I am on the flight back to London from Seoul and taking a bit of time to distil the last 4 or 5 days. It is essential for me to do this, in the context of sharing my thoughts with you, because I went on behalf of and to represent our UK church community. To post my conclusions here is important for me because I want to allow us to have a shared experience that articulates the vision for our church community over the next three years.

on the outside of the ground floor shrine for the 4 great saints

The world mission department staff did a great job taking care of all the national leaders. But when they asked for feedback on what to improve we gave them several suggestions. There was a severe case of information overload and by the end they also realised this. As a result of the multiple power points and case studies there was way too much talking at or to us rather than with us; generally there was a need to develop a more effective process of communication.

That was the toughest part for me to cope with and I regret that I was not more constructive in getting over those frustrations in the heat of the moment.

Aside from that I could salvage some interesting information which I will compile and send out over the next week or two.

Now here is what really made it all click into place:

morning devotion in the temple prayer room on Ahn Shi Il

We concluded our assembly this morning by attending the first Ahn Shil Il in the new ‘mega’ Unification Church temple. Hyung Jin and Yeon Ah Moon were there and he gave an almost one hour long message that washed away most of the frustrations from the previous days.

He spoke with a powerful honesty. Through charting for us his personal journey he cast a clear vision for the Unification Church.

He outlined the Unification Movement’s main problem: Insufficient faith in True Parents as the Lord of the Second Advent; a lack of personal daily awareness of how True Parents have saved our lives by dying for us again and again. He pointed to the fact that many members are not able to be openly proud of these truths as evidence of our need for deeper more personal faith. He pointed to the book of Acts as an example of the type of faith we should aspire to. He referred to himself as an apostle.

He outlined the solution to the problem with two elements: For each of us to get into a life of devotion which allows us to first see True Parents with our spiritual eyes, and secondly gives us the heart and conviction to bring people to accept True Parents as their saviour and lord.

But why us, and why now?

Father is 90 years old and is doing his very best to stick around and give us a chance to help him secure the future. It is us because True Parents have blessed us and given their lives for us more than for anyone else. In that way we are the bridge for True Parents to the world. If it is not us now, then who is it and when?

Pastor Hyung Jin Moon says thank you as he leaves

It is clear that pastor Hyung Jin Nim will keep on repeating this vision until is sticks. But what we must do is unpack it and bring it into a practical set of action steps for our community. We have to flesh it out so that we have a workable strategy and process which will empower each family member and give all of us the opportunity to fulfil the vision: Establishing True Parents as the Way, the Truth, and the Life for building the Kingdom.

I know we all have different approaches and styles of doing what we have got to get done. That is inevitable and fine. Nevertheless we need a recognisable rallying point for all of our efforts. The Sunday before I went to Korea I spoke about our HQ church’s main purpose. We need to focus on teaching the Divine Principle and bringing people to True Parents. We will do many things, but our clear and transparent objective and purpose should be to successfully do these two things.

Again this needs to be unpacked and articulated in more detail. But let us keep our eye on these two purposes and patiently, step by step, answer all the other questions that will spring up as we go along.

I had my video camera ready because I felt in that precious moment all of you needed to be there too!  Here is part 1 of Hyun Jin Nim’s talk at Ahn Shi Il:

On the bus to Incheon airport after leaving the temple this morning I realised we have to thank the Japanese church members for Hyung Jin Nim. It is because of his experience with their faith in True Parents that he is able to provide authentic spiritual leadership. That is why sincere, genuine, personal, mature faith counts. We need those adjectives to qualify the noun, but let us nevertheless remember that faith counts and trumps personality, local culture, and any other relative human factors.

UNfortunately my video camera battery died. But God bless my iPhone, just it doesn’t have a zoom yet. Here is part 2 and 3 of Hyung Jin Nim’s very personal morning message, u might need to turn up the volume or use some headphones for volume:

On Saturday, I joined a few brothers and sisters witnessing in Croydon.  I really enjoy sharing my faith with people, especially as openly as I do when I approach people on a high street:

“Hello, my name’s Matthew.  I’m a member of the Unification Church.  Can I ask: Why do you think God created us?”

This question separates the atheists from the theists.  But for some reason, the atheists always seem like the nicest people, with whom I would pursue the deepest conversation.  I guess they’ve already done a lot of thinking, which at this stage has resulted in them losing faith in God, but perhaps they’ve at least grappled with the important questions of life.

Croydon high street is incredible on Saturdays.  It’s like a religion market, where you can take your pick from the Hare Krishnas, several denominations of Christianity, the Communist Party and, of course, the Unificationists, all of whom are vying for your attention.  I loved it!  We’re all passionate about God (well, all of us except the communists, who didn’t stay for very long!) and we want to testify to God, as witnesses of His/Her love.  I happily received a flyer from one church group, promoting a free concert.  Some MCs were rapping with a PA system (I’m assuming they were from the same church) and I actually enjoyed their marriage of message and music:

“Are you born again?
” – what?
“Are you born again?
” – what?
“Are you born again?!
” – yeh!”

The International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON, more popularly known as the Hare Krishnas) were singing and dancing.  There were many young people witnessing for all these religious groups, and some of the ISKCON members were especially young, which gave me confidence that the HARP witnessing day we’re organising for Saturday 27th February will go swimingly.  Do any of you remember the good old days, when Aunty Mary Franklin organised HARP witnessing days at the end of every month?  Well, very much inspired by her example, we’re going to resurrect that activity, so if you’d like to come along to 43 Lancaster Gate at 10am this Saturday, you’re very welcome to join in!

On the topic of sharing my faith, I read something today which annoyed me.  The CanadaEast.com’s news article about True Father’s 90th birthday, cited recently on the family fireplace,  reported that True Father “has proclaimed himself a messiah sent to complete Jesus Christ’s work on Earth.”  Why am I upset?  I’m not upset with the news agency, as they’re being entirely accurate.  No, my beef is with the fact that True Father is forced to declare himself as the Messiah.  Why should he have to do it?  It’s because not enough prominent people are doing it on his behalf.  All the news agencies should be reporting that WE are declaring True Father to be the Messiah.  And not just “a messiah” among many, but THE Messiah, the one chosen by Heavenly Father and Jesus himself to complete the Messianic mission.  We should become prominent in society and be so reputable that Father doesn’t need to declare himself Messiah, since we’ll already do it for him:

“In 2010, Matthew Huish declared Sun Myung Moon to be the Messiah, sent to complete Jesus Christ’s work on Earth”

If you like the look of that sentence, copy and paste it into a response replacing my name with your name there instead!

Did you ever experience the sweet taste of freedom in a moment, when you grabbed hold of your responsibility and just did what you knew to be true and right? The moment when our intellect, emotion and will power all sync together with our conscience is an incredibly liberating feeling.

Our freedom grows out of becoming more responsible, and in a world that is often full of irresponsibility, whether it is social, moral, personal, professional, or collective, it takes a conscious decision to become an owner and create an environment of freedom.

This was my favourite passage from our morning devotion today:

“Human beings are in a midway position where they must determine whether they belong to the side of goodness or to the side of evil. A person cannot receive help from a third party to decide whether he is heading in the direction of goodness or evil; he must decide this by himself.” Cheon Seong Gyeong, pg 1219

Yes of course you can get encouragement, good will, advice, care, and love from your parents, friends, pastors, and God, but in the end it is you who makes the choice and makes the decisions about following your conscience and your original mind.

That is the sweet and sometimes bitter truth of freedom. Good luck with your decisions today. I hope you find the freedom that lets you fly high.

Then I'd be free at last, free at last Great God Almighty I'd be free at last To let my feelings lie where harm can not come by And hurt this always hurtin' heart That needs to rest awhile I wish by golly I could spread my wings and fly And taste the sweetest taste of freedom for my soul

My favorite old man does combat with trees, or at least he used to. Tree smasher, embracer, bully fighter, eel biter, feeder of starving people.

The requirements of Providence are kitchen table conversation to him in a way they haven’t been since nineteenth century America. My favorite old man is a wizard. He owns the hallways of time, has the Prophet, peace be upon him, on speeddial.

He has lived long enough to get word that his siblings have died. Sunrises have been born, lived, snuffed and born again. As have heartbeats, longings and promises received. Each kindness, betrayal and repentance (sometimes from the same person in the course of one day) is scrubbed and filed, tucked away in rows of cabinets, each one labeled my best final plan. His wrinkles are honestly come by.

Only a beast more fearsome than the Beast of Time can unite a people incapable of unity. My favorite old man is the more gnarly beast who goes out of his way to kick over a cigar-chomper’s colored lawn jockey or tell a casino pit boss mine’s bigger than yours. Forever the tree smasher.

Even he cannot outlast the relentless piling up of years upon years, but he will beat the Beast of Time just the same by experiencing his final heartbeat hating no one.

He was not an ordinary man who became like this; he was always this way. What he did become that he wasn’t before, is a person who makes things so by declaring they are so.

Larry Moffitt
23 January, 2010

Report by Michael Balcomb:

See the Slideshare summary – Click on the links below

The World Peace Blessing is a central part of the ministry of True Parents (Rev and Mrs Moon): Peace begins in the family and the love of a husband and wife extends into their role as parents and is thus the foundation for their children’s happiness.

In True Father’s message at the celebration for the publication of his memoirs, on June 1st in Korea and on August 1st in Seville, he explained that this Blessing is held in a new age where humanity enters the realm of grace of being restored to the original state untainted by the fall, inheriting and sharing God’s original heart.
All Blessed FFWPU Couples and members are invited to take part in this special ceremony in October 2009. Please also see further details below regarding the preparation workshops and Blessing dates in order to prepare for your participation in the World Peace Blessing.

Please make sure you register for the workshops and the Blessing – with your local pastor or if in doubt with David Franklin in HQ on 020 7723 0721 or hq@ffwpu.org.uk

Nigel Reo-Coker lifts that Peace Cup trophy high above his head

Villans Make Juventus Pay The Penalty To Win Peace Cup 2009

Aston Villa won 4-3 in a penalty shoot-out to hoist the prestigious exhibition tournament cup in Spain. Aston Villa were energetic and Juventus will rue missing a whole host of chances in regulation time, as the English side managed to win the Peace Cup 2009 edition in a penalty shoot-out.

Winger Ashley Young had the first good opportunity of the match, cutting inside past Jonathan Zebina, but his powerful effort was straight at Gianluigi Buffon.

Indeed, while Juventus were being fairly patient in attack, Aston Villa were using the wings to attack, forcing the Bianconeri goalkeeper to make a number of stops from shots from a tight angle.

Sebastian Giovinco and Mauro Camoranesi were causing the Villans defense problems with their crossing and through balls, but Vincenzo Iaquinta missed a golden chance when he could not direct his header on target after thirty minutes.

John Carew had been largely anonymous, but his powerfully hit free-kick was turned around the post by Buffon. Juventus responded, but Iaquinta spurned yet another chance from his head after a set-piece by the ‘Atomic Ant.’ …. See more of this report in Goal.com. See report in Aston Villa’s official website

L to R: Luciano Alonso Alonso, Minister of Tourism, Trade and Sports with the Andalusian Government, True Parents, Rev. Chun Hwan Kwak, chairman of the Peace Cup organising committee

The teams come on for the final match

Saturday 1st August…..
Here are some clips from the Real Madrid v Juventas semi final and an event where True Parents spoke to 700 people in the hotel where they stayed. Father gave a 2hr 30min message. Here are one or two of the points he shared: (translation was from Korean into Spanish and then to English and then notes taken on my phone….)

“Each of you should have your own special relationship with God. My hope in my heart is that you can all connect to God.

We should all inherit the lineage of our creator.

We go all together to God’s kingdom, or none of us go, and I tell you the time is short.

Our life should be transparent like a crystal.

Our deeds and behaviour should be as clear and pure as a crystal.”

He made a comment about Ronaldo’s football apparently, but I had briefly drifted off at that moment. True Father’s stamina is incredible. I heard that after the semi-final finished (Juventas 2 Real Madrid 1 )around midnight the night before, True Father talked with church leaders until 5am, and then met them again for breakfast at 8am. All this at 90 years old, and standing on stage for 2 hrs 30 mins this evening.

Enjoy the clip below that i just finished putting together. Thank you to all of you who have supported the Peace Cup and True Parents’ visit with your prayers, donations, and coming out here to join in.

True Parents will be leaving soon for Spain to open the Peace Cup with Real Madrid.

Recently Reverend Hyung Jin Moon, their youngest son, was speaking about how we see True Parents with our physical eyes. He explained how Christians have learnt to see Jesus with their spiritual eyes and the first Christians saw him descend to hell and then resurrected after the crucifixion. He shared about a dream he had very recently where he saw True Parents with his spiritual eyes, and how only at that point was he able to finally understand his faith and their life and tradition.

If you want to see the whole message then click on the video below:

Here are some more pictures from the last few days of True Parents’ time in the South of France, presumably from their morning meeting with Rev and Mrs Song and others.

You can click on the pictures to make them bigger.