Attitude We Need to Make God’s Dream Come True

October 6, 2024, Dr. Michael Balcomb spoke on the attitude we need in order to help God to realize his dream here on the earth

Part 4 (final part) of extracts from a sermon titled “Yesterday, Today and Forever”, that Dr. Michael Balcomb, the President of the Europe and the Middle East Region of the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, gave at the Sunday service in Geneva, Switzerland on 6th October 2024. Slightly edited. 

See part 1, part 2, part 3

[…] Two weeks after Father ascended, True Mother called me to Korea. I was working at that time in the USA. I didn’t know why I was going, but she called me and sat me down about one or two meters away. She looked at me and said, “So, you’re Michael Balcomb, are you?”

“Yes,” I replied.

“I understand you have a PhD from the seminary. That’s not why I called you,” she continued.

She proceeded to give me a lecture, an education about what in Korean is called “hyojeong” [Editor’s note: filial heart, serving one’s parents devotedly with love and respect], about what it means to be a filial son.

And of course, she was also talking about the role of America, the “elder son nation”. It was a simple message, and it boiled down to this: The elder son has two jobs. One, to try to fulfil his parents’ dream, not to take it over, not to tell them, “Your dream is no good; I have a better dream. Let’s do this instead of that.”

Rather, he is even willing to sacrifice his own career, thinking,

“I’m going to let my parents dream be fulfilled. They’re older than me. They don’t have so much time. I have more time.”

Earlier in my life, my parents did everything for me, particularly my mom. She fed me. She wiped my butt. She did everything. So if my mother asked me to do something now, how can I not say, “Okay, mom, I will do that.” […]

What actually is Mother asking us to do? Let’s put aside this question of whether we think this or think that for the moment. The first thing is that, as you know, right now, Mother‘s main focus is the Cheonwon Temple.

Recently, I was there twice. First, I went there, I saw it, and I flew back to England. And on the way, Mother said,

“Come back. I’m not finished with you yet. I want to show you more.”

And so I came with Demian Dunkley – the president of the Family Federation in the USA, and my successor there – together with the president of the Japanese movement. We were the only three non-Koreans.

Mother called us […] to come and have breakfast with her. And there weren’t enough seats at the table, so Demian and I hung back towards the back because we didn’t like to push and elbow. But suddenly we heard Mother said,

“Hang on, everybody. I want Mike and Damien to sit at the front because I want to talk to them.”

And she asked me,

“So, what do you think? Is this palace better than the palaces of Europe?”

Well, you don’t get to be continental leader unless you’re ready to answer that kind of question. So I said,

“Yes, Mother. And the reason I think it’s better is because this palace is founded on love.”

I’ve been to many palaces throughout Europe, and honestly speaking, many of them have a bit of a shady history. They were places of power and authority. Often they have prisons underneath. In the case of Britain, sometimes the kings were locked up in the towers and palaces and were never seen again. The fallen history of palaces is actually a bit grim.

So I told Mother,

“I feel this place is really different because it doesn’t come on that foundation. From the very beginning, the idea has been to glorify God.”

Of course, there were many cathedrals in Europe as well. Some of them are bigger than the Cheonwon Temple (Palace), let’s be honest. But with the cathedrals, too, there’s been something of a difficult history along the way. There were fights, sometimes there were killings over who was right and who was wrong. […]

I shared this, and Mother said, “Interesting.” And she asked, “What would you do to improve it?” I said,

“Well, Mother, one thing that I don’t notice, but I would like to see is something that honours the other religions and faiths. As I understand it, this is a place for all the people of the world to come and worship God in their own way and from their own tradition. And so far, I don’t see much visually to encourage that kind of thinking. I was wondering if there couldn’t be some sculpture or maybe a labyrinth or maybe the sayings of the saints?”

And she said,

“Yes, interesting. Why don’t you in Europe take responsibility for that, since you had the idea?”

So, on your behalf I said,

“Yes, I think, Mother, we’d like to do that, because, after all, we have a long history in Europe, both of religious conflict and of religious harmony.”

So that’s the building. The second thing she’s really thinking about is the day when that building is consecrated to God. As you know, she says that this will be the day that God comes down. I’ve given another sermon about that, expressing my own questions, “Really? Does God need a building to come down, or does he already come down inside our hearts?” So, I won’t repeat that today, but the fact is that that day, and indeed the whole week surrounding it, are pretty important. […]

And, of course, most of all, we want God to be happy and Mother to be happy. So, there’s the building and then there’s the people who come there and how they are.

And then finally, and perhaps the biggest thing is what next? What’s afterwards? When we have this building, when it’s there, is it empty? Is it full? Who’s using it?

Mother answered this. She said,

“By the way, this is yours. The day after it’s consecrated, it’s yours. It’s not mine.”

So that’s also a challenging thought. If this is our building and our palace, how are we going to use it?

So, on those three questions, let me challenge you. How are we doing towards those three things that Mother is concerned about?

First of all, about the building, is it finished? No. There’s still a desperate need to raise the money to finish the building. And there are two ways to do that. One way is to sell off our other assets, of which the Family Federation has many.

The better way, though, is where the whole community really rises to the challenge and donates liberally, generously to make it happen.

The second thing is attending the event. Mother is hoping that all of us will make the pilgrimage, like the hajj, to the Cheonwon Temple.

And of course, we can’t all fit there on the opening day or even the opening week. So it’s okay to make plans to go at another time. You have to use, you know, your common sense. You might have exams or some absolutely important commitment at that time. It’s all right. Not everybody goes on the pilgrimage to Mecca at the same time.

But I think we should be thinking,

“I do want to go there. I do want to pray in that sanctuary. I do want to see with my own eyes what True Mother has been building and appreciate it.”

And she’s also asked us, as you know, to prepare ourselves internally. And one of the things she’s asked us to do is study the Cham Pumo-ron [Editor’s note: Literally, Discourse on “True Parents”]. Study. Not necessarily believe every word or drop everything else. Study. Our Mother is asking us, “Would you please study this? Because I’m trying to share something new.”

So, you know, I would say that as sons and daughters with “hyojeong”, why couldn’t we do that? if indeed each community wants to discuss it and share, there are good things there that really are very helpful. And there are some things that are very challenging.

In my view, theology can be […] a bit of a sidetrack, actually, because what’s important is what we do. We’re 8 billion people on earth. We all have unique minds and brains and hearts. It would be very strange if we all believe the same thing. In fact, I think I would hate it. Actually, I kind of like it to be diverse.

But that does not give us permission to separate, to attack each other, to start being vicious. What we do is not free. We should act like a family. We should live like a family. But you can understand and think as you like. And if you struggle, we should discuss it and share it like we do with other things.

Anyway, let’s come back to this point “Yesterday, Today, and Forever.” I believe God is the same forever. We may not have understood all about God. We may now be understanding about the female side for the first time. But it was always there.

The True Parents are the victorious True Parents. There’s only one set of True Parents – and there only ever will be. They want us to join them in the dream of God. That’s all. And they don’t want us to come alone. They want us to come with as many people as we can, and then we can live happily forever.

Please join me in a prayer,

“Our most loving, Heavenly Parent, we want to greet you on this day, October 6. It’s a beautiful autumnal day, the time of harvest and the time of fruition.

Our True Mother and our Father in spirit world totally, completely believe that this is the time of fulfilment. You’ve already waited too long. And that just over the horizon is a world that we have never seen, a world of peace and reconciliation and love.

Yes, the world is in war right now, but all the resources for peace are available. Communication prepared men and women of all faiths and backgrounds. The physical resources are there.

All that’s missing, and it’s a big thing, is our connection to you, which means our connection to each other as well.

We’re a small number here, but nevertheless, we do not want to be like that community in Hebrews, who lose their power and energy and begin to wonder about going back. No, that’s not us. We are going forward.

We are reaching not just to April 13 and that wonderful, joyful day of entrance, but beyond. And we’re ready to take ownership. We’re ready to take the burden from our True Parents and share it amongst each other till it becomes so light that we can hardly feel it.

And that you may at last have your home on earth. Thank you for gathering us together here today. […]”

See part 1, part 2, part 3

Featured image above: Dr. Michael Balcomb, Demian Dunkley, and Dr. Yong-cheon Song with Mother Moon at an international leders’ meeting in Gapyeong, South Korea 6th September 2024. Photo: Screenshot from PeaceTV

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