On February 26, Tenrikyo Church Headquarters conducted its Monthly Service in the Main Sanctuary with the Shinbashira presiding. On the Service day, many followers returned to Jiba in the drizzling rain.<\/p>\n
After expressing appreciation for the parental love with which God guides all humankind to the Joyous Life, the Shinbashira, representing all Yo\u00adboku, pledged in the Service prayer, \u201cWith our sights fixed on addressing the roots of anxieties and sufferings in current society, we are determined to take sincere steps on the path of single-hearted salvation with the implementation of the Service and the Sazuke in order to convey God the Parent\u2019s intention to those who have yet to know the teachings and advance toward the world in which all people respect and help one another as brothers and sisters.\u201d<\/p>\n
Following the joyous performance of the Ka\u00adgura Service and the Dance with Hand Movements, Honbu-in Takanori Nagao took the podium to deliver the sermon. He started off by posing the question \u201cIf someone asks us what Tenrikyo is all about, how should we answer?\u201d By way of answering the question, he quoted Rev. Genjiro Fukaya\u2014the first head minister of what is now Kawaramachi Grand Church\u2014who once said, \u201cThis faith is about worshiping God who is far from ordinary and walking the path filled with blessings,\u201d which Honbu-in Nagao considered \u201can accurate expression of followers\u2019 sentiments.\u201d<\/p>\n
Building his sermon upon Rev. Fukaya\u2019s words, Honbu-in Nagao noted that God clearly explained the truth of human creation and the subsequent nurturing care through the Truth of Origin and God\u2019s first revelation, which says, \u201cI am God of Origin, God in Truth.\u201d He then emphasized: \u201cGod the Parent tells us how human beings, God\u2019s children, were conceived, born, and nurtured. This is something the true Parent\u2014and no one but the true Parent\u2014can reveal. Our feeling that God is far from ordinary arises from the fact that God is the original Parent.\u201d<\/p>\n
He continued, \u201cAs we come to understand the Story of Creation in full, we become keenly grateful that God has put the parental heart and a great deal of time into nurturing and guiding us, thereby strengthening our yearning for God the Parent and Jiba.\u201d Regarding the way to make repayment for God\u2019s parental love, he said, \u201cWe can bring reassurance to God by using our bodies lent by God with care and a sense of gratitude, as well as by understanding the teachings, settling them in our minds, and putting them into practice in our daily life.\u201d<\/p>\n
He then pointed out that human beings have a tendency to behave and use the mind in ways that go against God\u2019s intention because of the free use of the mind that we have been given. \u201cThrough God\u2019s guidance shown in response to how we use our mind,\u201d he said, \u201cwe can realize the depth of the parental love and protection with which God reduces a great misfortune to a small misfortune and a small misfortune to no misfortune at all. This realization will lead us to make progress on the path to make repayment. And God will accept our sincerity, regardless of the degree of our repayment.\u201d He went on to say: \u201cGoing in the direction of the world of mutual help with the teachings as the core is the path of filial devotion that will bring the greatest reassurance to God the Parent. Those who follow the path in this way are assured that they will receive blessings from God. This is what \u2018the path filled with blessings\u2019 is getting at.\u201d<\/p>\n
Honbu-in Nagao concluded his sermon by saying that Yoboku ought not only to base themselves on the faith throughout their lifetime and deepen their faith with a sense of gratitude and joy, but to engage in the vertical mission where they invite their family to join them in the faith and pass it down to their children, as well as in the horizontal mission where they convey the teachings to those around them with confidence and pride. He said, \u201cThe more I think about it, the more convinced I am that this faith is really about worshiping God who is far from ordinary and walking the path filled with blessings.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
On February 26, Tenrikyo Church Headquarters conducted its Monthly Service in the Main Sanctuary with the Shinbashira presiding. On the Service day, many followers returned to Jiba in the drizzling rain. After expressing appreciation for the parental love with which God guides all humankind to the Joyous Life, the Shinbashira,\u2026<\/p>\n