Seonghwa Ceremony of Sam Huneycutt
October 1, 2022
Welcoming Remarks by Rev. Alan Saunders
Congregational Song "Just a Closer Walk With Thee
Invocation by June Saunders
Letter from FFWPU USA President Naokimi Ushiroda
Seonghwa Address by Rev. Mamoru Uyama
Musical Offering by Marina Huneycutt and Steven Hutcherson
Messages from Pastor Bob Huneycutt, Sammy Uyama read by Genen Huneycutt, and Bishop Charles Dudley
Testimonies from a friend and family members
Flower Offering, Closing Song, Benediction by Dr. Achille Acolatse
SAMUEL HYO-IL HUNEYCUTT
December 9, 1988 - September 22, 2022
Sam Huneycutt was born in New York City on a cold, wintry night, and he grew up in the south and spent most of his life in North Carolina. He was an intelligent and athletic child, particularly talented in soccer. In middle school, he became self-conscious and by high school, he was so acutely shy that it was a struggle for him to graduate. Even so, he took advanced courses and ran competitively with the cross-country team.
After graduation he turned his attention to computer games, at which he excelled due to quick reflexes and intensive research. He spent six months in a leadership training program called Next Gen Academy, where he challenged himself to fundraise, do service projects and expand his horizons.
Sam eventually became interested in environmental issues, learning about composting and electric cars. He became vegan and loved shopping at Perkins Orchard in Durham and local farmer's markets. He rode his bike whenever possible.
He became interested in Christianity, Hinduism and Buddhism, and took a train to Florida to attend a Metaphysical Conference, camping there for two weeks. He flew to Hawaii to spend a month with a Healing Community, studying the ancient Hawaiian spiritual practice of Ho'oponopono. Sam showed an example for all of us by taking time to forgive those who had hurt him and offering apologies to those he felt he might have offended.
He is survived by his parents, Bob and Ryoko Huneycutt, his sister Kay and her husband James Love, brother Gene and his wife Marina and their daughter Grace, brothers Ken and Thomas and sister Natsuyo, as well as his grandmother, Colly Beck of Havelock and aunt, Donna Carter of Newport News. His family gratefully acknowledges all the kind sentiments and abundant love that brought consolation during this time of loss and ascension.
Seonghwa
"Joyful Ascension"
A Seonghwa Ceremony is actually comparable to a wedding, when men and women get married. It's not a sorrowful occasion at all. It's like an insect coming out of its cocoon, getting rid of a shackle and becoming a new body and a new existence, a new entity. That's exactly the same kind of process.
In our way of life and tradition, spirit world and physical world are one, and by our living up to that kind of idea, we bring the two worlds together into one.
In the secular world, death signifies the end of life. However, in our world, death is like a rebirth or a new birth into another world. For this reason, we should not make those occasions gloomy or sad or feel discouraged.
If we here on earth become very mournful or gloomy, it is like pulling the person who is going up to the heavens down to the earth.
Sun Myung Moon
January 7, 1984
Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body, we are away from the Lord. We live by faith, not by sight. We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So we make it our goal to please Him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it.
II Corinthians 5:6-9
