Just back from Korea. Here is a little video from the iPhone with some highlights, spent some of the flight back messing around with imovie:

Diary notes: video explanation

7.30 Saturday morning 10th July:

True Parents have just arrived by helicopter out of the blue and are talking to a few hundred of us. Father’s checking to see which of his close disciples are here. He ends up staying with us until 2.30pm. He mentions how he hasn’t slept the night before. Finding it hard to keep up with his train of thought. True Father is like a cosmic encyclopedia. And he is jumping from topic to
topic before I can deconstruct the English translation…but he must be the sweetest grandfather in the whole world: completely at ease and full of the brightest energy. It’s not easy for me to sit for so long when I don’t speak Korean. But eventually I realise that Father’s main motive for being here is to just be together with us for as long as possible. That’s when I really get it, and catch this 90 year old man’s heart for his disciples, his children.Several times he asks if we are hungry and that he should get back to Yeusu, and then he decides to stay longer, talk more, sing more, etc. You get the sense of how he has been through so much in his life that nothing phases him. At one point he said about his life (amongst the hundreds of different things he shared about) “….I couldn’t go forward as I planned to, I was a man alone, but God supported me and you supported…”

giving us his time

Here is a link to the message Father gave on the 8th July in front of several thousand up on the mountain top:

http://www.slideshare.net/familyfireplace/july-8th-2010-proclamation-full-speech

Peace TV:

I heard from Peter Kim, who I bumped into in the new Coffee shop in Cheong Pyeong, that True Parents were very happy after hearing from Rev. Song about Europe. Especially True Mother was happy to hear about the younger generation in our community, and I think they noticed how many came as part of the European group for the event on the 8th July. She asked Peace TV to talk to Rev. Song to do an item on us, so I was called in with Geros Kunkel from the European Youth Dept. to their studios a few hours before my flight back to London.

Geros looking like a TV presenter - ready to give the GOOD news

Mr Kim Seog Byung - CEO of Pyong il Communications Ltd

I went to the fishing tournament but it seemed that everyone was finishing up. So I went indoors into the kitchen and I saw True Father wearing his fishing hat with some tackle on it, a light coloured buttoned down shirt and khaki pants. He was wearing deck shoes. True Father was standing near a square wooden table on a tile floor with a drain cleaning some fish that he had caught. I went over to see if True Father needed help with anything.

He said: “No, I came to serve you, you are not going to serve me this time. But you can get a white linen table cloth and put it on the table after I finish cleaning these fish.” So I waited until he finished cleaning the fish. He had many types of fish to clean. And they all were long and large fish.

True Father was explaining about how he was cleaning them. He was saying: “First you take this knife and slit the fish down the middle right under the belly. Then you open up the belly and pull out the intestines first because these guts cover all the other guts.” And he kept pulling the intestines until they were all out. And put them in a slate blue bin. Then he said: “Next you pull out the stomach and next the heart and after that everything else comes out easily. It is very simple once you understand it.”

One brother who was helping True Father put the guts in the bin asked him if he minded the odour of the fish guts. And father answered him saying: “My son, the odour of the fallen world is much worse than fish guts. This is the least I can do to clean up this world so that our heavenly father can dwell here.”

Then he asked that brother: “Will you get me a mop and pail? Oh yes, and some salt water from the ocean?” One sister who had come into the kitchen asked True Father why he needed salt water from the ocean. And True Father answered her, “My daughter, the reason I need salt water from the ocean is to clean the floor where the blood drained from the fish and the fish guts. When I use sea water to clean it up, then it also will remove the odour. If I use filtered water from the tap then the odour will remain.”

True Father continued gutting out the fish and laying them on a small table covered with plastic over to the side. He was wearing latex gloves. True Father put the fish on a big cookie sheet and asked another sister to get him a scaling tool. She brought it over and he scaled the fish, as he wore goggles, and cut off the heads.

After the fish was scaled and beheaded, he rubbed koshering salt that had been made into holy salt over the fish bodies. One brother asked him why he did this and True Father answered: “My son, this is the way I remove all the germs and impurities from the fish and remove any excess odours.”

After this True Father rinsed off the fish with distilled water that came in through a hose, and prepared the fish for cooking. He laid the fish open side down on a cookie sheet greased with sesame oil, and put them in a pre-heated oven to cook.

Then True Father asked all the sisters who had come into the kitchen to prepare the table for eating. Many sisters who were working in the kitchen were preparing salads and I helped put on the white linen table cloth and we used golden utensils with linen napkins to set the table.

One sister prepared a vase of wild flowers for the centre of the table. And another sister put a braided chalah on the table on an oval dish of blue and white with gold trim that read: boray pree hah adamah ( hebrew: meaning blessed is the fruit of the earth).

True Father asked us to gather chairs for sitting at the table saying: “Please prepare the table for special dignitaries that I have invited to eat with me today.”

We made the table look very special putting out small Korean dishes of kimchee and bean sprouts and different salads that would go with fish.

True Father said he was going to shower and change his clothes. He came back a while later and was so happy to see the arrangement that us sisters had made on the table.

True Father was still wearing his casual clothing and he asked all of us who were in that area of the kitchen to sit down at the table. We were all so surprised and looked at him in surprise. Then he said: “I’ll bet you dollars to doughnuts that you thought there were special Korean dignitaries or Ambassadors for Peace coming today!” we all nodded yes, and spoke and said, “Yes Father.”

True Father answered: “When you realize that all of you are my dignitaries and Ambassadors for Peace, then that is when Cheon Il Guk will be complete upon this Earth. Because what is the mission of important dignitaries? Important dignitaries know their mission. They know quite well that their mission is to represent God and bring this world back to God. And Ambassadors for Peace know that their mission is to bring God’s peace to this world, don’t they? And because they know in their gut, then their mission is no longer a mission but a way of life and a way of behaviour!”

This is the reason why you are eating with me today so that you can partake of my communion and receive that impartation. And when you do receive it deep in your heart and soul then this is the kingdom of heaven, Aju. Now let’s eat and partake of this fine meal.”

I felt so moved by True Father’s words and tears welled up from my heart and into my eyes. Many sisters were crying as well.

Then True Father said: “Heavenly Father has chosen you all to be here today. Because you were curious as little children…looking to see what their father was doing. Just like Jesus who was about his father’s business.” You are the ones who will give my heart to the members and help them to change their attitudes. You are the ones who can do this. As Jesus once said: “Suffer the little children come unto me, such is the kingdom of heaven.”

“It is your bright sunshiney smiles, and your simplicity to serve and love your fellow man that will change the hearts of people of this world. And will help remove the hell that is holding our members down.”

“Remember this day and keep it holy in your hearts.”

May 8th 2010

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!

Last night was a long night. In a room with lots of elder european brothers. A few times in the night I really thought I could have been in a jungle with a bunch of lions and tigers growling. We got to the peace palace at 6am. After 1 hour sitting on the floor waiting for pledge to start at 8am decided to go and sit on the chairs in the back with Daniel Bessell and Jack Corley.  That was a saving grace. Big screen too so we could see everything fine and still walk by the time everything was finished.

True Parents looked well and happy. I had serious jet-lag still, but I do remember Father saying: “excuse me while I take some water. If I drink I am thirsty and if I smile it means I am happy. There, that is a short sermon.”

Barak Obamma sent a congratulatory message, and so did a number of other prominent people.

Later we had an early lunch down at Cheong Pyeong training centre. Most memorable bit: Kook Jin Moon was on the schedule to give  a toast. He got up and said: “I have a confession of faith to make. True Parents are  not only my physical parents but also my spiritual parents.” He went on to state clearly who they are as the returning Christ. Hyung Jin Moon did like wise in front of 1000 people. True Parents smiled, so I guess by what Father said in the morning this meant they were happy about this.

Hyung Jin Moon visits guests at True Parents birthday banquet

In the afternoon we had the opening session of the national leaders meeting. Kook Jin Moon, In Jin Moon, and Hyung Jin Moon all spoke. The spirit and message was strong and clear. Here are some of my notes:

“Our church policy is to declare True Parents for who they are, and if we do so perhaps Father will not feel the need to give marathon long talks, and then he can be more free to rest.”

“True Parents saved our life and that is why we declare them as our lord and saviour. We should get comfortable with that and start sharing that truth. I guarantee if you do, that it will change your life completely, and you will understand why people talk about being born again. Something changes inside of you, when you declare your faith.”

I could connect with the main message, but occasionally the case was not fully developed and some of the points were possibly not fully intended. Kook Jin Moon made the point that we are not here to be a social movement. But surely we want to be socially relevant. I think what he meant is that our primary purpose is to bring people to True Parents. Anyhow, that is when I started to feel v european. Talking with Daniel Bessel I realised that our default mode is to analyse, and when the rationale is woolly we get frustrated. My conclusion was that rather than get annoyed better to take on greater faith and then offer rational and thoughtful feedback.

One elder 2nd Generation Unificationist who must be around 30 now said to me in the bus that the denial of  our faith generally leads to people losing it. He said that many of his friends who grew up being encoraged by their parents not to let people know that they were followers of Rev Moon, and Unification Church members tended to eventually drift away. While those who were open and honest tended to find it easier to stick around.

The other thing I am experiencing here is culture shock. Was never so aware of that before. I always came to Korea thinking this is Father’s nation. But I think I have arrived at a point of separating the two out. So now I am becoming aware of how alien Asian culture is for me. I think it is an important step in coming to understand the people in a more real way.

There was the usual thing when we were waiting for the above mentioned speakers to arrive in the room. The shear number of people involved in getting the mics ready, calling on their mobiles up stairs to see when they were coming down, starting a song, rechecking the mics, etc. And on the 4th set of mansai’s today I was not giving it quite the 100%. Just all very alien to my cultural background. I am sure I could learn a thing or two if I open my mind to it. But, can’t imagine what it must have been like for True Parents to live in the West for so many years and raise their family there. I guess I realised Father is not Korean, he is the Son of God. Big difference.

For the past month the weather has been bitter cold, sometimes snowing, or dropping chunks of ice, or doing it all at once with frozen wind diving down the backs of our collars like a screaming mother. Then suddenly today, still very January mind you, a big cartoon sun came out for a few hours and it did something to me. Temperatures hit the high 60s and it got my juices all boogered up in a good way. It was more than just a break in the weather or my mood. It changed the worn, cracked fan belt on my spirit. What’s more, the new weather helped me be aware of other favorable trends.

For example, for a week or so I have been sensing a cooling of tempers on some fronts. Simply being mindful of the delicate fragility of the Abel and Cain relationships in our lives is a good first step. Resisting one’s terrible urge to escort the other into the woods and whack him with the jawbone of an ass is an important second step. It’s a two-steps-forward-one-step-back kind of dance but I am sensing progress in me, in others. More sensing than seeing, and maybe the sun coming out today helped me peek around the corner. But it’s there, I tell you.

And speaking of the jawbone of an ass, I was talking with myself this morning. Another trend I am noticing is people getting in touch with their spiritual roots in a way they haven’t in quite a while. The opening lines of Divine Principle, “How is joy produced?” beckons to you and me. People want to rediscover what it was that made them drop everything and come running those many years ago. We want to reconnect with what makes us, us.

In the summer of ’74 I felt loved in Austin, Texas, and I was given an opportunity to give love back. Essential to this, God was involved, speaking and acting through others and through me. This is soooo not rocket science. It was deeply spiritual and deeply loving. It was all about the great news. In the afternoon we went to the park to find dinner guests. Members and leaders went together, arm-in-arm. We fed our guests a nice dinner, and for dessert, informed them that Christ had returned in their lifetime. This was reminiscent of brothers and sisters singing, dancing, praying, inspiring one another all night long in a too-small church in the Chungpa Dong neighborhood of Seoul in the mid-50s. It’s just down the street from the big church, that has also now become too small.

And so now we are moving into a newer bigger church in Seoul. If we speak boldly and truly believe what we tell others, and if there is love, this building also will quickly become too small. May all our churches be too small the very day the ribbon is cut.

It is human nature that the more complex things become, the more urgently we feel the need to weed the garden, yank out the brambles and grab hold of the roots of things that really matter. And so it is with our faith. When you are drowning, you realize how much extraneous crap in your life has no importance at all. On this last point, I ran into a friend I hadn’t seen in a long time. He has a strong spiritual orientation and he  had the hand tremors of Parkinson’s Disease and I asked him about it. He said, “Parkinson’s gave me my life back.” I didn’t have to ask what he meant.

Larry Moffitt
25 January, 2010

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

Dear UK Unificationists, brothers and sisters,

Happy 50th True Children’s Day!

(Where do you think True Parents were on this holy day 13 years ago in 1996? See if you can guess the region/country and find out if you guessed right by reading to the end.)

Lancaster Gate Headquarters Church holy day message:

they didn't sit still the whole way through...but still pretty good

What quality of love do children need to receive? Unconditional, true love. People who are parents or who stand in that role should be a clear and effective channel for God’s love.

This is what True Parents have established for the first time in human history. It has meant that through the very real blessing that they pass on to us from God we have an opportunity to create our family in the way God intended. They have discovered and articulated what God’s plan is for the family. They have demonstrated this by regarding all of us as their children and always treating us as such. They have given us everything.

Considering this fact, I ask myself: what kind of child am I? What is the best thing children can do to make their parents happy. Eddie’s (4yrs old) answer to this at pledge today was: “kiss.” When parents see small children trading their toys with each other peacefully, playing together happily, they feel at peace. We can bring joy to our True Parents heart when we help and love our siblings. If we can do that in our community and then also do it with our brothers and sisters outside our Unificationist community and bring each other closer to True Parents, then they can experience peace too.

We have a European plan to bring 1200 people to receive the marriage blessing in January, that is something very real we can offer to True Parents before their birthday celebrations in February. That is on average about 12 couples for each community. Last night I watched Hyung Jin NIm’s latest sermon where he recounts his discussion with some strong elderly evangelical Korean Christian ladies in the street. He confessed that he felt liberated after because he experienced the freedom of sharing who True Parents are and where they stand in human history.

Our Unification tradition is best understood in the context of the family. Let us practice this teaching with our own parents and in our own family. Here is what Father has said previously on this day:

“This Holy Day refers to the true children of God: have any lived until now? Let us look at the development of this history, to see if we have lived as true children of God.

From the first True Children’s Day until now, was there any sinless day, any day free of shame and disgrace? Centered on God, who can be a true son? What kind of person? Who is the king, father, master and teacher, owner of this world? Without being a child, we can’t be a father; without being a disciple we can’t be a teacher. We have to gain authority to stand in those positions. Even to be a first grade teacher, we must pass exams. To be an owner, we must be recognized. In each of these areas, the most important qualification is the gaining of recognition by the superior. Why? Centered on love, in True Love, we must be recognized as victorious. Then we can inherit the position of children of True Parents, or teacher, or master, or owner. The only way to inherit is through love, True Love. What is True Love?

True Love is love which never changes through the 365 days of the year. It is constant, every single day. It doesn’t change in 10,000 years. It wants to be connected to the original cause. The tradition of Unification Church should be established by the parents, not children. The children themselves say the parents should establish the tradition; and parents say the children are the center of the tradition. True Love thinks of the other. Think not as what you are [i.e., from your own viewpoint], but as the partner [i.e., from the partner's viewpoint]. Through True Love we establish such a relationship.

In daily life, who is a filial son? In Korea, we know the tradition of filial son: someone who day and night is worried about his parents, even what they are going to have for breakfast. The filial son is the one who is worrying about his parents and wants to give to them first. When the parents eat those three meals prepared with that loyalty, parents will feel ashamed to even pick up their fork, because of the love they feel from their children.”
37th True Children’s Day
Father’s Address
November 11, 1996
Hotel Victoria Plaza, Montevideo, Uruguay
Unofficial Notes of The English Translation

This last week has been a special week, a blessed week, but not without its challenges, and questions, lots of questions…. The best query I overheard was whether it was okay to wear a polka dot tie for the blessing ceremony. Of course at the same time many of our questions were of a profounder nature. I know that many of us have been praying and preparing to receive God’s grace and blessing again in our lives.

What I find myself needing now is time to fully reflect and develop my personal understanding and picture of  True Parents cosmic blessing on Oct.14th. If Father’s (Reverend Moon’s) goal of establishing a covenant for future generations (passing down a tradition that comes from God) is to be successful, understanding by those taking it up is vital.

Those that I spoke to who were longer in the tooth, generally older and wiser, often shared how they have always responded to Father with faith. Unconsciously they have probably also built up understanding through personal experience. In contrast, several of those who are just starting out, or developing their personal life of faith, seemed to have a much greater need for information, to be given a rational explanation. Both responses are valid.

sometimes I guess I should try harder

Of course to understand something we have to want to understand, we do need to be positively inquisitive, to approach something from a variety of perspectives, not just our own. That is why for example I have never done a Sudoku puzzle. I look at that grid with the numbers, and the blank spaces, and….I don’t want to know. To this day I do not know how Sudoku works, because I have never asked, or tried to find out.

But for me when it comes to God, happiness, relationships, the purpose of my life….believe me, I want to understand! I want to know!

I hope we all, young and old alike, can develop a greater affinity to what Father desperately wants to set up before he departs this earthly world. One day we will also move on, but this world will remain and we will leave our descendants here to continue what we leave behind.

Maybe once we are as long in the tooth as Father is, we will also feel the same anxiety that he is feeling for his children.

So, more than any other week. God bless you.
Simon

One of the great strengths of the Divine Principle is that it explains so well the dynamic relationship between God and His children: that as human beings we need to both listen to God and at the same time determine our own personal destiny.

do you know your intrinsic qualities that are unique to you?

Just been doing my morning study: On page 1487 of the Cheon Song Gyong, Father (Reverend Moon) talks about this:

“Hence you need to look deep inside your mind and consider the intrinsic qualities you were born with originally, and by considering them, you should decide the future purpose that you will pursue. Though God may point you in the right direction, itis up to you to followit of your own accord.”

Then in the middle of page 1489 he explains why it is so important for us to pray and meditate, in order to keep our mind sharp and focused comparing it to how one would whet a knife constantly to keep it fit for purpose.

prayer and meditation are powerful tools to sharpen and focus the mind

Just heard this morning from our FFWPU European Office that True Parents* will be arriving a few days early before the Peace Cup with Real Madrid etc.

arriving in Europe Friday 17th July

I went over to Livingstone House to meet with Rev and Mrs Song and others to discuss the preparations.

The plan is that initially before they arrive to open the Peace Cup they are able to have some quiet time visiting some nice part of Europe. Father is over 90 now.

Of course as a community we want to be able to welcome them properly and host them in a way that can reflect our heart. That is why we are encouraging all Blessed families to offer a donation to support their visit. That is where the budget will come from. It’s a chance to make an offering. (Cheques payable to FFWPU, and send to 43, Lancaster Gate, W2 3NA).

Got home and by bed time ended up reflecting on my heart as a parent. Wasn’t intending to, but circumstances dictated it: As we were putting the boys to bed, and trying to have our new tradition of a closing meeting, one of the boys started really playing up and waking up the youngest, and so I took him out of the room. But I was too rough. I let him get to me. I ended up sitting in the garden and left Chieko to finish up. Thought a lot about his behaviour and then about mine and noticed I might be bigger and stronger, but maybe not that much more mature. At least not enough to fully command his respect.

Heard him sneaking around downstairs. I decided I wanted to apologise and ended up having a talk, he told me how he felt, and I tried to discuss things a bit more broadly. He didn’t really feel able to say sorry for his behaviour, but he did let me teach him how to cure his hiccups, by drinking from a glass backwards. So, I guess that can count.

*Point of  information: Unificationists call the founders of the Unification tradition, (Reverend Moon and Hak ja Han Moon), ‘True Parents’. See the link below to find out why:

http://familyfireplace.org/index.php/questions/answer/who_are_true_parents/