Blessed with relatively mild and sunny weather at the Home of the Parent, the February Monthly Service of Tenrikyo Church Headquarters was performed on the 26th in the Main Sanctuary with the Shinbashira presiding as chief officiant.
In the Service prayer, the Shinbashira expressed appreciation for God the Parentʼs profound loving care and warm parental heart and said: “We Service performers as well as church head ministers and Yoboku intend to reaffirm our shared goal of realizing the Joyous Life World by saving all people throughout the world, develop a strong sense of solidarity among ourselves, and join together in making further progress in our spiritual growth.”
The prayer was followed by the joyous performance of the Kagura Service and the Dance with Hand Movements.
After the Service performance, Honbu-in Michihito Hamada took the podium to deliver the sermon. Rev. Hamada talked about the significance of implementing the Joyous Life in our daily lives. Sharing his own experiences, he explained his thoughts on the basic stance of mind and the way of following the path that will lead to the implementation of the Joyous Life. He also placed special emphasis on the importance of respecting and helping one another and of bringing a settling to the family by maintaining harmony in our parent-child and husband-wife relationships—the latter referring to an activity focus being promoted by the Young Men’s Association Headquarters in the lead-up to its 100th anniversary.