Starting the Year with Our Heavenly Parent
Dr. Ki Hoon Kim joined families from the Westrock Family Church who gathered at 7 A.M. Friday morning for an intimate, prayerful observance of the day.
Just over a hundred families in Clifton, NJ celebrated the New Year Thursday night. Dr. Balcomb gave a moving main address.
Dr. Ki Hoon Kim shared True Mother’s recent message with the Westrock Family Church community.
A small gathering of families shared cake and stories to celebrate this holy day.
Families in Birmingham, VA, celebrated in one of the family’s homes.
Families in San Francisco gathered to celebrate Friday morning.
From homes and churches across the country, American members greeted our Heavenly Parent on Heavenly Parent’s Day starting their Lunar New Year in offering and gratitude to God. While most of the larger celebrations will be held this Sunday, Unificationists took the time to observe more intimate ceremonies Thursday night or Friday morning. The offering tables may have been humble, and the gatherings small, but spirits were high.
Offering tables were shared, the Family Pledge recited, and the Cheon Il Guk (God’s Heavenly Kingdom) national anthem rang out in living rooms from Birmingham, Alabama to Omaha, Nebraska. The celebrations ranged in size. In Tampa Bay, a few families shared tea and cookies from the offering table and reminisced over historical photos, while in Seattle 40 Unificationists gathered at Windermere House to celebrate and rededicate themselves for the New Year.
Some gatherings were joyful and festive, while others were more reverent and prayerful. In Jacksonville, Florida, a group of members timed their ceremony to coincide with the celebration in Korea and offered cheers of “Mansei”. In Louisiana, families watched videos of past Heavenly Parent’s Days and shared the significance of the Holy days and the Heavenly Calendar.
For many, it was a chance to stop and reflect in the midst of their busy lives, like the Unificationists who gathered at the Bay Area Family Church in the early morning before heading off to work and school. Each place had its own unique way of commemorating the day, but all expressed a sense of sacred devotion. A Unificationist in Montana commented, “Jack Frost had visited every tree and bush on this historic day with a crisp and silver anointing, making it all the more beautiful and memorable.”
For all those participating, the ceremonies were a chance to keep the traditions inherited by True Parents and to celebrate as we enter a New Year of blessings. Whether surrounded by a large congregation with elaborate offerings, or with a small family prayer before breakfast, Unificationists around the world offered their first moments of the New Year to our Heavenly Parent.
The Montana Family Church in Billings offered an early morning observance amid a snow frosted, silvery winter day.
Families gathered in the early morning at the Bay Area Family Church to give their Pledge to Heavenly Parent for the New Year.
The Seattle Family Church rang in the Lunar New Year at midnight.