Relationship With God And The Meaning Of Service - Part II

January 6, 1993

Once you are in a position to be under the fatigue of your physical body and you let your
sleepiness dominate you, then your emotions will be dominated immediately and you will
have a burden to carry then, so that you can't really communicate with Me. As you know,
when you have had the deepest experience in prayer, or in those times when you have been
deeply inspired in the presence of True Parents or in any way felt contact with Me, it is never
a moment when you are physically tired and just feeling how tired you are. In those moments
you forget your physical tiredness and you feel very clear, very straight, and you realize then
that you are in the spirit and not in the body. So your consciousness goes back and forth
between spirit and body.

What is fallen man? It's the man whose consciousness is more completely in the body and
trapped in the body like a prisoner and can't go to the spirit. In fact, fallen man even fails,
finally, to believe in the spirit because he does not operate in the spirit. This is a great problem
for the fallen world. They don't know how to prepare the spirit and then to move the thinking,
the consciousness into the spirit. So be aware that it is wise to pray in the earlier part of the
evening.

Maybe you should begin at the latest around ten o'clock, because the later it gets, the more
tired you become, the more you are tempted to let your consciousness just be in your body. As
you know, when you get tired you lose your will and lose your straight backbone and just
think about sleeping. So although you're doing much better now than ever before, still you
just have to be aware of those potential weaknesses and then plan wisely with your prayer life.
For example, if everyone in the family is tired, then you have your family meeting early
before everyone starts sleeping, don't you? So how much more important is your meeting with
your Heavenly Parents? So that's why the prayer at the end of the day is a good thing, but if
the end of the day is going to be late and going to be when you are very exhausted, then it's
better to have prayer earlier. And make the best time for our communication, because this is
very important.

As I was speaking on Monday night about service, I want to continue tonight. This is a year of
service for you. I really want you to focus. It's obvious that you can't be traveling, and you
can't be serving in the church as you did before - on airplanes and moving around from place
to place. This is your time to be here with your family. But you will find, as you understand
the meaning of service more and more, that you will be able to do many powerful things here
through your home. This is like a church, a gathering place. What is a church? It is the place
where people come to meet God. It is not just the place where people come to sing songs or to
have certain rituals or ceremonies, especially if there is not a feeling of the divine or of God.
It's the place where people come to meet God. And so in that moment of meeting God there is
an unselfishness, there is a sharing, there is a loss of the ego. And so truly, when people come
to your home and you open up the doors of service to Me and to them, then this should be a
place where people come to meet God. And they will feel it more and more. And so it won't
be just "H" (husband) and "W," (wife) a very warm, nice, older couple in the community, but
it will be more in the sense of divine experience. This can happen as you lose yourselves in
service to Me.

Service to Me in the old or traditional understanding is something I want to speak about now.
There is a fundamental problem and I will explain it this way. In the church where you have
the physical messiah and God and a very vertical understanding, then the meaning of service
to God and to the messiah sometimes becomes much too vertical, to where someone is saying
"I am serving God, I am serving the messiah," but there is not a relationship of service to
others. It's all going upward. So, in that sense, any action can be justified in serving the
messiah, including even, sometimes, somebody stealing or doing something that is dishonest
or wrong, and then saying "Well, in the service of God, in the service of the messiah, I am
justified to do this. I can do this. I have the freedom because my heart is right." This is a
fundamental problem and, believe it or not, there may have been a time and a circumstance
when that was justified, when some situation justified that kind of attitude. But in the general
sense, in the longterm sense, it is not justified. And there must be a growing up to realize that
service to God and service to the messiah is ultimately service to the world, to others, and that
you cannot separate the two. This is what many people resented about the Unification Church
in the past. And whether people know it or not, something in the original mind was telling
them that, yes, the church claims to be serving God, but it doesn't seem to be serving the
people. Now maybe at that time it was a very vertical, conditional type of time. But if the
members of the Unification Church continue to think that way, even long after the hometown
or tribal messiah providence began, then this is a real problem, because there is no
development occurring. So ultimately the Kingdom can't come that way, and that's the way
people come to have narrow little churches; they're only serving in a vertical sense and
serving their own group or their own leader. This concept is actually a problem here in the
city where you live because, again, service to God, service to the messiah, service to the
church center is all understood in a sort of a way that is a going up but not reaching out. And,
therefore, the church, centrally, does not reach out to the community because it has the
concept that "The community has to serve God and that means serve the church center, which
represents True Parents." So until this is somehow understood and somehow this barrier can
be broken, then there will continue to be conflict, and it will be a struggle between God and
the church, as we have spoken about many times before. So the meaning of service at this
time is really coming down to each individual recognizing that service to God and to the
messiah must be one with service to the world, with the people out there. And service to God,
service to the messiah, service to Unification theology is service to the world. You cannot
separate the two. Why else does Father send us back to become the tribal messiahs? Is it just a
method or technique? It's not. Father knows more than anybody the dedication and the
sincerity that is needed to restore even one human being. When you look at his own past, his
own history, and how much he poured his tears and blood into saving even one poor soul,
then you know that wasn't just a technique. Those tears were real, that blood was very real. So
he sends our members back to their home towns with that same kind of thought.

In your home now, as you bring people here, I want you to look at those people not only as
My sons and daughters but, if you can imagine this, as Me, that you would serve the lowliest
person with the same heart that you would Me if I were sitting at your table, and really respect
that divine place in them where I live. And so it's one thing to say serving the sons and
daughters of God, but then of course we're aware that sons and daughters of God at this time
are very imperfect. And so if we see that imperfection and if we dwell on that imperfection
that they have, then we become critical in our eye, and then our service is rather conditional.
But if we think of serving those persons as if they were divine visitors, then you are serving
the highest part of them. And in that sense you bring out your own higher part. Service is not
doing a favor for just the other person. When you understand the true meaning of service, you
are reaching deeper and deeper into yourself for the more and more divine presence. And you
cannot find that place if you serve someone with a conditional eye. Do you understand? I
know this is not an easy thing because you are old members in the church and you are
sensitive, not only to good things, but also you've seen every problem. So it's easy for both of
you to look at one another from across the room and communicate very much about what you
feel. You need to be able to reach down much more deeply in yourselves at this time. On one
hand, you can be very personal with someone. It's not that you should treat them almost
strangely if they come to your home, like bowing as if they were Heavenly Father. Please
don't think that way. Please understand, in your internal heart you need to pray before they
come and to really prepare an atmosphere of service and of love. That way you will introduce
them to themselves more deeply. Because when you are serving that part of them, they also
see something in themselves opening up that you have already seen. You can show that to
them through your spiritual eye and through your service. Do you understand? This is one
kind of counseling, without words, which is very important. Counseling with just words and
too conveniently spouting the Divine Principle to someone is so easy, but if you cannot
introduce a person to the part of themselves that can overrule the negative patterns of their
thinking or of their emotions, then they will never follow your counsel. No matter how good
the reason you give, no matter how much you shame them or scold them, if you can't take
them to a deeper level, you cannot help them release the power that they need to overcome
their problems. Service in this respect is not simply a technique. That's arrogant. When you
use service as a technique, then you're assuming that you are already a master. Service is to
help Me come into you and into the other person. When we look, for example, at Jesus Christ,
how he washed the feet of his disciples, okay, this is a trinital type of relationship (meaning a
trinity of Heavenly Father, Jesus, and the disciple). Jesus, washing the feet of the disciple, is
putting himself in the lowly position, not saying "I'm the messiah; I'm washing your feet." No.
He comes under that person, and in that respect puts himself second and My love first, and
reaches out to that person, washes the person's foot. That's a part of a person that is not so
pleasant. But in reaching out and touching that part with genuine love and compassion, he's
reaching beyond that unpleasant part, and into the heart of the person. Do you understand?
Beyond the unpleasant part. It's not "Oooh, how can I touch that dirty, stinky foot?" And you
know those feet were smelly in his day because they did not have foot powder! So, reaching
beyond the foot, washing the foot means really reaching into the soul of that person and
helping that person, in turn, come to recognize divine love in his own life. So true service
means laying yourself aside. This is what Jesus taught us. And this is what True Parents want
to teach. This is a genuine kind of power that can restore the world. As long as a church exists
and church comes between Myself and the purpose of the Kingdom, as it has historically
many times, then it's all backwards. It has been thought that the people are to serve the
church. In other words, the church would never get down and wash the foot, the dirtiest part,
the smelliest part of the perhaps stumbling person, maybe stupid, foolish person. No. The
church would ask that that person come and give his money, give his time, and give his effort.
And so the purpose of the church is served, but ultimately My purpose is served very, very
poorly in this respect. That's why the restoration of that old Church structure tradition has to
happen now, and that is what this service is all about.

So before people come for counseling, it's important for those of us in the serving position to
gather together to pray. Even a few minutes. If your heart is right, you can contact Me in two
seconds. And in that way, again, beyond any critical mind, beyond any kind of method or
technique or your personal sense that you are taking care of someone because you are nice
people, forget all that. You go down deep within yourself and allow Me to work. So this is
what can really help resurrect you and resurrect the people. As I've told you over and over
again, humility is the act of encountering the divinity in yourself. And it takes humility to
serve. Especially to serve people who obviously are imperfect, obviously have things that you
don't like in their character. So your lack of humility will show by your critical attitude. If
your outward service looks good, but your inner mind is critical, then that service is empty.
This is a very important secret of unlocking the Kingdom. Is this clear?
You might call this the second chapter of our talk on service. And I would like you to
eventually turn this into some writing, and you can put in into a form that you can share with
people. Because the members really need this.

Also, when you find this kind of power working in your life, this kind of power of service,
then you're going to see that service is not something weak. It's a very powerful force. It's a
very powerful force, and many times, unfortunately, people have a hard time humbling
themselves to serve, let alone understand the point that we are speaking of tonight, because
they just become arrogant in their knowledge of divine theories or ideology. All those things
are empty, empty, empty, unless there is genuine activity taking place internally.

So I want to speak about service this year. And also, once you have reached, on this level, that
individual or those people that I want to serve through you, then, yes, you have any number of
freedoms to share about your beliefs and it can be totally sincere. Oftentimes, people use
service just to get others to open up. They just kind of dangle something in front of them like
a fishhook, then the person takes it, and . . . slurp. This is not true service and this is a direct
contradiction to Divine Principle. My main point is what I shared with you already, and I
want you to think about that and to really put that into action.

Okay, I think I'm going to leave it very clear and very clean tonight with that point. And I
want to let you get a good rest. Do you have any questions or observations?

"W" says: "Well, while You were talking, I was thinking of Father's words. You know Father
said that the best way to pay indemnity is, rather than knowing formulas and this and that, if
you can treat everybody like a king and queen, then you have already paid indemnity. I didn't
fully understand that before, because how can you treat people like kings and queens when
they are not? And because you explained that tonight, I felt I understood it internally. All the
parts are connected together for me now. So I was very happy to hear this."

Any questions you have that come up, if you want to clarify something, please never hesitate
because My purpose is to help you understand very clearly in your heart.

"W" says: "And then also what came to me as You were talking was, you know, in Genesis
when Jacob came back from Haran? He said that when he saw Esau, he saw God. That also
came immediately into my mind when You were talking about service. I think all of these
things are connected together, maybe explaining the same thing. I never understood until You
explained it tonight. And everything kind of fell into place, and I am more in harmony now
that I understand that one concept."

In this way of life you are living beyond yourself. Actually not beyond yourself, but beyond
the self with which you are familiar. You are living from a deeper part of yourself, and,
unfortunately, many people think they can only find that deeper part of themselves through
thinking about it or having a cup of coffee late at night and trying to work it all out in their
minds. And actually, no, it is in relationship that this deeper aspect of the human self comes
out. So the deeper you go into spiritual reality, the spiritual self, that self cannot be bought by
just thinking about it. No. It's too cheap a price. That true spiritual self, the deeper you go and
the closer you come to the divine center of yourself, when I am, this means your life action,
your giving out. That's the only way and that's the only price that can be paid. So philosophers
in some way pay a cheap price, try to buy deep things for rather cheap prices oftentimes,
because they're tempted by too much thought, too much discussion. And that's why they
sometimes become skeptical, because the action is missing. The truly righteous and truly
divinely motivated people are the ones who understand that the price is your life, not just late
night talks over a cup of coffee. So that's why you have a tremendous opportunity at this time
to serve in that respect. You will learn so much this year through this. And as with the child
that you gave to another couple, you will see in every way how the divine wants to work
through you, and that when people thank you for something great that you did, you don't feel
like it was you at all. And so it doesn't become a problem for you to receive praise. You know
where the praise goes. That's why Father always said if someone praises you, immediately
thank God. Remember, Father said when people bow to him, sometimes he doesn't seem to
acknowledge it because he quietly is passing that on to God.

Your husband is amazed himself, because he never knows what's going to come up during our
talks together. He is so happy because it verifies more and more strongly for him that
something is happening here. Always he is wondering, you know, and always he's thinking "I
wonder if these talks are going to come to an end tonight." And then he sees that they don't; it
just goes more and more deep, and he is so grateful, so happy to see that, because this is
helping him discover more and more the divine relationship that he has and that it does not
come to an end. If it comes to an end, it means I am coming to an end.

Let's close for tonight.

"W" prays: "Dear Heavenly Father . . . Father, how thankful we are. Just thinking about my
past, coming from a country where the vertical relationship is ingrained so deeply in me, in
my tradition, somehow I had a very limited concept about what the elder should be to the
younger and vice versa. And, therefore, I asked elder sisters to always give a talk to the
younger ones, and always I gave advice, just as many Oriental leaders right now are doing.
And yet now You are teaching me the importance of allowing others to really express
themselves and of letting You truly be with me. And You gave me a husband who puts
importance and sincere interest in listening to others, to the things they want to share, and he,
without interrupting, always offers himself. And I never understood the meaning of it because
many times I was too willing to give advice and didn't really allow that person to reach down
deeply in themselves. And I feel that this period is a very important time for me alone,
because something in me cracked open and I really saw the value in that. And in that silence I
could hear Your voice. I could understand through You, or through intuition or original mind
how to let others be their best and feel joy in letting them be in touch with that part of
themselves. And I'm very thankful that You taught us tonight. It's so clear. I'm sure we will go
back to study tonight's talk many, many times to really understand it. We may even make
almost like a formula and be able to really share naturally with our brothers and sisters. Thank
You so much for this message. Many times we don't know what to expect, but You speaking
is always relevant and something that we exactly need. We are so grateful. And we know that
so many brothers and sisters are thirsty and hungry for your words, in a true sense, substantial.
Really food and drink, really life itself. We feel responsible to understand that deeply and to
act on that and to share. Thank You for trusting us to share this way. We feel really
responsible and we will respond to these words to the best of our ability. Thank You so much,
Father. We offer this in our True Parents' name. Amen."