Christmas Message from Rev Hyung Jin Moon

December 23, 2012

Dear Brothers and Sisters, Yeon Ah nim and I wish you and your family a Merry Christmas and great success in the coming year. We are now in Korea to celebrate Christmas with True Mother.

We urge our members and Blessed Families to celebrate Christmas with joyful gratitude and devotion. The worldwide observance of this holy birthday is an annual reminder of the profound expectation that God had for Jesus. We understand that this sacred expectation remains and extends to the holy anointing of our True Parents. Through the Holy Blessing of Marriage, this expectation becomes the direct inheritance of our Blessed Families.

Therefore, celebrating Christmas reminds us of who we are and of God’s great hope for us.

The event that was long contemplated by every one of us finally occurred on September 3. True Father passed into the Spirit World. Father has been our parent, teacher and leader for as long as many of us can remember. We have been taught to celebrate a Seung Hwa with joy and encouragement. But, somehow the passing of Father was different. Our members and Blessed Families seem to share a feeling of sadness that still lingers. We expected to have accomplished so much more before he left us.

During our twelve-city Town Hall Tour in September and October, I faced a lot of challenging questions and hard feelings. We were all reeling from the slow realization that, indeed, Father was gone. Also, on everyone’s mind was the untimely implosion of the leadership of our US movement.

However, what I remember most from that tour, which was so apparent in city after city, was the maturity and profound dedication of our members. We may feel discouraged as we assess the status of our movement in the context of the passing of Father. And, we all regret that the massive effort and high hopes of Lovin’ Life Ministry came to such an abrupt end. However, Yeon Ah nim and I and the team that we are working with believe this context also provides us with a unique opportunity. I can assure you that we are working hard to make the most of this opportunity.

It is fascinating to remember that the very first undertaking of the disciples following the miserable crucifixion of Jesus was to hold an election (Acts 1: 15-26) to fill out their number to twelve. In like manner, our first act of church business following Father’s passing was to hold an election for District Council. Our twelve District Councils are now up and running. They nominated twelve District Pastors who have since been installed in a special ceremony held at East Garden. Most recently, our District Councils have nominated well-qualified representatives for our new National Council. Once seated, our National Council will begin work as the advisory body to foster church and growth, Blessed Family health, and effective church governance. Creating District and National Councils is part of an overall strategy to reinvent a church that places top priority on the health and depth of our grass roots network of Blessed Central Families.

The two core divisions of HSA in New York will be a National Pastors' Association (a support network for the development of pastors) and the Office of Church Support (which will provide the broad range of resources needed to support individual, family and church health and growth).

While we have been rationalizing the purpose and function of HSA operations in New York, Dr. Michael Balcomb, our Executive Vice President, has pressed himself to visit church communities across the country every week. In the past 40 days, he has visited 17 church communities from coast to coast. What he has observed on his church visits has reminded us of how important it is that everything we do be focused on the health of our members, families and pastors.

Those who have heard my recent messages are already aware of the gospel we will now proclaim. God has spoken so clearly to us through the Original Substance of the Divine Principle and through Father’s incessant repetitions for years and years. The completion of the mission of Christianity, the gospel of the True Parents, the creation of Cheong Il Guk, and the universal fulfilment of the role of all religions on earth can be accomplished by the perfection of vertical love on the horizontal level. That is through the perfection of absolute sex: absolute, eternal, unique unchanging intimacy between husband and wife cantered on God.

Although I heard this message countless times from Father, I responded much like everyone else, often thinking “here he goes again.” However, my first personal experience with Father from the spiritual world made it more than clear that preaching this gospel of absolute good sex, and uncovering the destructive nature of “bad sex” is the core of the work we must do to honour and glorify the True Parents of Heaven, Earth and Humankind. This message will be the focus of our curriculum, of our Blessed Family Ministry, of our evangelism and of our message on Sunday. This, therefore, should also be the focus of our preparation for Foundation Day.

Certainly, I urge you to do your very best to complete the required conditions and devotions for Foundations Day. Please do make your offering and prepare your family as best you can. However, most important is that you arrive at Foundation Day in a position of total, absolute fidelity, devotion and intimacy with your spouse before God. I know that for various reasons, some of us are without a spouse as we prepare for Foundation Day. We may be not yet be married, divorced, or our spouse may have departed this world. We, too, are called to maintain our proper position of fidelity before God and True Parents. This is our best preparation for a victorious Foundation Day.

In closing, Yeon Ah nim and I offer special thanks and appreciation to our Japanese members. It is difficult to imagine what our movement would be like without the sacrificial offering they have made, in the US and in Japan. Their contribution to God’s providence is immeasurable.

Finally, I know you share with me and Yeon Ah nim a sense of profound gratitude to True Mother for her tireless and courageous efforts to uphold the mission of True Parents on the earth as she works in perfect harmony with True Father in the spirit world. Let us also pray for her good health and long life. Have a Merry Christmas.

Sincerely,

Hyung Jin Moon

President, Unification Church, America