Introductory Seminar on Unification Thought Held

On Sunday, September 4, 2016, a one-day Unification Thought workshop was held in the Los Angeles Family Church to inaugurate the new church building, which had opened the previous Sunday. Around 100 Unificationists across multiple generations—students as young as 16 and as old as 80—attended the seminar facilitated by Gerry Servito of the National Ministry Team, filling up the church physically and spiritually for a full four hours.

The workshop followed a Sunday morning sermon on the Three Great Kingships offered by Gerry, entitled “Inheritance and Succession.” The sermon was fitting considering the multigenerational audience, as Gerry discussed the dynamics of raising successive generations of a Blessed Family, and how Unificationists are to view, raise, and educate children born of the Marriage Blessing Ceremony in the settlement age of Cheon Il Guk.

During the seminar in the afternoon, Gerry shifted slightly in focus to expand on a related but distinct theme: the Three Great Blessings as explained in Unification Thought.

The three 70-minute sessions, two breaks, and closing photo of the afternoon created an atmosphere of heart in the beautiful new building. Gerry reflected after the workshop, “The hosts and brothers and sisters who attended were sincere, warm-hearted, and interested, both junior and senior Unificationists.”

One of the attendees, Emma Reed, also shared, “My guest, who knows nothing at all about [the Unification Movement], was also very deeply touched.”

Based on reflections taken after the workshop, participants communicated that the seminar enhanced their understanding of God, True Parents, the Divine Principle, and even themselves. “This short seminar opened a new window, a glimpse, an aperture, into the Heart of God,” Curtis Martin said. Many were moved by the reminder of the uniqueness in each individual. An anonymous participant at the seminar recalled that this reminder is “the admonition to see ourselves from God’s viewpoint—you are unique in all eternity.”

Through its emphasis on Unification Thought, the seminar also provided another way and further motivation to understand the Divine Principle. “It helps to have a philosophical understanding of the Divine Principle, in order to put into a more universal realm, and to make the concepts easier to visualize and understand,” Richard Moore said. “This seminar brought the Divine Principle to life for me,” said Emma. “Sometimes reading Divine Principle is very boring and it has some discrepancies. The seminar inspired me to read the later teachings of True Parents more thoroughly and actually explore Unification Thought itself.”

Pastor George Kazakos, District 12 Pastor Rev. Young Tack Yang, and Unificationist elder Sherri Reuter were the main organizers of the seminar, while local Unificationists Adam Gottlieb and Keith McCarthy served as emcees during the event.

For more information about Unification Thought, a philosophical interpretation and exploration of True Parents’ collected teachings, please visit unification-thought.org.