To Liberate Our Hearts

Chung Hwan Kwak
August 1985

This summer presents an important opportunity for us to liberate our hearts, bringing ministers together to welcome Father in Washington DC, on August 20. Father is aware that many leaders and members have been ashamed before him since he entered Danbury prison. While it is important to find the best methods of organization to make the August 20 banquet a success, our attitude will be the deciding factor. We, as members of the Unification Church, should use this event to liberate our own spirits and hearts. This means that throughout the summer we should each maintain a heartistic link to Father.

Why did Father have to go to Danbury? It is mainly because the Unification movement lacked a substantial foundation in America, and because the people in the leadership positions of society failed to comprehend Father's value. However, through his jail sentence Father has taken the providence to the next stage of development. He entered jail in the position of a sacrifice; therefore, when he comes out there must be some foundation established to receive him. The ones for whom the sacrifice was offered must unite with the sacrifice; otherwise progress cannot take place.

Ordinary people think that Father committed a crime, and that he has served a just prison sentence. They cannot see any providential meaning in Father's 13 months in prison. If this perception were to be allowed to stand unopposed, it would be a great tragedy for history. Father's Danbury experience is deeply linked to the ability of Christianity to fulfill its mission The ministers who are to gather at the August 20 banquet represent all of Christianity in the United States. Christianity in the United States is a microcosm representative of the worldwide foundation of Christianity.

Our motivation in organizing the banquet is therefore twofold. On one level, we should generate the desire within our hearts to comfort Father. Throughout the summer we should invest all of our effort as a minimum condition of fulfilling our responsibility and establishing a foundation of repentance and change within our movement. As Unification Church members, therefore, our first motivation in preparing the banquet is to comfort God's heart.

The second goal concerns the future of the world. Father is anxious that all of Christianity, including our church, fulfills its providential responsibility of ushering in the Kingdom of God. He sees the Unification movement as being in a position similar to Jacob's when he was returning from his sojourn in Haran: We have to serve Esau unconditionally. We have already sent videotapes of Principle and copies of God's Warning to the World to ministers throughout the country. Recently Father authorized the publication of another book of his speeches -- the thirty-eight which he chose as most encapsulating his message -- to be made available on August 20. This book, God's Will and the World, will come out in time for copies to be given to ministers who attend the banquet. While Father has been in prison our movement has made significant contributions in the field of social action, helping to enhance the Christian ministry throughout the United States.

As a result of our unity with Christian ministers Father hopes to see the establishment of a truly interracial, interdenominational patriotic movement, which Father calls the "three loves" movement. The internal objectives of this movement should center upon the restoration of the three Blessings:

1) This new movement should educate people about the value of creation, and set a tradition of loving and serving the environment.

2) It should seek to educate people about the true, original value of each human being as the child of God, and the morality that stems from that value, and should set a pattern of love and service to individuals who are needy, disabled, or suffer from an abuse of human rights.

3) It should seek to preserve the sanctity of the family, and establish a tradition of the family serving the ever-higher levels of society, nation, and world.

Satan is now focusing his attack on America along two lines of strategy: materialism and secular humanism, which both stem from self-centeredness. God is therefore urging the establishment of an interdenominational movement that is based not only on Godism, which is essentially theory, but also upon the true realization of the sharing of love, which is action.

Father conceives of this movement as being established through the leaders of Christian churches but involving members of their congregations as well. Our local centers are to provide an inspiring example of the true spirit of Christianity. To help foster this we should maintain our early morning prayer services, which give us the opportunity to renew our determination daily, and we should encourage each other to find ever more effective ways to fulfill the three providential objectives of loving and serving the environment, people, and the world.

Pressing world problems -- epitomized by the terrible famine in Africa and the alarming rise of terrorist activity -- cry out for solution. But "solutions" that are based only upon economic, political or military perspectives provide no real hope for anyone. They simply do not reach to the root of the problem. Substantial hope can come, however, from the implementation of this "three loves" movement.

Father's desire is that the August banquet will have three main effects. First, Father intends to share with the ministers the need to truly recognize God's ownership of this nation. So far, God had been unable to exert His power fully in this nation so central to His providence. Father hopes that the banquet will form the turning point in the establishment of God's sovereignty in America. Secondly, Father wants the banquet to help generate the renewal of all Christianity. Thirdly, he wants the banquet to provide impetus for the realization of a new movement based upon love and action.

We will experience many challenges this summer. But we should not be intimidated by strong winds. If you are afraid to face mighty gales, you can't grow to be a tall tree, but will instead remain a small bush. Heavenly Father expects True Parents to confront all difficulties with fortitude, and True Parents extend this expectation to us. Without a serious and even miserable battle, no heroes can come forth.

Reflect on your own experiences after meeting the Unification Church. Probably at that time you felt a great surge of inner power. But that power did not have its source in you; it came from beyond yourself. Through a deep and constant prayer life and a daily life of sacrifice and service, you can continue to feel this special power. Father carries the original source of the power of the cosmos within him every day. He therefore expects us not to think and act in accordance with "ordinary" frames of reference, but to relate our daily lives and mission work to the ultimate source of the power of the cosmos.

True creativity can never arise out of mundane action. It can only come about when action is related to the element of true love.

Be certain that your relationship with God is pure. Focus only upon developing a relationship of true love between yourself and God. Cultivate the ability to permeate all your thinking and action with true love. It is important, now that we are all moving into positions where we can engender the renewal of Christianity, to remember that people will only respect and follow advice wholeheartedly if they have received true love.

Go beyond a "common-sense" frame of reference. During the era of Moses, God required a forty-day condition of spying in the land of Canaan. The ten leaders who returned with discouraging reports were not bad people. They were famous leaders among the Israelites who, according to their habitually pragmatic perspectives, thought the penetration of Canaan impossible. Father expects our attitude to instead be that of Joshua and Caleb.

Before you judge a situation by your intellect, follow the judgment of Shim Jung (original heart and mind). Make this a habit. Usually our thinking and analysis is guided entirely by common sense. But Father always focuses first on Shim Jung. This means he purely relates to God's heart in every circumstance.

God and True Parents overflow with the power of true love. It is only because of our impure foundation that true love fails to reach people. Who can restore or recreate the universe? Only Heavenly Father and True Parents have the power to do this. Through Shim Jung we can directly contact True Parents and Heavenly Father and receive their guidance and power for our daily lives and missions.