This past week we celebrated Foundation Day as well as an International Blessing and I wanted to reflect on these important events. While the world whizzed by under headlines like: “GOP Brawl in South Carolina” and “Seinfeld is selling 16 Porsches” other events, which are silently changing the world were less noticed.
In asking myself what makes Foundation Day and the Blessing significant, I was drawn back to Jesus’ words about the Kingdom of Heaven. The Pharisees made a great deal of effort to ensnare Jesus by asking him to point to the Kingdom of Heaven, but he cleverly side stepped the trap with the truth!
“He answered them and said, “The kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed;nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or, ‘There it is!’ For behold, the kingdom of God is in your midst.” – Luke 17:20-21
The people of Jesus’ day were hopeful for a political revolution but Jesus knew that change had to start from the inside out. Jesus knew there wasn’t a short cut to changing this world. It’s still true today. The only way to build God’s ideal is to start with yourself! This is the meaning behind Rev. Moon’s initiative for Home Church. He emphasized that you have to start with creating God’s ideal in your family and community.
Culture as an expression of what’s on the inside
I experienced a wonderful example of this on Friday when I visited Mica’s school, Portsmouth Christian Academy (PCA.) The school welcomed the pastors of its students to come for a half day gathering on Christian education. PCA began as a small church school and has expanded to become a premier international academy. It not only espouses Christian values but lives them.
You could see it in the way students interacted with each other and their teachers. It was impressive. I contrasted this with a local news article about a fight between a public school teacher and a student who refused to give up his candy in class. The interaction ended with the teacher being put on administrative leave. While I don’t know the details of the incident and can’t comment on the specifics of what happened, one thing I do know is that there is a terrible breakdown of respect in society, which in the end will harm everyone.
Culture is the expression of what is inside of people and we have to think about what kind of culture we are leaving for our descendants. Portsmouth Christian Academy is a great example of inheriting a living faith to the next generation.
How is God’s ideal built?
To build God’s ideal we have to be connected to God. It has to start from the inside out. It’s about what you are rooted in. The Good Book reminds us:
“If the root is holy, so are the branches…some of the branches have been broken off, and you, though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root…” – Romans 11: 16-17
The metaphor of the tree that Jesus gave is a 2,000 years old story. I found a modern day real life tale that speaks to this age old truth.
The Treaty Oak
There is a legend behind the Treaty Oak. Perhaps this 500 year old tree in the heart of downtown Austin can symbolize a new treaty between God and humankind. This famous tree was pronounced the most perfect Oak by the American Forestry Association in 1922. It was one of a group of 14 trees called the Council Oak Trees that were sacred to Native Americans.
The surviving Treaty Oak is revered by Texans. It’s not the tallest tree in the land, being only 50 feet tall but its girth is 120 feet in diameter. Moss hangs from this old oak and creates a sacred space under its bowing branches. It is beloved by everyone, especially, John, Austin City’s forester, at the time of the incident.
He was the person who uncovered the poisoning of this precious tree. One day, John was inspecting the tiny park that is the home of the tree when he noticed a circle of dead grass around the roots. At first, he thought that perhaps a park employee had been a little too enthusiastic about spraying herbicide. But soon the tree began to wilt and he came to the conclusion the tree was sick.
When John tested the soil he realized this was no accidental spraying. The amount of chemical in the soli confirmed someone wanted this tree dead. John called DuPont, the manufacturer of the compound but they had no available antidote. Instead, they joined the Forestry Service in offering a bounty, to find the perpetrator of the crime. They searched but had no leads. Out of ideas and out of hope, John appealed to the nation.
Ross Perot responded and said he would put up whatever money was needed to solve the problem. With funding from Perot, 22 PhDs gathered around the tree to solve the problem and hundreds of thousands of dollars later they were no nearer to a remedy. A full third of the tree was dead. 
Soon a make shift memorial sprang up. People left letters, cards, and poems; cans of chicken soup and even bottles of Maalox! Soon they had to put up a fence around the tree to protect its roots from the many visitors. If love alone could cure, that tree would have been revived.
The poison acted by blocking a key step in the photosynthesis process causing the tree to shed its leaves and grow new ones but each time it did, the leaves would fall again. Within several cycles of leaves growing and dying the tree became exhausted and looked as if it too would die. The scientists rigged up an IV with sugar water to help the tree maintain energy and not exhaust the overworked roots.
Even psychics were brought in and a man was given permission to erect Holy pyramids in support of the tree. But to no avail. In the midst of all this activity they caught the culprit; a meth addict, who had poisoned the tree with the belief that by following a dark arts spell he could liberate himself from, of all things, a broken heart.
It was at this point that John, the dedicated forester, decided to try, in his own words, a ”Hail Mary.” He took cuttings from the live part of the tree and grew them into saplings in another location. He then engrafted the saplings back into the old tree, enabling their root systems to become fused so that the tree could be restored to health.
If we look at humanity, just as Jesus suggested, we are like that old tree. We have so much precious value to God. He cannot bear to lose us but with every new generation, like the leaves, we are in an endless cycle of destruction. People live and die in disappointment. What is the origin of the disease we suffer from? The culprit and cause of the poison humanity inherited is distorted love.
What’s our Hail Mary?
Jesus was a radical and had a radical solution for humanity. He said:
“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples. “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love.(Keep connected to the root.) If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.” – John 15:5-11
Jesus knew we had to be engrafted in order to regain spiritual health and he didn’t mince his words because he wanted us to “bear fruit – fruit that will last.” What does it mean to engraft? James hinted:
“Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent (poison to our spirit) and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.” – James 1:21
Sanctifying Love – being engrafted
Father and Mother Moon are radicals and they too have a radical solution. They are carrying on the work of Jesus in this generation. 
The reason the International Blessing is so important and central in our life of faith is because it is more than a marriage. It represents the engrafting process. Rev. Moon said,
“When you receive the marriage Blessing you become engrafted; by being engrafted you come to have a different blood lineage. (Become connected to God’s root.) Your marriage is not an ordinary marriage of this world. Far from it! It is most precious centering on the heart of heaven and earth. You must perfect your heart within your family, centered on God’s love, and you must perfect your personality with glory and joy.”
A proving ground for love This is why we value the ideal of the Blessing and the family. Through the Blessing we can engraft to God’s lineage or root. It is within the family that we will perfect our love and personality. There is no greater training ground! This is why Rev. Moon called the family “the school of love.” So no matter how difficult or tough family relationships are they are our proving ground. In overcoming difficulties or differences we can perfect our personalities and discover the capacity within ourselves to love as God loves. This is why we can be grateful for our family, no matter what we are going through. The Kingdom of Heaven is nothing other than a community and world filled with people who love as God loves. But to love as God loves we need to be nourished from the true root. Jesus wanted this. He began with his disciples, investing in them and raising them up to inherit his heart. I don’t doubt that he wanted a nation of people like this and even a world.
Praying for a new world
What about us? We too would want to see a new world and this is what Foundation Day represents. It stands for the beginning of a new world –one that we can create. It was Rev. Moon’s dream when he was alive and something that he worked and prayed for – knowing that it will come one day. He gave everything for this and his wife is continuing his work. Rev Moon shared:
“I am now praying for things that can happen 1,000 years from now. We are offering serious prayers about how the world should be in 10,000 years from now. If we, the founders of the Unification Movement, together with the members, offer prayers in all seriousness, then as long as the standard of our prayer rests with heaven we will never perish.”
Speak and pray truth to power
The expression speak truth to power refers to speaking what one believes to be true, regardless of the consequences. It means speaking the truth even when those in power can retaliate. This is what Jesus did. He spoke truth to power. Father and Mother Moon are speaking truth to power, not just for today but for the sake of the future. Foundation Day is about speaking truth to power in a world that doesn’t believe true love is possible. It’s about speaking truth to power that selfishness will stop and we will establish a culture that embodies the ethic of living for the sake of others. We believe the world can change and we are the architects of the Kingdom of Heaven. Maybe you don’t see much change in the world around you but you have to believe that if you offer prayers in all seriousness, the standard of your prayer will rest with heaven and will speak truth to power until God’s ideal is realized. Rev, Moon asked:
“Do you know how important prayer is? Have you experienced the effects of prayer? You need to have these experiences. You should have the conviction that prayer never fails to accomplish things. I am saying, after you pray do not doubt. Do not question, “Did God listen to my prayer?” Believe what I told you that it will be accomplished. If you continue praying like this over the next 10 years, the next 100 years, you will go up; you will never go down. And if you tell God that you will never give up on the way, then God will definitely help you. He will help you every time.”
Portsmouth Christian Academy is planting seeds of the coming culture. We too can plant seeds in our family and community by how we relate to others. We can, in ways big and small, plant a life style that creates a standard that rests with heaven. That is how heaven is built. Foundation Day is a new starting point for God. While the world is still consumed with the latest news cycle we can take a moment to pause and celebrate a new beginning for God and think about what it means to be engrafted into the root of God’s lineage. Instead of “Oh, the places you’ll go” we can imagine “Oh, the people we’ll be!”
