This is part 2 of the Sunday Message that was posted yesterday. Click this link for Part 1.

Being an advocate is a tough job. You have to sometimes be there for the person you hate or are reviled by. At the beginning of the movie, Bridge of Spies, Donovan didn’t want to represent Abel; after all he was a spy and an enemy of America. But as he got to know Abel, Donovan began to respect him and want his future security and happiness. He found the man beneath the spy and loved Abel for who he was.

In a sermon, Rev. Moon once said, “God can forgive us completely because he understands our situation 100%.”  We may feel some things in our lives are unforgivable but that is not the case. God is ready to forgive us because he knows what we have been up against.

Resolving Age Old Conflicts

God is looking for the end of the Cold War between Cain and Abel (the Biblical Abel, not the one in the movie). We have to let go of resentments and historical hatreds if we are to hope for peace. Rev. and Mrs. Moon’s lives have been dedicated to peace and he spelled out an important stepping stone for peace in a sermon:

“As a result of the Fall in the Garden of Eden, there was struggle between Cain, who was born the older brother, and Abel, the younger brother.  The resentment between them became bitter. We must resolve it; otherwise there is no way for us to find the Parents.  For this purpose, God has walked a winding path with ups and downs throughout history.  What is the Garden of Eden?  It is a Home Church where there is no struggle between Cain and Abel, between the older brother and the younger brother…Thereby everything is unified.  It is to make this kind of environment that I, the Teacher of the Unification Church, came forth….to tear down the wall the enemy placed between Cain and Abel.  All this is to straighten out what went wrong. Based on this providence in this historical age, when national borders and social systems are being removed, once all become one through Home Church, everything will be restored.”

In order to find our Heavenly Parent, we have to resolve the struggle of Cain and Abel. This is a profound concept. Cain/Abel relationships are all around us. They might be in the family, or between communities and religions. Our task is to build unity so that we can find the parents that humanity lost when Adam and Eve fell away from God. Whether you stand in the position of Cain or of Abel in a particular moment, your most important task is to simply build unity. That is true for individuals, for nations and the world.

Loving in good times and bad

A Standing Man or Standing Woman have to love when it is totally unreasonable to love. That is the hardest type of love to display. It’s easy to love when things are going well but what about when your world is crumbling. You perhaps wonder why bad things happen to good people, but only under those circumstances can you discover your unique capacity for God’s love.

Jesus won the victory when he was victorious over Satan’s temptation in the desert. Job was a good man but lost everything, and strangely enough, in that process he discovered himself. To walk across the bridge to God’s sovereignty means being tested in the realm of love. Can you love when it’s unreasonable to keep loving? The question is to what extent have you inherited the true love of God?

You know what you have said and done

In the movie, Bridge of Spies, there is a very poignant moment. The American pilot who was traded for the Russian spy was tortured to give up secrets. The film is not clear about whether he did or did not betray his country.

On the plane ride back to the United States, everyone is giving him the cold shoulder and presumes he betrayed his country. Standing Man, Donavan, sits down next to the US pilot and intuits his struggle and insecurity.

Donovan compassionately turns to the pilot and says, “You know what you did and said.” Without any judgement, he was just saying, “Take responsibility for whatever happened, and don’t worry about what others are thinking.”  Standing Man wanted to liberate this young pilot from his past.

We know what we have said and done. We can’t worry about the judgements of others. We have to stand as God’s sons and daughters, take responsibility and forgive ourselves and others. We have to believe in ourselves.

This is one of the qualities I most appreciated about Rev. Moon. He understood the terrible plight of people and always sought to bring them comfort and empower them with hope. He would often speak for hours and hours. As members of the congregation, our stomachs would be rumbling and we sat wondering, “When will the sermon be over?” But Father Moon told us that he couldn’t bear to leave until he felt every person in the audience had somehow been touched by God.

Unconditional Love Changes Lives

Rev Moon invested himself unconditionally in the lives of others. He is an incredible role model to me and someone I try to emulate in my own life. I want to be that Standing Woman.

Father Moon’s heart for people is communicated in his autobiography.

“I would listen whenever a person wanted to tell me about his or her personal situation. Whether it was an old woman or a young man, I would listen with dedication, as if this were the only person I had to deal with. Each member would say, ‘No one in Korea listens to what I have to say as well as Reverend Moon.’ I enjoy listening to other people talk about themselves. When people open up to me, I don’t even realize the passing of time…. That is the way to love their life and repay the debt that I owe from my life.” — Rev. Sun Myung Moon, As a Peace Loving Global Citizen

Father Moon always talked about parental love. True Parents are needed because the world desperately needs true parental love. It is the love that finds value in each and every human being. Only parental love has that quality. We are all seeking such love. Rev. Moon recalled the early days of his ministry:

“I held out hope that someone would come to hear the new message that I had to convey. There were days when I would watch the front gate the whole day, hoping that someone would come. It didn’t matter who came. It could be a three-year-old child or a blind old woman with a bent back. I treated them all with the same love and respect. I bowed down in front of them and served them as though they had come from heaven. I never said to myself, “Oh, I hate it when such old people come.” Everyone is precious. Whether it is a man or woman, young or old, everyone has the same precious value.” —Rev. Sun Myung Moon, As a Peace-Loving Global Citizen

The quest to understand your value

I was reminded of our need to feel our value the other day as I listened to excerpts from a heart breaking video, “Heroin: Cape Cod, USA,” on NPR. This documentary is about the heroine epidemic that is raging in America. The film, directed by Oscar-winning filmmaker Steven Okazaki, will break your heart. It focuses on eight young people dealing with a heroin habit, as well as a group of parents of addicts.

One of the stories from that film is of 23-year-old Melissa who was addicted to Heroin. She died of an overdose before the film was released. Okazaki said that if you didn’t know she was an addict you would mistake her for the girl next door. She was intelligent, innovative, spunky and charming. But when she described her life she broke down in tears because all she wanted was for someone to know her value. It’s a gut wrenching film.

This is why the world needs true parental figures. We need someone to love us and articulate our value. Someone to advocate for us and help us cross the bridge of lies and return home. We need someone to say “You know what you did and said but I understand.” We need someone to say that we belong to God’s family. We need someone to stand for our greatness. That is what Melissa ached for and it’s what the world needs.

If Rev. and Mrs. Moon were with us today in person, they would encourage us to become that Standing Man and Standing Woman – to stand on Principle and fight for the lives of others in the same way that Donovan did.

Today, we have gathered to celebrate Father and Mother Moon’s birthdays because they have touched our lives in profound ways and we want to thank them. It is appropriate that we celebrate the birthdays of Rev. and Mrs. Moon together, as their contributions are essentially one effort and that in itself is remarkable.

Let’s wish Father and Mother Moon a very, very Happy Birthday!