True God's Day Celebrations in South London, Cheon Gi year 2

Nigel Barrett
February 16, 2011
London, England

True God's Day Pledge service was held at 6 am to enable those that had to go to work or school to attend without too much of a time constraint. As usual the service was well attended.

Pastor Franklin Fortune was attending the celebrations in Korea so elder couple Tim and Dolores Read led the service. In his talk Tim Read made the following points:

First he read us a rough translation of the motto: Cheon Il Guk will be everlasting when the parents of heavenly emotion and the children of earthly and heavenly harmony become one to the greatest degree and settle the cosmos of peace

Then he recapped why the 1st year of Cheon gi (2010) was so important:

1. Last year Feb 14th became Jan 1st of Cheon gi -- the heavenly calendar. The Christian calendar was developed by Dionysius Exiguus -- Roman monk from Scythia as late as 525 AD (N. E. of black sea to N. W. India) True Father wanted to do it in his lifetime -- as new start

2. Feb 19th (Jan 6th Cheon gi) True Father officially declared and bequeathed the eight heavenly texts to us. In Christianity it was not until the Council of Rome 385AD that 73 books of the Bible were finalized. However, disputes went on until the Council of Trent 1546.

True Father wanted to do this in his lifetime -- as new start so that there would be no controversy. The eight texts are:

1. Among 1,200 volumes, The Sermons of the Rev. Sun Myung Moon

2. Exposition of the Divine Principle

3. Cheon Seong Gyeong [Heavenly Scripture]

4. Pyeong Hwa Shin Gyeong [Messages of Peace]

5. The Family Pledge

6. The booklet "True Families: The Gateway to Heaven"

7. The speech "Owner of Peace, Owner of Lineage"

8. World Scriptures

3. March to May True Father bequeathed the rites of the Seunghwa Ceremony to us giving us the clear idea of passing on as rebirth

4. April 29 (March16 Cheon gi) in Seoul and May 9 (March 26 Cheon gi) in Las Vegas True Parents Holy Wedding ceremony for third time True Parents finally established the Holy Wedding as God originally intended. It took three stages: 1960, 2003 and 2010

5. So we are living in amazing times now.

The beautiful holy table was then shared out for the celebration breakfast.

The entertainment for God's Day was held on the following Saturday in the evening. It was a very packed schedule: small plays, music, a quiz, magic, games and poetry. Toby Warren organized the evening and was the MC.

There were performances from both First and Second Generation. More and more in South London the talent of the Second Generation is blossoming and there were some very good performances as well as beginners that were happy to perform despite the need for a bit more polishing. Along with the members in the audience were also some guests and a parent of one member who was visiting for the very first time. This visiting mother said "if you could bottle this atmosphere you could sell it and make a fortune." That about sums up the evening.