The June Monthly Service of Tenrikyo Church Headquarters was performed on the 26th in the Main Sanctuary with the Shinbashira presiding as chief officiant.
The Service began with the Shinbashira’s reading of the Service prayer, in which he offered gratitude for God the Parent’s loving care not only in having created humankind and the world out of the desire to see us lead the Joyous Life but also in constantly providing us with guidance on our journey to attain spiritual maturity. He then pledged that the Service performers as well as all head ministers and Yoboku would continue to keep their minds firmly committed to following Oyasama’s Divine Model, devote themselves thoroughly to sprinkling the fragrance of the teachings and helping save others as well as to providing nurture and care for others, and make a daily effort to attain spiritual growth.
The Kagura Service and the Dance with Hand Movements were then performed joyously, while the followers joined together in singing the songs for the Service with their minds in unison.
Following the Service performance, Honbu-in Yoshiji Nishida took the podium to deliver the sermon. He began by noting that a life of faith is centered on conveying to our children and grandchildren why we human beings were born and how we should lead our lives.
Concerning why we human beings were born, he emphasized that we are all children of God the Parent, who gave birth to us out of the profound intention to see us live the Joyous Life while sharing in our joy. God the Parent, he added, lent us the body out of the express desire to enable us to actualize that intention.
With regard to how we should lead our lives, Honbu-in Nishida said that everything we do should be focused on leading the Joyous Life and that any action deviating from that guideline would not be in accord with God the Parent’s intention. Pointing out that we are shown various situations while living as Yoboku, he explained: “In the course of interacting with a variety of people, we come to understand the original causality as well as awaken to our individual causality. That is our first step in making spiritual growth on the journey toward the Joyous Life.”
The speaker went on to say that living each day with the mind of sincerity, which is to say, the mind that is focused on saving others, is in full accord with God the Parent’s intention and is, therefore, the means of salvation. He explained that mutual help between husbands and wives, parents and children, and brothers and sisters would bring peaceful harmony to their families and thereby demonstrate an exemplary model to their community.
Honbu-in Nishida wrapped up his remarks by saying that the actions we contribute and dedicate for the sake of the path and the world will be rewarded by God’s free and unlimited blessings, as expressed in the teaching “You are saved by saving others.” He concluded the sermon by noting that the first step to actualizing that teaching is to attain an awareness of our causality. Going through every situation with that awareness, he said, allows us to settle the mind in joyous acceptance, which results in sweeping dust from the mind and purifying the mind completely.