Triangle Family Church Sunday Service on February 23, 2025
Music Offering
Sermon
- - Biblical Foundations of Community: The references to Romans 12 and 1 Corinthians 12 provide a theological framework for understanding societal roles, emphasizing that although individuals may have different functions, they are all essential. This perspective encourages believers to appreciate diversity within their community and underscores the importance of collaboration for a common purpose.
- Implications of Collective Sin: The speaker discusses the idea of collective sin as a shared responsibility that humanity bears, which can lead to suffering. This highlights a critical understanding of moral accountability and the need for a collective effort toward healing and liberation. It provokes thought about how society can address collective issues and work towards a hopeful future.
- The Power of Unexpected Contributions: The story of the gigantic turnip serves as a metaphor for how every member of a community, regardless of their size or perceived ability, can play a role in achieving significant goals. This insight encourages inclusivity and highlights that success often comes from collaboration, even from unexpected sources.
- The Importance of Family Bonds: The personal anecdotes shared about the speaker’s family experiences emphasize the vital role of family in one’s life. The reflections on limited time with loved ones stress the importance of cherishing relationships and making the most of the moments shared together.
- Encouragement for Individual Impact: The notion that everyone can be an “unexpected hero” empowers individuals to see their potential within a larger context. It fosters a sense of belonging and encourages participation, motivating people to engage actively in their communities.
- Collective Goodness as a Path Forward: The call to recognize the value of collective goodness aligns with the idea that small, individual contributions can culminate in significant societal benefits. This perspective can inspire action, urging individuals to engage in acts of kindness and service, knowing they contribute to a larger good.
- The Vision of a Harmonious Society: The conclusion of the sermon envisions a society where every person’s contribution is valued, and where collective effort leads to a brighter future. This idea resonates deeply, suggesting that by fostering an environment of cooperation, humanity can overcome challenges and thrive together.
Slide 1
My sermon title is "Collective Goodness."
Slide 2
Let's read two Bible verses I picked for the reference of Collective Goodness. They illustrate that human society is like a body, where every part is essential and serves each other. God gave gifts and talents to each one to be used to serve humanity.
Slide 3
First one is Romans 12:4-5.
For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.
Second one is 1 Corinthians 12:20-25.
As it is, there are many parts, but one body.
The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other.
These verses tell us that human society is like a body, in which every part is needed, and all the parts exist to serve one another and God gave gifts and talents to each one to be used to serve the humanity.
Slide 4
What does the term “collective” remind those who learned the Divine Principle? It may be a collective sin.
Slide 5
What does the Divine Principle tell about Collective Sin? It is the sin for which a person is responsible as a member of a group. Humanity as a whole has had to walk a path of tribulation, until the Second Coming of Christ.
According to the Divine Principle, humanity needs to go through suffering until the Second Coming of Christ due to Collective Sin. Then what will happen after the Second Coming of Christ? What is the opposite of tribulation? Delight, good luck, happiness, and joy are listed as antonyms of tribulation. After the Second Coming of Christ, humanity can walk a path of joy and happiness instead of tribulation. How can the path of joy and happiness be achieved? When you learned about hereditary and collective sins, did you think it was unfair to be responsible for sins we didn't commit? Did God create humanity to suffer from collective sin? I think God’s plan was to make humanity enjoy the path of joy and happiness through collective goodness.
Collective goodness is a concept that can refer to the idea of working together for the benefit of a group, or to the idea of doing what is good for humanity.
Slide 6
I would like to share a story telling the power of collective effort, which we learned at Sunday school. The title of the story is the Gigantic Turnip or "The Enormous Turnip".
Have you ever heard the story? It is a Russian and Ukrainian fairy tale but widely recognized and familiar. I recall it being included in my Japanese reading class textbook during elementary school.
Slide 7
The narrative is straightforward: an elderly man planted turnip seeds, and one of them grew to an enormous size. His family collaborated in their efforts to uproot the giant turnip.
Slide 8
Let us read the story.
On a Russian farm, a grandfather lived with his wife, four children, and sixteen grandchildren. The youngest was a baby.
The turnips in the garden were ready to be harvested, but the grandfather struggled to pull out a particularly stubborn one.
The grandmother came to the garden and put her arms around the grandfather's waist. They pulled and pulled, but they could not get the turnip out of the ground.
Even with all children and their spouses pulling, they could not get the turnip out of the ground!
The fifteen grandchildren lined up, tallest to shortest, and the whole family pulled and pulled. But they could not get the turnip out of the ground.
The grandfather noticed that someone is still missing. He went over to the baby grandchild, who was lying on a blanket, and gently removed the rattle from the baby's hand. He tied a rope around the smallest grandchild's waist and put the other end of the rope in the infant's tiny fist.
Slide 9
The whole family lined up again by height. They pulled and pulled, but they could not get the turnip out of the ground.
"One more time," said the grandfather. "Pull!"
They pulled and pulled. To see them, the baby laughed out loud, and tugged on the rope.
The turnip came out of the ground! It popped out so fast, the whole family fell down like a row of dominoes.
"That is one strong baby!" they all laughed.
"That's the strength of a family," said the grandfather.
The moral of the story is Unity in Teamwork and Unexpected Hero.
The family worked together to pull out the turnip, demonstrating collaboration.
The baby succeeded in pulling out the enormous turnip, indicating that success can come from unexpected sources individuals. Isn’t it a nice story?
Slide 10
Next, I would like to share our family’s experiences during the holiday season.
Our family had a trip to Japan. In Kyoto, the Fushimi Inari shrine made me realize the value of collective effort. It is a popular spot for tourists due to its mysterious and photogenic scenery.
Dedicated to Inari, the deity of harvest and business success, Fushimi Inari Shrine is the head of all Inari shrines in Japan. The vibrant orange torii gates leading to Mt. Inari offer an impressive view and are one of Japan's iconic images. Known as the "1,000 torii gate" path, it actually features around 10,000 gates. A torii gate marks the transition from the secular to the sacred.
You may wonder who built so many torii gates and why. As you can see from the picture, the business or individual donor’s name is engraved on each torii gate. The shrine's faith community believes that donating a torii gate makes their wishes come true, and if they do, they donate larger gates. The 10,000 torii gates are the result of this collective faith and good deeds. Tourists are enjoying the photogenic and mysterious scenery created by these collective goodness.
Slide 11
True Parents started the construction of Cheon Il Guk, focusing on the Cheon Pyong Holy Ground in Korea. Who can complete their initiative? The completion of their initiative can be achieved by the collective faith and good deeds of the faith community. Although often misunderstood by society, I believe that people will eventually recognize and appreciate the outcomes of our faith community's collective goodness.
Single small torii gate along with the other 9,999 torii gate can impress the visitors of the shrine. An infant along with the other family members can pull the Gigantic Turnip out from the ground. God created each one of us to do good deeds and make the collective goodness benefit all humanity.
Slide 12
Two incidents remind me that time to serve True Parents on the earth is limited.
My mother-in-law broke her back and suffered extreme pain. When we visited her at the hospital in Dec., she looked so weak. Fortunately, she is now recovering well.
During our Japan trip, we spent some time with my mother. She gave me some of her jewelry for our daughters as a distribution of mementoes. Do you know what memento is? It is katami in Japanese. We call the distribution of mementoes “katamiwake” in Japan. According to a dictionary, memento is an object kept as a reminder or souvenir of a person or event. One of my mother’s mementoes was a diamond ring my father gave her. It reminded me of the story that True Mother gave her wedding ring to a member. I did not think deeply about the story that True Parents gave away their belongings to members. But now I realize that it was their distribution of mementoes to give the memories and connections with True Parents.
It has been over 10 years since I saw my mother last time. She looked very good. But she suddenly felt so sick when we were about to leave her home. She needed to lie down and rest when we said good-bye.
Slide 13
Our mothers are getting old and cannot stay on earth for long. I regret that we could not have much time to serve them and time for them to spend with grandchildren.
My mother-in-law is now living with us. I think God gave our family the time to serve my mother-in-law at our home.
I realized True Mother is 2 years older than my mother-in-law and 4 years older than my mother. We do not have time with True Mother for long as well. There is a saying that when we feel we want to serve our parents, they are not on earth. This saying tells us to serve our parents as much as possible when they are on earth.
Slide 14
Conclusion
Each of our faith community members is precious and unique.
- Anyone can contribute and be an unexpected hero to build Cheon Il Guk.
We are connected by True Parents.
- All of us received the best memento from True Parents, which is Blessing.
Let us cherish our time with True Parents and each other.
Our collective goodness will eventually benefit humanity.
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