemble our Creator, Heavenly Parent, and at the same time owners of Cheon Il Guk who practice true love. We all want to practice true love, yet without exception, we would all confess that practicing true love is difficult. Are you living well while practicing true love? If someone asked, not many people would say “Yes!” out loud.
True love is put into practice through living for the sake of others. “Investing, forgetting, and investing again” is true love. True love bears fruit through the other person. It is not that we cannot practice true love because we do not know what it is or how to do it. Then why is it difficult to practice true love?
Let’s look at True Parents’ words in Cheon Seong Gyeong:
“Children develop depth and breadth of their heart through loving and affectionate rearing that only parents can provide within the family. This becomes the cornerstone of your child’s character.”
We receive education in love and heartistic upbringing at home from our parents. Through such rearing in love, the depth and breadth of our heart grows. This is the cornerstone of nurturing our character. Where is character created? As the depth and breadth of the heart increase, our personality develops. If your heart is not broad and deep, neither can you have a wholesome, embracing character.
Those who lack ample depth and breadth of heart cannot go beyond themselves. A person who cannot understand others’ circumstances or situations does not have a deep or broad heart. I venture to say a person with great breadth and depth of heart can understand the situations and plights of others.
As children receive loving, heartfelt nurture and upbringing from their parents, their hearts expand and deepen. As the breadth and depth of your heart swells, the eyes of your heart open to understand the exigencies others are struggling to cope with. When you can empathize with others’ trying circumstances, it is possible to live for their sake. You are able to give each person what he or she needs.
True love is a life of giving and forgetting. But if you cannot understand another person’s circumstances and needs, how can you do something for them or give them what they need or like?
So the cornerstone and starting point enabling us to live a life of true love is to develop the breadth and depth of our heart. If we receive a good upbringing from our parents with overflowing love and a warm-hearted atmosphere, the breadth and depth of our heart will naturally grow. If we had taken to heart and truly practiced the loving nurturing and education in heart we received from Heavenly Parent and True Parents, the breadth and depth of our hearts would grown to wholesome maturity, and we would abundantly manifest the fruits of such a heart in oneness with our Parents.
How could you remain silent and unmoved if you are keenly sensitive to the difficult circumstances of those around you? Then living for the sake of others would not be a challenge. The reason we have difficulty living such a life of true love is that, although we have indeed been exposed to true love and affectionate guidance from True Parents, the breadth and depth of our hearts have not grown sufficiently yet.
That’s why I decided to title today’s sermon “Breadth and depth of the heart.”
Let’s look at True Parents’ words: “When you embrace the world and all things centered on God’s heart, no one else can take over. Only then will the fortunes of heaven begin to move, the blessings of the world will remain to bear fruit, and the Garden of Eden will open up.”
True Parents said that in order for the fortune of heaven to move and the blessings of the world to remain and bear fruit, one must be capable of embracing all things and all people centering on the heart of God.
This means that as the breadth and depth of our heart increases and we can understand the circumstances of those around us, and even more so to understand God’s heart, the fortunes of heaven will move and the blessings of the world will be with us. We are children of Heavenly Parent and receive blessings from our Heavenly Parent. It is natural that if you grow up receiving an education in love, heart, and affection, the breadth and depth of your heart will be such that you can understand the heart of Heavenly Parent. Naturally, children who grow up receiving love from their parents empathize with their parents’ feelings and concerns. In the same way, it is only natural that children who grow up in Heavenly Parent’s love can empathize with God’s heart and concerns.
As a child of Heavenly Parent, if the breadth and depth of your heart is deep enough to understand the heart of Heavenly Parent, what about relations between husband and wife who marry and raise a family? If husband and wife lack depth and breadth of heart to understand each other’s situation, needs, and issues—how can they truly love as a couple? If we can’t practice true love with those we live closest to, how can we practice true love toward neighbors, friends, and relatives?
As we welcome the new year, True Parents said we must not forget even an hour or minute of each day to be “true owners of Cheon Il Guk.” Even for a single tree, if there is someone who best understands the situation the tree is in and really tries to meet its needs, that person is the tree’s true owner. A true owner is the one who can best examine and understand the situation of a family, a people, or a nation.
To become the true owner of a family, society, people, or nation, it is important to have great breadth and depth of heart. The depth and breadth of your heart will grow in the nurture of warm love and heartistic education from Heavenly Parent.
Day in and day out, we must not forget our Heavenly Parent. We must receive education in love from Heavenly Parents. To become a true owner of a family, a society, a people, and a nation, the important thing is to have a deep and wide heart. The depth and breadth of your heart expands along with receiving nurturing love and proper emotional education from Heavenly Parents.
Only when the breadth and depth of my heart grows can I become a true master, a true owner who understands the situation of my country, seeks Heaven’s wisdom, and uses all my abilities and means to resolve any difficulties our country faces. Through such education in love from Heavenly Parent, I expand and deepen my heart, coming to resemble God my Parent. Only when my heart deepens and widens sufficiently can I become a true master. This is the way to become a true owner, understanding the exigencies our nation faces, seeking Heaven’s wisdom, and using all abilities and methods at our command to resolve any difficulties confronting our nation and people.
As the owner of Cheon Il Guk, you must be the person who best understands the current situation of Cheon Il Guk. You must have the breadth and depth of heart to understand the needs and issues the Cheon Il Guk confronts. Are you looking at this world through the eyes of someone who knows the situation of Cheon Il Guk well, as the owner of Cheon Il Guk? If we recognize that problems are arising here and there that we cannot handle by our strength, how can we live without seeking Heaven’s wisdom every day?
As we conclude today’s sermon, let’s look at True Parents’ words, also in Cheon Seong Gyeong: “There can be no true peace for humankind until we first make Heavenly Parent happy by liberating God from sorrow and pain, and we can only liberate Heavenly Parent’s heart if we free His children from pain and sorrow and their slavery to sin. I have thoroughly realized this and put it into practice.”
Although we discuss world peace and anxiously seek ways to peace in the human family, True Parents exhort us that our first priority is to develop the breadth and depth of heart capable of empathizing with Heavenly Parent’s anguish and sorrow.
True Mother’s words echo Father’s: To become the true owners of Cheon Il Guk, we must live a life of thinking about our Heavenly Parent every day, before thinking about the nation, and develop the breadth and depth of our heart by emulating our Heavenly Parent. Only when the breadth and depth of our heart mature sufficiently will we become true owners qualified to examine and understand the circumstances of Cheon Il Guk.
If we as a couple in our home have not been able to live a life of careful consideration and understanding of one another’s circumstances, issues, and difficulties—it shows that the breadth and depth of my heart is limited. The insufficient depth and breadth of my heart reveal that, even though I received a loving education of the heart from Heavenly Parent and True Parents over a long period, it is still not enough.
We, who grow by receiving loving nurturing and education of the heart in the words and love of Heavenly Parent and True Parents, must always check whether I am developing the requisite “breadth and depth of heart” through my daily life, never neglecting Heavenly Parent. I think this is something each of us should be doing regularly.
We must engrave in our hearts the words of True Parents that only when the “breadth and depth of our heart” grows, can we become true owners of our families and Cheon Il Guk. The fortune of heaven will move with us and the blessings of the world will remain and bear fruit. Let us embark upon this New Year 2024. I pray that all members and families will be blessed with heavenly fortune and become the ones who return joy and glory to Heavenly Parent and True Parents from the position of true owners of Cheon Il Guk. Aju!