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On January 1, the New Year\u2019s Day Service for the 187th year of Teaching was solemnly performed in the Main Sanctuary with Successor-Designate Daisuke Nakayama presiding as chief officiant.<\/p>\nOn January 1, the New Year\u2019s Day Service for the 187th year of Teaching was solemnly performed in the Main Sanctuary with Successor-Designate Daisuke Nakayama presiding as chief officiant.<\/p>\n
New Year\u2019s Eve saw stormy weather across the country due to a low-pressure system and a front. In the early hours of New Year\u2019s Day, worshipers, bundled up in warm clothes, walked on the wet gravel in the Sanctuary precincts and gathered in the Main Sanctuary one after another.<\/p>\n
At 5:00 a.m., Rev. Nakayama and other Service performers left the Staff Quarters and paid their respects at the Foundress\u2019 Sanctuary and the Memorial Hall. Then, Rev. Nakayama proceeded to the upper dais in the Main Sanctuary.<\/p>\n
In the Service prayer, following his New Year\u2019s greetings, Rev. Nakayama said: \u201cLast year, as we embarked on the first year of the \u2018three years, one thousand days\u2019 pre-anniversary activities leading up to the 140th Anniversary of Oyasama, all Yoboku strove together to raise awareness of being Oyasama\u2019s instruments and walked the path of spiritual growth using the Divine Model as a dependable guide and putting our utmost efforts into our respective tasks. We are deeply thankful for all the guidance we have received from You.\u201d<\/p>\n
Continuing, he said: \u201cHaving welcomed the second year of the pre-anniversary activities, all of us followers are determined to respond to Your profound blessings by spiritedly engaging in single-hearted salvation in unity of mind as well as by reflecting anew on the progress we have made so far to draw even closer to Your intention. I ask You, God the Parent, to accept our resolution and continue to guide us through this year with Your unchanging parental love so the world will be reconstructed into the world of the Joyous Life even a day sooner.\u201d<\/p>\n
Following the prayer, the first Service of the year, comprising the Kagura Service and the Dance with Hand Movements, was joyously performed.<\/p>\n
As sunrise approached, the temperature dropped even further. The spirited voices of the congregation who joined in singing the Mikagura-uta, the Songs for the Service, filled the Sanctuary precincts.<\/p>\n
After the Service, Rev. Nakayama proceeded to the Foundress\u2019 Sanctuary and read his prayer before Oyasama. He first offered his New Year\u2019s greetings, saying, \u201cHappy New Year, Oyasama.\u201d Then, he continued: \u201cAs we started the second year of implementing the pre-anniversary activities toward the 140th Anniversary of Oyasama, all of us intend to focus our minds even more sharply, increase the awareness and joy of being used as Your instruments, and convey the intention of our Parent to the world. We are determined to dedicate ourselves sincerely to constructing the Joyous Life World.\u201d<\/p>\n
Around the time when the prayer at the Foundress\u2019 Sanctuary finished, the sun rose over the mountains to the east bringing the New Year\u2019s sunlight to the Sanctuary precincts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
On January 1, the New Year\u2019s Day Service for the 187th year of Teaching was solemnly performed in the Main Sanctuary with Successor-Designate Daisuke Nakayama presiding as chief officiant. New Year\u2019s Eve saw stormy weather across the country due to a low-pressure system and a front. In the early hours\u2026<\/p>\n