The Mission of Jesus Christ and the Reverend Sun Myung Moon

Rev. Hyung Jin Moon

December 12, 2009  -  HQ Church, Seoul, Korea

 

Yeon Ah Nim’s welcoming remarks:

Good afternoon, brothers and sisters! It is great to see you all. Welcome to the Headquarters of the Unification Church. As many of you know, there are 524 volumes of True Father’s teaching. Recently I heard that True Father started to read them through from Volume One during Hoon Dok Hae, so we are sending great applause for our True Father’s unending love for God. I really hope that you have a blessed week with Heavenly Father’s love and True Father’s true teaching. Aju!

 

Hyung Jin Nim’s welcoming remarks:

Good afternoon, brothers and sisters! You know Christmas is coming very soon, so today it is all about Jesus. Today I am going to talk a lot about Jesus. Even for me as a second generation, while growing up I didn’t really understand Jesus well. Actually, we didn’t learn Christian theology in the church; we only heard Divine Principle. It was not until I studied Christian theology in the school of theology at Harvard that I truly came to realize the value of the Divine Principle – how powerful it is for someone who comes from the Christian tradition, who already has that knowledge of Christian theology. How powerful it is, how it answers fundamental questions that have wrecked the minds of many theologians and Christian elect for two thousand years! We will get to that a little later today.

Let us now manifest the Principle: Give and Receive Action, Four Position Foundation.   May I inherit the True Love of God! Aju!

Today our reading is from Cheon Seong Gyeong, page 196. This is about the Messiah:

The Messiah is the embodiment of the purpose of faith and the embodiment of the purpose of hope. He is the embodiment in whom the purpose of faith and hope are realized. When this purpose is realized through the Messiah, what is the only thing that will remain? Nothing will remain but love when this purpose is realized. This is why it is said that what remains in the end is love. This love comes through the perfect incarnation of faith and hope. The representative of this one love is the Messiah.

Today, as we approach Christmas, let’s give it up for Jesus and let’s give it up for our True Parents!

Brothers and sisters, through our service, I hope that we can all come to a new appreciation of what we have as Unification Church, the incredible teaching and power that we have. I hope that through this recognition we can really glorify True Parents and testify on their behalf. Let us all rise up and offer our family pledge!

Brothers and sisters, we are truly an incredible community from all around the world, especially our international community here. I see those beautiful yellow jackets of hope here in Seoul. We were passing by Seoul Station the other day and saw brothers and sisters proudly wearing the Unification Church yellow vest, with the big symbol on it, walking around and  talking about True Parents. We saw, even today, brothers and sisters who were out on the streets. We were so happy! Let’s give our proud Unificationists a big round of applause, let’s give them some encouragement!

 

Interesting Story:

There has been an overwhelming demand for interesting comments, so here is a very interesting story that I heard:

A long time ago, in the 18^th century, a pastor was riding furiously on his horse on his way to church; he was late. Suddenly the horse hit the stump of a tree and this flung him to the ground. He was injured, lying in the dirt, his body was in pain. The pastor called out because he could not do it on his own strength. He said, “All the angels in Heaven, please help me to get back up onto my horse!” At that, the pastor was able to supernaturally leap up into the air, but he leapt a bit too high, over the horse, and landed on the other side. Then from that side on the ground he said, “OK, angels, just half of you help me this time!”

 

Main Sermon:

Today, I want to talk to you about the Purpose of the Lord. As we approach Christmas, as the whole world celebrates the birth of Jesus, then for us as Unification Church, for us who do believe in Jesus as the Messiah, for us I think it’s important and relevant  to spend a little time on the purpose of Christ.

Let’s look at some of the World Scriptures today.  This is from Christianity. Let’s read this together from 1.Corinthians 15:45: “The first man, Adam, became a living being; the last Adam [Jesus] became a life-giving spirit.”

Next is from Islam. Many people don’t know that within Islam, Jesus is a prophet. He’s called Isaa in the Qur’an, and also he’s seen as the Imam to return. So let’s take a look at this verse: “The likeness of Jesus with God is as the likeness of Adam.” (Qur’an 3:59).

And let’s look at True Parent’s words: “Jesus came as the incarnation of the Word. Jesus was the man whom God had been hoping to see over the long course of restoration history, the desire of God from the time of creation.” (3:318)

And let’s move to our Core Scriptures today. The first one comes from Matthew 26: 36-39. Let’s read this together: “Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, ‘Sit here while I go over there and pray.’ He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled.  He began to be sorrowful and troubled. Then he said to them, ‘My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.’ Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, ‘My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.’ ”

As you know, in the story in Matthew 26, Jesus repeats this process three times. He comes back, sees them sleeping, goes back, prays at Gethsemane, comes back, goes back – three times he asks God, “Let this cup pass from me.”

I was talking to one of our ministers here at Headquarters Church this past week, and he said that he was asked a question by a non-Unificationist: “Hey, do you guys actually believe in Jesus as the Messiah? I heard that you guys denied Jesus.” This was the question. It’s very clear for us. Of course we believe in Jesus as Messiah – it’s not only central to our theology, it’s central to the mission of True Parents to complete and fulfill the mission of Jesus.

I realized that there is still so much misinformation out there, so much ignorance, still, pertaining to our theology. Of course, in the past thirty years, we have not been really declaring our beliefs and witnessing in a major way. So this is somewhat understandable, but now as we come more into the public and as the media wants to hear what we believe, and as these human rights issues come up in Japan, this huge violation, then people want to know what we believe.  Why is our faith so powerful that people will change their life to the point where they are so imbued by the Holy Spirit, that they’ll be persecuted and even attacked by other Christian ministers. Why do they do this? What does the Unification Church believe in? This is a major question.

When I was talking to Kook Jin hyung this past week, he was saying that really he never understood the value of the Divine Principle until he actually studied Christian theology. When he started to study Christian theology, he realized, My God! Christian theology is so inadequate in answering most of the fundamental questions that we take for granted within the Principle, questions like: What is the purpose of creating the whole universe?  What is the purpose of man? What is the purpose of Christ? How will the Kingdom actually be accomplished? How are these things connected?

Christian theology cannot explain how these are connected, theologically. You see, in Christian theology, Jesus came with the purpose to die. He came to die, so the crucifixion was God’s will. It was the predestined Will of God. In this type of theology, the crucifixion is the glory of Christ, because on that cross, he offers his body as the sacrifice for the sake of the world’s sin. So in the end, as Christians believe, and in the Christian theology, the ultimate purpose of Christ was for him, the sacrificial offering, to die for us.

But when we actually look at the Biblical scripture, we can see the exact opposite. As we just read together in Matthew 26, we can see Christ totally disappointed; we can see him in sorrow that he’s been rejected. We can see that his disciples are betraying him, like Judas, and sending in officials to get him, to crucify him. We can see that he is in so much pain. He’s begging God, “Please take this cup from me. Don’t let me go on the cross. Please, Father, let this pass.”  In Matthew 26 we can clearly see his heart, that Christ did not come to die. If the Lord’s purpose was to die, then why is he “overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death”? Why is he falling to the ground with his face down on the ground, and begging God, “Let this cup be taken from me”? Not once, twice, but three times, asking over and over? Why is he doing such a thing if his purpose was to die, if that was his predestined will?

In John 8:37, we see that Jesus is frustrated. He’s talking to the Jews, the Pharisees, the Saducees saying, “I know you are Abraham’s descendants, yet you are ready to kill me because you have no room for my word”, meaning: If you had room for my word, if you had accepted me, you would not be wanting to kill me. - You see, only the Divine Principle, only the Unification Church, is able to explain the truth that God did not send Christ to die – did not! – that that was not the purpose of Christ.

When we look at the Bible, at the disciples of Jesus, we see them lamenting the death and murder of Christ.  In the Acts of the Apostles 7:51-52, we see Stephen. He is lamenting the fact that Jesus was killed. He is chastising the Jews, saying, “You stiff-necked people, with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You are just like your fathers: You always resist the Holy Spirit! Was there ever a prophet your fathers did not persecute? They even killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One. And now you have betrayed and murdered him.” Stephen is saddened, grief-stricken that Jesus was killed, pointing to the fact that it was human error, not the predestined will of God to kill Jesus.

In 1 Corinthians 2:8, we see the great Saint Paul also lamenting the death of Christ. He says that “None of the rulers of this age understood [the wisdom of the Spirit], for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.” This again points to the fact, that human error was involved; that Jesus wasn’t supposed to be crucified. And this is only explained clearly and theologically within the Divine Principle. Only the Unification Church explains this from a powerful theological position. Christian theology does not explain this. Only the Principle elucidates this fact and reveals the suffering heart of Christ, the pain, what we call “Han.” It’s difficult to put a finger on what exactly Han means in translation, but Han is kind of like a pain, a feeling of frustration, a feeling of a mission unfulfilled. It’s like a feeling of not being truly understood, a heart-wrenching historical longing to see an original purpose fulfilled. It is like an incredible, intense longing and pain. This is what we elucidate in the Principle.

When you actually study Christian theology, you realize that Christian theology cannot explain the purpose of Christ other than he was to die, other than it was  predestined   by God for Jesus to die, even though the scripture shows the opposite. Of course there are Scriptural passages in the Bible where Jesus does say he will have to go on this path. When Peter asks him, “Jesus, do you have to go on this path?” he says, “Get back, Satan! I must go on this path.” We see these scriptural passages in the Bible. But again, we understand from the principled perspective that only the Unification Church explains clearly that it was not the primary goal of God to send Jesus on the cross; but it became a secondary option so that Jesus could attain at least spiritual salvation for humankind.

You see, fundamentally, when we look at Christian theology in its essence, when we look at its notion of God, its notion of Jesus, in Christian theology Jesus is Almighty God, not just a man. He is the creator of the universe, the oceans, the fish, the sea, the stars, everything. That is Jesus – Jesus is God. When we look at Christian theology and push it to its end, it declares that in the end, God is unknowable and that He is a “mystery.” These are known as the “mysteries of Christ” in the Catholic tradition.  So in the end, Christian theology cannot explain the divinity and essence of God; it declares that in the end, God is just “mysterious.” That is why it simply says, that you have to “just believe.” Believe, and when the Lord comes, he will answer your questions, because God is unknowable.

This essentially segregates man from God, leaving God lonely. When you look at Christian theology deeply, you notice that Christian theology also doesn’t really explain what the kingdom is and how it will be accomplished. It’s a very mysterious thing in Christian theology. The best answer is that the Lord will return one day, and that he will take us up in a divine rapture, that he will take us to Heaven, especially the ones who believe.

So in the end, Christian theology does not answer the Purpose of Creation. It cannot explain the divinity of God, and it cannot explain what the kingdom of God is, how it will be accomplished and how all these things are connected to the mission of Jesus. This is, again, why the Principle is so powerful.

You see, only the Unification Church, with the power of the Divine Principle, can reveal the answers to these questions, because the True Parents come to fulfill the mission of Christ, because they come to share that message that the returning Lord will share. Only the Principle shows how the Purpose of Creation is connected to the divinity of God, how that is connected to the kingdom of heaven, how the kingdom of heaven will be accomplished, and how that is connected to Jesus. Only the Principle shows that there is a process here. You see, True Father explains very clearly that God’s divinity is not unknowable, but it can be explained. God’s divinity can be known. It is only when we do understand, and we do penetrate into God’s divinity, that we can be one with Him.

Father defines what God’s essence is. He defines God’s divinity. He defines it as True Love – very simple. But he also defines what True Love is:  it’s a love that is so pure and powerful, filled with so much loving compassion that it will die and die and die again for the sake of its children, even for the sake of its enemies; and through that process, it will bring its enemies to natural surrender. Father says that True Love brings even Satan to natural surrender.

The Unification Church explains what the divinity of God is. It doesn’t say that it’s just a mystery, unknowable, but that we can understand it, that we can define it, and we can try to inherit it.  We can then try to understand what the Unification Movement talks about when we talk about the Purpose of Creation. Christian theology does not give an explanation of why creation was created, what is mankind’s role in this process in Genesis. All the way to the end of Revelation the Unification Principle explains things very clearly. The purpose of creation is very simple. The purpose of creation, of mankind, is to inherit the divinity of God. It is to inherit true love.

But in the process of the Fall, we see that mankind inherited false love, not pure love. If Adam and Eve inherited true love, the essence of God, they would become True Parents. Very simple. If they were able to teach that heart to their children, and the children to the tribes and the nation, and if those individuals were able to inherit that true love, that would be the kingdom. So there is a process through which we can explain the connection between God’s divinity, the purpose of creation, the purpose of the original ancestor, and the creation of the kingdom, which Christian theology cannot do (cannot explain). Only the Divine Principle shows this powerful connection between all these facets, and why those are so essential to the mission of Jesus Christ, why they are all actually connected to Jesus.

Christ’s mission was not to die. It was to succeed, it was to be glorious. It was to fulfill the promise that God gave to mankind at the beginning, to inherit His true love, and to create the kingdom. So we see Jesus pray about this, in the prayer in Matthew 6: “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done…” He is praying, let us have your kingdom on earth as it is in heaven, because that was his mission. His mission was to establish the kingdom, where the inheritors of the essence of God’s true love live. Let’s take a look at Romans 8:28: “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.”

The Unification Church loves Him, and we have been called to His purpose. That is why, simply and objectively speaking, we are the fastest-growing religion in the time of the founder compared to any other religion in history. Compare it to any ancient or even new religions, the Bahai tradition, the Mormon tradition, the Hari Krishna, Soka Gakkai, etc. When you actually study religion and study theology, you realize that objectively speaking, the Unification Church is the most successful religion during the time of its founder. And we will continue to succeed, and continue to return glory to God. Let’s give it up for the Unification Church! That’s why it’s important to study theology and learn religion, to understand the value of what True Parents have accomplished.

This is why the returning Christ has to come back. He’s coming back to create the Unification Movement, because True Parents are the champions of loving Jesus. If we really read True Parent’s early speeches and volumes and prayers, there is so much love for Jesus. It’s unbelievable! I think a lot of us growing up in the younger generation don’t understand this. There is so much profound love for Jesus. True Parents, because of their love, seek to give their life to liberate Christ, to make us more than conquerors, and to help us, so that we love Jesus as well, so that we are called to this purpose.

For two thousand years of Christian history, Christian theology fundamentally could not explain fundamental questions – man’s existence, why we’re here in the first place, what we’re supposed to do, what God is, and how the kingdom will be created. True Father has penetrated and fulfilled the mission of Jesus, he has revealed these critical connections. In this process, he has worked toward liberating Jesus. I’ll tell you why the Christian theology is an incomplete theology: because even within its theology, it says it must wait for the Lord to return to complete its theology. Within itself, it requires the Lord to come back in order to complete the theology. Without even knowing it, many Christians do not understand this aspect of Christian theology. That’s why when they meet the Principle, they are so moved and transformed.

When I was studying at Harvard, we used the critical historical method to go into the biblical text.  If the Bible is the literal word of God and it is not tainted by human hands, not tainted by interpretations of individuals, as the Christians believe that the Bible IS the literal word of God, then how do we explain the five or six different versions of the Bible – the NKJ version, NIV version, the Catholic version? Some of these conflict with each other. Some of these versions actually say that another version is wrong. How do you explain the biblical texts? When we look with the historical critical method, we understand that there are many texts that we are not including in the Bible. We see what are known as the extracanonical texts, the gospel of Thomas, the gospel of Mary, of Peter, etc., so many extracanonical texts that were not added to the Biblical scripture.

In fact when I was at the school of theology, I was studying alongside evangelical Christians. Some of them were Koreans. Some of my friends were evangelical Christians. They were all fired up about going to Harvard and said, “I’m going to be an awesome pastor.” Then they come and actually study theology and religion, the historical critical method, study whether or not the biblical text IS foolproof, IS the literal word of God. And then we go through the evidence that scholars and archaeologists have been able to uncover, and we look at what  we can actually prove about Jesus. And fundamentally, scholars can actually prove only about two things: the fact that maybe he was a Jew, and the fact that he died on the cross. We know this because there are historical texts at the time around Jesus that mention that there was a figure, that he was the Messiah and was crucified, but there were also hundreds of (other) people who were crucified at the same time as him. There is also text that shows that  things  are totally off (different) from what we usually see in the passion narratives, in the Christian Bible.

When my friends, the evangelical Christians, encountered these things, their faith was shattered. But as a Unificationist, because we have an interpretation from the Divine Principle, and because from a principled perspective we see the Bible as being inspired by God but also having symbolic and metaphorical usage, then for me, it was much more comfortable to listen and analyze the Bible and look at the life of Jesus with the critical historical lens, than it was for my friends who were from the Christian evangelical traditions. What was the result of that? Most of my friends, who went in saying, “I’m going to be an awesome Harvard-trained pastor!”, when they came out, said “I’m not going to be a pastor.” The fundamental notions of Christian theology fundamentally break down, when you look at it through the historical text and the historical critical method.

When you look at the enlightenment that True Parents brought to the notion of Jesus, that he was not to die, that that wasn’t the will of God, and when you look at even the extracanonical and many other texts,  (you will see that) they support the fact that Jesus was not to die. Some of the texts say that he didn’t even die.

But we see that True Parents lived their lives to fulfill his purpose and to alleviate the pain of Christ. True Father is the only one that I know of who physically brought Jews, Muslim and Christian leaders to come together in the holy land. Among the religious leaders that I know, True Father is the only one that  brought those leaders to actually take down the cross of Jesus. In Christian theology, the cross is the glory of Christ, but if you look at the reality of Christ’s situation, what we see is that the cross is (the symbol for) the failure of humankind to accept Jesus. It represents not the victory, but the failure of humanity to recognize the preciousness of Jesus. So when Father went there with the Jews and Christian leaders who understood this and were awakened to this, they said “Yes, we have to liberate Jesus’ heart!” We know the fact that a lot of our Christian pastor friends came with us to bury the cross. They took down the cross from their church, and instead put up the crown, because that was what Jesus was supposed to do. We have pictures of  the delegations of the Muslim community, the Druze community, the Jewish community and the Christian community coming together before the throne of Christ, to give and offer a crown to Christ – not a cross, but a crown, to say to Jesus, “You were here to become the king of kings.” This is incredible! Let’s give it up for True Parents! They want to liberate Jesus.

This is very phenomenal, actually. When we study religion and compare True Father’s actions and what he has done compared with other religious leaders, even new religious traditions (Bahá'u'lláh and Joseph Smith, for example), you’ll see there is a phenomenal difference. So when we see that True Parents have come to really fulfill the mission of Christ, to liberate his heart, this is such an incredible thing that True Parents are doing. Through the liberation of Christ, they are once again connecting those things that were shattered, the purpose of creation, the divinity of God, the kingdom of heaven, the process of how that’s going to begin, they’re connecting those things once again. That is what’s so powerful about the Unification theology. We can actually explain how we will create the kingdom.

As we begin our faith life again as Unificationists, as we rediscover our faith, we will say, “My God! What we have is so valuable!” I never really understood the value of what we have until I went out there, lived with those communities and listened to their theology, and then was able to compare that to our theology. I never understood how powerful our theology was. As we begin our faith life again, as we go out and witness, as we go out and declare that True Parents are the Lord, that they are the people who liberate Jesus, that they fulfill his mission, that they bring a higher truth that will elevate the religions to a higher level, then we will also receive questions: "Do you believe in Jesus? Well, I thought Jesus was supposed to die", such questions. We have to remember that it is people who truly love Jesus who will be the most resistant to any other interpretation of Jesus.  But if they actually open their heart, and if we continue to love them, and explain to them and ask them to not only make an emotional decision based on what they have heard from the beginning to this point in their life, but to actually think about what the mission of Jesus was, then many people can come to understand that Christ’s real mission was to be victorious.

I was talking to a brother and sister this week, a wonderful family.  The gentleman is in a construction company, he is in his 50s, and he’s a new member who has been in the church just a couple of years. He was an evangelical Christian since he was five years old, a Korean evangelical Christian. From five years old, he found Jesus and lived his life for Jesus.  He had a hard life when he was young. He lost his father at an early age, and his mother remarried. He was twelve years old when he got a new dad.  It was very difficult and he was very lonely. So, he said that when he discovered Christ at an early age, he was so fulfilled. He went to church whenever he needed a safe haven, to get away from home; he would go and pray.  For forty years, he lived as a devout Christian.  He moved from Pusan all the way up to Seoul, and he was attending the big mega-churches here. He was actually an elder in one of the communities, a very established Christian.

Then, because his last name is Moon, he got connected to the Moon tribe group, and somehow heard the Principle. He attended a 2-day lecture, and he said it shattered his mind. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. It was amazing! “I love Jesus so much, and these questions have been haunting me: Why was Jesus to die? Am I just supposed to die? Wasn’t Jesus here to be victorious? Aren’t we here to be in the likeness of Christ?” He had all these fundamental questions: "How can God be so mysterious? How can we ever love Him and feel His love and be transformed?" When he heard the Principle, those things were one by one shattered. He said to me, “Use the Principle. When I talk about the Principle, I tell my friends that Jesus came to live, to be glorious, to fulfill the prophecies and he was supposed to unite the world, create the kingdom.” He was so moved when sharing this message. This brother told us, “Be confident because we have the Principle.” He said, “For the first time in my life, I’m going around saying, ‘I’m a Unificationist. I’m not just hanging out with Unificationists, I AM a Unificationist!’ ” Let’s give it up for Unificationists!

So he said that, of course, those who truly love Jesus, will be resistant at first, but in the end, they will be moved by the heart of our brothers and sisters, by the heart of us as Unificationists, who truly love Jesus and want to liberate his heart, by True Father, who has lived his life, risked his life, given his life, so that Jesus could be at peace.

When they actually understand that no other religious figure has done what True Father has done for Jesus, that is when the transformation comes. When they open their heart emotionally that way, then the Principle, the power of its rational explanation and systematic theology, can come into their heart. That’s why in this age, it’s so important to realize that, as we now approach Christmas, as we celebrate the birth of Jesus, that we as Unificationists are also called  to love Jesus; that loving Jesus, and knowing about Jesus is actually very important in understanding the messianic role of True Parents. I never really understood True Parents until I started studying about Jesus. Even the way Jesus acted, I realized, "My God! True Father acts just like Jesus!"  Jesus was not the nicest man on earth – he was very radical in what he said, very strong. If you read the Bible, you can see how strongly he speaks, how he challenges the world.

As we approach this season, towards the New Year, the celebration of Christmas and God’s Day, etc., I really pray that the Unificationist brothers and sisters around the world can remember and understand the heart of Jesus, and have confidence. The explanations that we can give to Christians can not only open their minds, but when we make them understand Jesus in a new way, can completely transform their lives. Come on, brothers and sisters, that’s our scripture – powerful! Let’s give it up once more for the Divine Principle! Powerful!

I want to finish with a reading from True Parent’s words, the first volume, page 74:

“Please allow us in this hour to clearly understand that it is our responsibility to bear the burden of the course Jesus walked and of the words of the gospel that Jesus left behind. It is also our responsibility to fight with millions of satans and to return the glory of victory to the Father. Just as Jesus had a desperate and earnest heart toward Heaven, allow us also to have the same heart toward Heaven.”

Let us all bow our heads, and turn to our final meditation practice.

 

Altar Call:

Let’s hold each other’s hands in brotherhood and sisterhood. I want you to lift up your hands to Heaven. Let us pray!

Heavenly Parent and our most beloved True Parents, we thank you so much that we can be alive at this time, that we can come to understand the truth that Jesus was not here to die, that the purpose of Jesus’ coming was to be victorious and start a new history, a new era when the kingdom could flourish, that there would be peace and that there would be love between brothers and sisters.

As brothers and sisters, we know that in the process that True Parents have elucidated, we can find our true value, we can understand our purpose to truly be able to inherit Your divinity, Your essence, Your true love, Father, a love that is a parental heart, a love that will sacrifice itself for the sake of its children, that will lay down its life for the sake of the world, that will lay down its life over and over, even descending into the hells so that the children may be free. Father, it is that kind of heroic heart that is the True Parents’ heart. Father, let us not inherit a lesser form of love, a weaker, self-centered kind of love.

Father, let us inherit Your divine nature, Your parental heart. Heavenly Father, we pray that, as we do that, we will become manifestations of Your kingdom, that our families and tribes will become the kingdom that is growing, the kingdom that is to come. Father, we pray that You may awaken us this time, that we, as Unificationists, can pray about Jesus and love Jesus, that we may understand that it is Jesus’ mission that True Father has come to fulfill and it is that mission through which True Parents have liberated the heart of the Messiah. Father, we are so grateful because only the returning Lord would do such a thing, to sacrifice himself for his predecessor, to sacrifice his life so that the predecessor may be at peace and find joy. Father, thank You so much because True Parents have shown us what the true parental heart is through the seven deaths and resurrections. Father, let us come to imbibe and to inherit that type of phenomenal, cosmic love.

Father, we brothers and sisters are now reclaiming our faith. We are not just keeping it to ourselves and being embarrassed about who we are, but now we are once again declaring to the world that we have a right to believe, that nobody can take away our religion from us, and that we are proud of what we believe – not because we are uneducated, not because we are ignorant, but because we have studied theology deeply, because we are truly knowledgeable about the heart of Christ. Father, let us move past any of the offenses, the attacks that will come against us, any of the attempts to try to squash our faith, to squash our pride and our confidence. Let us be greater than that force. Father, let us know that You are with us, that Jesus also is with us, that True Parents’ mission is victorious, that we are now moving in the spirit of that resurrection power. Father, let us change people’s lives, let us teach Principle once again, and let people be transformed and be born anew.

We thank You so much. Father, we want to pray and give thanks at the end of this year as it comes to Christmas and the New Year. We want to celebrate You and give thanks. We pray all these things as brothers and sisters in faith and love and in lineage. We pray as Blessed Central Families and in the Name of our True Parents, Aju!