WFWP Watch Party—Peace Starts with Me: Peace and Blessing Festival WFWP USA
On June 5, 2021, Women’s Federation for World Peace USA (WFWP) held a watch party to enjoy the “Peace Starts With Me: Peace and Blessing Festival” together as a community. It was an international occasion with participants joining from the US, Canada, Austria, Africa, the Philippines, and South America!
The watch party pre-program opened with a video from WFWP International President, Dr. Julia H. Moon, who shared about the work and important mission of WFWP. She described, “Women have special qualities of empathy, caring, solidarity and love. With these qualities women and girls must take a bold step forward to take on the unfinished business of creating a lasting world of peace.”
WFWP USA President, Angelika Selle, welcomed the 125 families present, and emphasized WFWP’s focus on strengthening marriages and families, bridging the content to the main feature of the Peace and Blessing program. “When we talk about marriage and family, we have a new vision and a view given by the [WFWP] Founders that brings us to a much deeper understanding than we’ve had before. And as we find that marriage is truly a compromised institution these days, would you not agree that we need a new injection, new understanding, and new vision about marriage to make it beautiful and make it last? That is what we are celebrating today.”
Together, we tuned into the Peace and Blessing Festival, filled with personal testaments to the uniqueness and need for the Marriage Blessing in all cultures and generations across the board. A couple voiced, “A lot of our youth are looking for love in all the wrong places, and the Blessing answers a lot of questions when it comes to families and the way we experience love.”
Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon, who co-established the Marriage Blessing and co-founded WFWP alongside her husband, gave a forward-looking address. She urged American leaders and people to not misuse the countries’ bountiful blessings to go against Heaven’s will, but to fulfill its anointed mission to relate with our Creator as our Heavenly Parent. By building God-centered families and embracing the Marriage Blessing Movement, Dr. Moon affirmed that America can become a beacon of hope that spreads goodness throughout the world.
Further lifting up the atmosphere, the program was intertwined with exceptional musical performances by Yolanda Adams, Bishop Hezekiah Walker, Israel Houghton, and a captivating intergenerational virtual performance of “Let Peace Begin With Me” by the Hyojeong Virtual Peace Choir.
Following the closing of the official festivities, watch party participants heard from three additional couples on the impact the Blessing had on their marriages. Couples were attracted to establishing a marriage that goes beyond “til death do us part.” To build a coveted “forever marriage” that the Blessing offers, couples go through a purification process and work to put God at the center of their relationship.
Having been raised with the ideals of the blessing movement, WFWP USA Vice President Katarina Connery shared how her first husband was unfaithful thus making her commitment one sided. She questioned if a happy marriage and family was only a dream. Inspired by the following words from the song “Fix You” by Coldplay—When you’re too in love to let it go, but if you never try you'll never know, just what you’re worth—she decided to get a divorce. Finding her divine value and self-worth, and retaining the ideals of the Marriage Blessing as a guiding light, she has happily remarried and is Blessed to her now husband, Michael.
The watch party came to a close with a few special treats, including a raffle of five $50 gift cards for dinner for two, and a musical offering of “One Love” by Reggae Singer, Joan Meyers. To continue investing into marriages, guests were invited to participate in our newest educational Cornerstone for Peace seminar, to learn of crucial mindsets and behaviors that lend to prosperous, love-filled families and communities.
Reflections from the program:
“We can do this all together. We really are one family. It is so evident by the love I feel and experience with everyone who has been touched by this movement. So much gratitude to Mother Moon for forging ahead full force, despite all the obstacles.”
“I truly enjoyed the Peace and Blessing festival. The performers were fantastic! The atmosphere ecstatic and the message from Mother Moon "straight to the Heart". A message that shook the world but said with so much love, care, and hope. I felt so hopeful and elated! The WFWP before and after parties were so well organized, fun and embracing. Thank you, thank you, thank you! I feel POWERED UP!!”
