I am deeply grateful to our International church president couple and also to Choi Yeon Ah Nim, for their visit, their time, and the heart that they shared with us over the bank holiday weekend.
early morning exercises and meditation
Over the last few days I received a lot of insights and guidance. Waking up this morning I felt a bit dazed – now I need, we all need, to consider how to take the next step. Mine is to review the last 3 days and write down my reflections.
Gianni, who kindly took 191 family portraits on Monday has gone one step further and uploaded the pictures on to our familyfireplace slide share site.
Please enjoy having a look through at your community. We will work out how to get your pictures to you as soon as we can.
Will be posting some more pictures and thoughts on the visit soon.
A very BIG thank you to so many who volunteered and offered their services and time in so many special ways over the last 3 days. It would not have worked out so well with out you. And a big thank you to everyone who came along to the Chelsea town hall. God bless you.
On Sunday 29th in the evening Hyung Jin Nim and Yeon Ah Nim will be arriving in the UK. The next day on the 30th August, the English Bank Holiday Monday, they will meet with all of us in Chelsea Town Hall. Please see below for more details. You should be receiving information from your pastor at church this Sunday and by email.
What I want to talk about right now is understanding why he is coming. I think it is good to ask ourselves that question, and take our time to prepare the heart and mind so that we can connect to our international church president and his wife. Firstly, let us think of what it means for them to come here together. They have several children, and for any parents that is surely a big step, to have to leave them in the care of others, as they visit different continents. Let us not take that for granted.
Hyung Jin nim and the Dalai Lama (click to enlarge)
The next thought that comes to me is that I can already grasp a strong sense of what Hyung Jin Nim’s message is by watching his sermons online, or reading them when Bruno emails them through to me. So what does it add by him coming here? Of course, importantly, it allows him to see where we are, and maybe a bit how we are. But also they are coming representing True Parents and all that that signifies.
Hyung Jin Nim and Yeon Ah Nim are constantly developing their life as disciples to the returning Christ. That is something I believe we all grapple with in our different circumstances in our daily life of faith: ‘I believe, but I often don’t know how to practice.’ So when someone is able to demonstrate a practical vision, in their own life, of how to live with sincere devotion, it can help us enormously.
Being a host:
Being able to host them also allows us to develop a different type of relationship. Recently when visiting members of my congregation in their homes in the evening I am always struck by how special it is to meet like that. How meaningful it is for us to host each other in our homes rather than just meet in meetings or at events. When we are in someone’s home we share an intimate moment/part of their life, because our homes are like the little universe that we create. We pretend less when we are at home. Hyung Jin Nim’s visit to our nation allows him to visit our home – the place where we live, and of course while he is here he will also visit ‘a’ home of one of our family members.
True Father never really stopped inviting us in to his home, but it’s not quite the same when it is hundreds and thousands of people. Father’s hope is that we will adopt that culture of heart, that he pioneered, where people are connected to God’s heart through our hospitality and service.
The heart of a sincere host is that they prepare well, and so I hope we can all prepare a willing and open heart for our visitors at the end of this month. It is not a show, he is not a celebrity, or someone who will solve our problems for us. Rather the give and take that we all have together while they are here can bring a lot of blessing from God if we take the time to pray and reflect about ‘why are they coming.?’ These are just a few of my thoughts, so if you have any good realisations please feel free to post them below. If we want to find meaning it often helps to ask ‘why?’
In 43LG we are offering morning prayers and study at 5am everyday so if you live in London feel free to join us sometime. There is one brother who comes each morning by night bus. We also are doing a 21 day prayer condition every evening that you are welcome to join. But why not get together with some friends in your community, in your home, and pray, or study together over the next week – preparation and a thoughtful heart is a big part of any successful offering.
Here are some practical details:
There will be a meeting where Hyung Jin Nim will meet and speak to all UK members and children 10 and over.
Venue : Chelsea Old Town Hall, Kings Road, London SW3 5EE Date and time : Monday 30th August at 10:30 for 11:00am
click map to enlarge
Immediately after his speech, there will be an opportunity to take family photos with Hyung Jin Nim and Yeon Ah Nim. This will need to be organised very smoothly so parents should quickly, after the speech, gather their children together. Immediately after their photo is taken, we encourage families to leave the hall.
Unfortunately it will not be possible to bring younger children to the event due to lack of space, so please try to arrange for care in your community to allow as many as possible to attend the speech.
The talk will last about 2 hours and the photo sessions should be over by 3:00pm.
In order to cover the costs of this visit there will be a small fee for all those attending. Please pay this to your Pastor and receive an entry ticket from them. Adults – 18 and over £10.00 Young people aged 10 -17 £5.00
Thank you for this info.
Unfortunately, (and we have to say this at last) as a family with young children, we are deeply disappointed about the fact that yet again an event held by the *Family* Federation excludes small children/children in general.
And it`s not about childcare issues. It`s about *being* family.
Our youngest children were the ones most excited about attending this particular event.
Sincerely,
Matthew and Family
Earlier this summer I got to meet up with a group of friends who I went to University in Newcastle with in our old stomping grounds around the Big market, and around the Quay Side along the Tyne. It is always good to stay in touch with old friends, it brings a stronger narrative to one’s life. It was around that under grad time in 93/94 that I heard the Divine Principle.
One of my friends brought some old VHS tapes of our football team so we went down to Cash generators and bought an old TV VHS combo to reminisce and remember why we never won the league:
I also took the chance to share a Sunday morning with our community in Newcastle. It is always a blessing to be with them. Here are a few pictures of those moments:
as you can see by the flags, it was world cup fever
Walter and Trevor discover the mac book pro...
...and get by blinded by technology
And then after lunch I headed up to Queens Ferry near Edinburgh to meet with our Scottish congregation who are also just a joy to be with. I met with the youth first out in the docks.
in Scotland
And then later with the elders in Paul and Ulrike Currie’s home:
In the afternoon after the Hyung Jin Nim has spoken to members we will be holding a Grand Balloon race. Some balloons travel to France and Holland. It is a great event and all proceeds will be going to support the façade at Lancaster Gate. As you know this is going to cost in the region of £150,000 and we aim to borrow around £100,000, so we need to look at raising another £50,000 ourselves.
Already bills have started to come in as we have had to appoint a project manager who will liaise with the council, health & safety and the conservation officer as well as sending the project out to tender and to see it through from start to finish. At present we have had bills in excess of several thousand pounds, in order to hire a platform lift so the façade could be inspected and paint samples taken. The paint is then analyzed in order to find how best to get it off and what paint needs to be put back on. Once we have the results we can then send the project out for tender. Being already August and by the time the quotes have come back in, in reality work will probably start in the spring next year. (Paint and other work can’t take place if the temperature drops below a certain level).
Our first fundraising event will be the balloon race after Hyung Jin Nims speech. Each ticket is £2.50 or five tickets for £10. The winners will be the balloons that go the furthest.
We have three marble vases for the winners(kindly donated by Alec Herzer) and are hoping to ask Hyung Jin Nim to sign something (for the overall winner – although this can’t be guaranteed) and it may be possible for him to release the balloons with Yeon Ah Nim. We are also hoping to source other prizes.
Ticket £2.50 – Five tickets for £10
All you need to do is put your name and address on the bottom of the card. Please don’t tear it off, we will do that at HQ. If you have any spare tickets please also hand them back into HQ as they cost money and it takes a lot of time to put labels and numbers on each ticket.
If you run out of tickets please call Simon Rosselli on 0208 516 8276 for more.
Please hand them back to your regional representative as soon as possible so we can get them processed. It makes it very difficult if I get them all back on the day. Better odds than the lottery but you have to be in it to win it!!!!
One question we get asked is “Is it environmentally friendly?”
All our balloons are made from latex which is a natural product and breaks down at the same rate as an oak leaf. We do not use foil balloons and we do not use string, or use plastic valves when attaching to the balloon.
Did my usual job at great time management today (not). Went up with Chieko and the little ones to pick Damon and Lenny from the jnr HARP workshop in CLeeve House.
Left it tight getting there on time, just made it, slightly manic driving experience. Was great to see all the kids and staff and other parents. very uplifting.
Then had agreed to do the Divine Principle introduction for the Monday evening lecture at 7pm in 43LG. Leaving Wiltshire at 4.45pm with a car load of kids made this a bit of a challenge. Had I really thought the day through properly?
a journey towards keeping commitments...on the M4
On the way down it was looking tight. Called Matt Huish to see if he would like to cover the lecture for me. Quite rightly said he didn’t appreciate less than 3 hours notice. And then I tried various other scams to see if maybe it wasn’t going to be necessary and maybe those who were there could make an alternative plan.
Anyhow, the fact was that a lot of people had come and there were some people also there for the first time, and me being still on the road was NOT a good excuse for avoiding something.
I realised after a great evening in 43LG, sharing the Principle, and lots of good company and moral support, that the issue was not just my time management, but the ease with which I was almost willing to give up on a commitment I had made. Okay, hadn’t taught in that setting for a long time, and okay was a bit unsure of myself. But it really pays to have a bit of faith, and keep commitments. Things conspire to support decisions where we keep our word. It’s like you know when you have done the right thing.
Basically the whole message on Sunday was about not sacrificing character for temporary fulfilment or whims, or misusing circumstances to be flaky. Kind of having to put it into practice now, so that I can preach what I practice next Sunday.
It has been confirmed that our International President, Pastor Hyung Jin Nim and his wife, Yeon Ah Nim will come to the UK on Monday 23rd August and spend a few days here to meet brothers and sisters before going on to visit the rest of Europe. [ED: please note that date and venue have changed - check with your local pastor for the latest news]
I am sure you will all look forward to meet them with your families and guests, so let us all prepare well to receive them and inspire them.
FFWPU Annual Gathering at Cleeve House
We have decided to move the Annual Gathering in Cleeve House to Tuesday 24th August (originally set for Saturday 21st August) so that all our Blessed families can have a chance to meet with Pastor Hyung Jin Nim and Yeon Ah Nim in our own beautiful environment .
We did not want to miss our traditional summer Annual Gathering and it was thought difficult to gather UK members from all over the nation twice within a few days, so it seemed a wonderful opportunity to ask Hyung Jin Nim to speak to everyone at Cleeve on 24th. We have there facilities for the younger children to enjoy the bouncy castles, games, etc.
Please try to book time off work if you need to. More details will come soon.
Recently the squad of our community football team, Mind Body United met up with their coach/manager, Steven Huish, and team chairman, Chigo Ahunanya, for an end of season party and ceremony. Each player, even those who only made a couple of showings….like myself, received a beautiful certificate and the chance to take a picture with Stevo&Chigo.
We had the player of the year award which went to Seijin Thomas for his all round skill, commitment and team work.
Big congratulations to all the staff and team members who made the launch year for MBU a real adventure. They go into a new season this autumn with a level of trust, commitment, skill, and team spirit that will only result in them moving up the league table.
Pics below (sorry couldn’t get everyone’s) and a little video of Seijin’s player of the year speech.
(click on pic to double the size…if you want to check how handsome everyone is.)
Video insight: Seijin cracks a few…
As a team they even walked away with some league silver ware winning best sportsmanship of the year award. This is significant because part of the team’s mission statement involves team members being role models for other young people. Next season they’ve got their eye on a few other trophies.
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:
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
And here are some pictures from some of us in Father’s event this morning, a brief personal account, and notes from Hyung Jin Moon’s talk a couple of hours ago:
Classic build up: lights went on at 3.45am (not sure why), had a nice naked wash and shave with a few others in the mens toilets, in the sink. Sat on a coach for 45 minutes, then it moved, went up the hill to the palace/museum. The time was 6am ish, the ‘convention to proclaim the word that firmly establishes the True Parents’ was due to start at 10am. Thankfully at the top of the mountain there was some breeze and the clouds were mercifully in front of the sun for some of the time.
arriving on the clouds, literally
Father was full of his usual poise and shared both deeply and humorously. He shared how he had just dyed his hair and how he always does before these occasions. I heard he had been up to 3.30am talking to his close disciples. As the sun grew stronger and I went to find the shade of a tree and take my jacket off in order to sweat less, I reminded myself that Father at 90 years old, had been standing at the podium for more than an hour in his suit.
Click on the pics to make them big.
Elisa Brann studying Father's speech as he reads and adds to it.
thirsty work
Keishin Barrett focusing on the Word
Jonathan and Alex study together on the wall.
After we had no buses so we (8000 people) had to walk down the mountain. Our calf muscles felt the gradient. And I was glad I had followed the advice of others and had not brought one of the boys with me. Not sure they would have handled the schedule and not sure how I would have managed carrying one of them down on my back….
Here are my notes from Hyung Jin Moon’s message to us this afternoon at the start of a 2 day Original Divine Principle seminar that father asked us all to join after the event today:
“True Father said today we should go back to our roots. Our unification movement tradition has a very short history of only 50 years and in that short time it has spread across the whole world, and of course as a result we have many limitations as well.
We want to go back to the core of True Parents revelation and the essence of the Divine Principle.
When I was in Brazil recently we read Father’s autobiography in our morning study and we were discussing about our faith and our fate.
Our fate is connected to the path that we take. There are a series of decisions that we make that determine our future.
If you look back at your life you can see this reality.
WE MUST KNOW where we are heading. There is a biblical verse in Proverbs where king Solomon was looking out of a window and saw a young man walking on a path, and he could see that young man’s future. On one side of the path there was a very decadent town with a big red light district, towards which the young man was heading.
King Solomon compared him to a cow that is heading to the abattoir
However the young man did not see that future as he was thinking about something else, about happy thoughts of a very beautiful woman who had invited him to the town. So the young man was having a very sweet dream, but king Solomon had seen many men walking down this path and knew what fate he would have; that he would become trapped by this town of decadence. (this is somewhere in Proverbs apparently…no ref. was given…but William Haines helped me find it, he uses it in his lecture on the Human Fall. See the link to Proverbs 7 here: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Proverbs+7&version=NIV )
We can see from this that the path we are taking is always connected to our future. And when there is the opportunity to look down on that path with objectivity we can see where it will lead.
The reason I am telling you this story is that this young man did not realise that this choice he was making would effect his life so significantly. There are many choices that come up in our life: these are essentially the paths that we chose to take in our life.
We have to always ask ourselves what is the path I am taking and where is it leading to. Brothers and sisters, we are seeking the eternal path. We are not seeking the transient or temporary path.
That is the path of seeking True Parents, which is eternal. That is our bright and eternal future.
We are not to centre one generation or another. We have an eternal centre which is True Parents. If you look at Christianity, there have been many saints and church leaders, but they have always focused on Jesus’ eternal love, rather than their own significance.
If we forget that we will find ourselves going on the wrong path with out noticing it…
We will always be True Parents children….
….After my elder brother past away I started to doubt whether God existed, and with that kind of mind I started studying religion, and then I started training……
When I go before True Parents I do not go as an adult, regardless of however many responsibilities and positions he has bestowed on me. When I go into the room, Father does not see an international president, but he sees his youngest son, and that is when I feel the greatest freedom and love. I don’t feel the need to have to prove anything to them and this is the most precious quality time for me.
We should get rid of thoughts we have that put us in the context of some official position when we are in front of True Parents. Of course it is important to be mature in our actions and in our words, but as Jesus said in order to go to the Kingdom of Heaven we need the heart of a child.
Through this important proclamation today there are a lot of expectations….
It is because of this 120 day workshop which has just been completed that a war could be prevented between the North and South Korea. Even the sinking of the naval ship did not bring about war. Because these leaders who went through the 120 day workshop and united with True Parents and continued through out the 120 days faithfully (from UK: Constance Rennie and Haesul Fagcang) an important condition could be set by True Parents.
We do not know what conditions are being set by this 2 day workshop that we are starting now on Father’s request, we do not know how big a condition can be made by even the offering of a pigeon.
If we can think like that we will go down one path, if we look cynically and with disinterest we will go down another path. How we take this short workshop is a decision we will make.
That young man thought he was going to be with the beautiful woman for just one night and he did not realise how that one night would have a big effect on his life course, …for us this one night , and two days workshop will also involve us making a decision that will effect our path and our future. Let has have that kind of awareness and heart.
Let us look into our hearts and either have king Solomon’s perspective , or the blissfully unaware perspective of the young man who was oblivious to the choices that he was making regarding his future.
Let us go on a path of seeking True Parents in our life.”
Thanks for taking the time to put us in the picture, Simon. Yes, we first generation certainly know what it means to make the right or wrong decisions in our lives and to some extent, so does the second generation. For those of you who are not sure, ask your original mind and heart. Deep within us, we know the way we should go and when it's the right choice, you receive energy, creativity, a peaceful mind and a heart full of love and gratitude.
Have a good trip home where your loving wife and children eagerly await you.
Patricia Hartley - 8 July 2010
We sat up all night in the UK watching this on live web link. Thought it was difficult to hear the English translation as it went on as it was very quiet. Great to see TF anytime, sorry I couldn't be there...
Chris Large - 8 July 2010
I normally have a good internet connection but when I tried to connect to the webcast I could not get any connection. "Typical" I thought -- something important and technology lets you down. I tried all sorts of things to get a connection -- even tried calling the service provider. After 40 mins and out of desperation I called my pastor, Franklin, thinking that if I cannot make a physical connection at least I can make a spiritual one. The moment Franklin answered the phone the cable modem connected. I was just in time to see Hyung Jin nim's prayer. I am sure there is a lesson in there somewhere.
We headed straight out and over to Hyde Park after worship on Sunday morning. Well, it’s never straight over when your a big crowd and there are small babies to feed etc. but we all congregated eventually at our holy ground by the plain tree.
here’s a short video with a sound track from one of my favourite old tribe called quest tracks:
The message this week and I guess for the next few weeks is about ‘developing spiritual maturity’. We started to look at what it means to become a disciple and how that path is first a choice, secondly requires commitment, and thirdly is experienced through a relationship
and if you want more of the content, here is the message on our Ustream archive:
It was a good to see our momentum building through the summer which is normally a difficult time for church development as we all head off for different projects and holidays.
I can see we still have a lot to do, and however well things go, somewhere in me I get the feeling something is still missing, like we are not there yet. Quite a few people came an hour early for worship today cuz I sent an email out about getting together to pray. I felt like; “this is our first service in the 2nd half of 2010, and we’ve got to do something to let God know that we know we have 6 months to the end of the year, and that we want to get our plans together with his.
So we prayed for all our family members, for their lives, and for our community’s goals and hopes. We know that in order to grow in number we have to be more concerned to grow closer together through fellowship, and becoming a channel for each other to experience God’s love.
A big thank you to all who helped out in all those different ways. Especially the people who were taking on roles from staff who were away. Thank you for making it work! One HARP member came all the way in from Collingdale to set up the sound and mikes on Saturday evening, and then came in again for 9am on Sunday to do a sound test with Chris and George. That’s commitment.
Written by Simon Cooper in Blogs
