Happy True Heavenly Parent’s Day and Happy Birthday, True Parents!

President of Family Federation for World Peace and Unification (FFWPU) Rev. Demian Dunkley has encouraged the five American regions to celebrate True Heavenly Parent’s Day along with True Parents’ Centenary on January 25 as a regional-level event. Rev. Dunkley made it clear to invite our Christian brothers and sisters who attended the Peace Starts With Me Clergy Rally on December 28, 2019, to join the festivities.

Stay tuned for a report on how communities around the country celebrated these holy days!

Happy 53rd True Heavenly Parent’s Day!

True Heavenly Parent’s Day, previously known as God’s Day, was first established as a Unificationist holiday in 1968, where Rev. Dr. Sun Myung Moon, co-founder of the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification (FFWPU) and affectionately known as True Father, shared these sentiments about God:

“Up until now, people have celebrated the days they were born and the days they were married. Nations celebrated days that were memorable for them. However…there has been no ‘God’s Day’ through which God was truly remembered.”

True Father observed that if humankind’s original parents had not fallen and had achieved perfection, they would have received God’s blessing and that day would have been God’s Day. In 1996, True Father added the word “True” to God’s Day. In 2010, True Father established the “Heavenly Calendar,” which displaced the Gregorian calendar in Unificationist observances and corresponded in most respects with the lunar calendar. As a result, from 2011, True God’s Day was no longer observed on January 1, but on the first day of the first month of the lunar calendar. On January 7, 2013, True Father’s wife, Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon, affectionately known as True Mother, announced that Unificationists should address God as “Heavenly Parent.” Thereafter, True God’s Day became “True Heavenly Parent’s Day.”

In his Journal of Unification Studies Vol. 16, 2015 – Pages 1-26, Professor of Scriptural Studies and Director of Scriptural Research at the Unification Theological Seminary (UTS) Dr. Andrew Wilson addressed True Father’s teachings on God as the Heavenly Parent. Dr. Wilson (2015) states, “Just as most people have two parents, a father and a mother, God the Heavenly Parent has two aspects as Heavenly Father and Heavenly Mother.” He quotes True Father from the Cheon Seong Gyeong:

“When you go to the spirit world, you will see that there is not only the Heavenly Father but also the Heavenly Mother. Just like that mother and father, behind Adam and Eve you can find God, who has been divided and then united as one. That is why the way to heaven comes through the mother as well as the father” (2014 edition, 719).

Further exploring True Father’s teachings, Dr. Wilson refers to the Wolli Wonbon, which states “that knowing God as our Father and Mother is the gateway to knowing the fullness of God’s love—as divine fatherly love and divine motherly love. It can open us to be receptive to the love that God wishes to give us in both genders” (1951).

This year, celebrate True Heavenly Parent’s Day by returning divine children’s love to God.

Happy Birthday, True Parents!

This year, 2020, True Father’s Centenary and True Mother’s 77th Birthday lands on January 30. This is an opportunity for Unificationists to reflect on the calling they have received from True Parents and the life-changing experiences that have shaped who they are today and how they can move forward to complete God’s mission for restoration and build Cheon Il Guk one tribe at a time.

True Parents’ Birthday is a culmination of all of God’s efforts and should be celebrated to the extent of how we celebrate Christmas. True Mother encouraged FFWPU families to invite all of our friends and guests to celebrate True Parents’ Birthday with more spirit and love!

2019 was a very important year for True Mother who had been urging us to complete our Tribal Messiahship mission and realize Vision 2020. After the success of the recent Peace Starts With Me Clergy Rally, Unificationists all around the world are stepping up as Tribal Messiahs and embracing our Christian brothers and sisters. With the launching of the World Clergy Leadership Conference, the Korean Clergy Leadership Conference and the Young Clergy Leadership Conference, we are prepared and ready to create lasting families and global peace through uniting the religious leaders of the world.

We celebrate True Parents’ Birthdays with a blowout celebration in Korea, inviting people of different religious backgrounds, nationalities and ethnicities to show their love for a couple that has touched lives on all levels.

Contribute to this monumental occasion by donating here.

Let us know how your community celebrated by emailing info@unification.org or by clicking the button below.