True Parents’ Birthday is Celebrated in Toronto
Contributed by Lilly Tadin
On Saturday, January 21, 2017, Canadian Unificationists and guests held an early celebration of True Parents’ Birthday in Toronto. This was the third annual celebration of True Parents’ Birthday that was organized jointly by the Canadian chapters of Family Federation for World Peace and Unification (FFWPU), Universal Peace Federation (UPF) and Women’s Federation for World Peace (WFWP).
Dr. Moonshik Kim, both chair of UPF and national leader of FFWPU in Canada, spent several months planning for the celebration together with the organizing committee.
In the early evening, the banquet hall at King’s Garden was quickly filled with many members and guests from various communities and organizations. Happy faces of friends were full of smiles, and small children were running around with their friends. After all, why did we come together but to show respect and bring joy to our True Parents on their birthday?
Once the delightful buffet dinner had been served, Dr. Moonshik Kim gave welcoming remarks with a wonderful introduction to True Parents’ life and achievements. This set the tone for the following speaker, former Member of the Provincial Parliament of Ontario, Ms. Margaret Best. She described her inspiring experience at the International Leadership Conference (ILC) in Washington, D.C., in December and went on to say how she was moved not only by the message of world peace under the banner of “one family under God” but even more so by the genuine love she felt from all the members of the Unification movement. Among her many insights was that even though she had just met us, she felt a sense of belonging, as though she was already a member of a worldwide effort.
Another notable speaker was a visitor to Toronto, Ms. Hannah Kim, the former assistant to U.S. Congressman Charles Rangel, a Korean War veteran. She is on a special tour for four months to visit 24 nations that fought in the Korean War, and Canada is one of the first nations. She will visit the Korean War Memorial Wall in Brampton, Ontario, and is hoping to gather stories of war that will be documented. During her speech, she emphasized the beauty of one family working together to bring world peace and living for the sake of others.
The highlight of the program was the speech given by Bishop Jesse Edwards. Despite flight delays due to weather, he and his wife, Rev. Tanya Edwards, arrived at just the right moment of the program. With great enthusiasm Bishop Edwards entertained and inspired the audience. He told of personal realizations in his faith journey and his blessed family life. Among the many captivating stories was the question he presented to True Father on the issue of his messiahship. The audience responded well to the notion that we all need to share in the messianic mandate.
As the master of ceremonies, Mr. Paul Tamale was able to harmonize all the elements of the main program. The inspiration and education on stage were followed by much festivity with the cutting of the cake, live music and live performances, which concluded with a lot of dancing.