Tenrikyo Women’s Association held its Seminar for Young Women Leaders at Moya 38 on June 7 and 8, 2014. A total of 372 young women leaders from directly supervised chapters and diocese chapters attended the seminar. At the Young Women’s Convention held on November 4 last year, young women renewed their resolve to work tirelessly on the pre-anniversary activities leading up to the 130th Anniversary of Oyasama.
The objective of the Seminar for Young Women Leaders is to have young women leaders, who have few opportunities to interact with other young women leaders, return to the Home of the Parent, deepen their faith, and raise their awareness as leaders.
On the first day, the seminar started with the greetings by Association President Harue Nakayama. She first mentioned the guidelines for association activities―“Let all of us Women’s Association members follow the path of making repayment for the blessings we receive”―and emphasized that anyone can make repayment for God’s blessings regardless of their age. After saying that we are only able to live in fortunate circumstances because our predecessors earnestly followed the path of making repayment for the blessings, she told the young women leaders, “I would like you to maintain a sense of gratitude in your daily life and take concrete actions to make repayment for the blessings each day, however small your actions may be.”
After speaking about how Oyasama urged the performance of the Service in the early days of the path, the president cautioned the listeners that practicing the dance and the musical instruments for the service and performing services that are complete in terms of outward appearance do not constitute the completion of the Service. “What is more important,” she explained, “is to have the service performers’ minds and daily actions come into total accord with the intention of God the Parent.”
She concluded by saying: “It is important to engage in pre-anniversary activities so that you can show Oyasama the progress you make in your spiritual growth. I would like all of you young women leaders to conduct activities in a manner that will bring joy to God the Parent and Oyasama.”
On the first day of the seminar, the participants listened to Honbu-jun’in Tomikazu Matsumura’s lecture entitled “The Kakisage—Living Your Daily Life Based on the Teachings.” On the next day, Honrijin Branch Chapter Chairwoman Yukiko Sugita gave a lecture entitled “Things We Can Do in the Lead-up to the Anniversary of Oyasama.” Group discussions were also held to allow participants to share their thoughts with one another and deepen their understanding of the teachings.
Ms. Hisa Kontani, who leads the young women in the Hyogo Diocese Chapter, expressed her resolution: “My friends and I have been encouraging one another to be proactive in administering the Sazuke whenever we find people who are suffering from illnesses. Together with other young women, I would like to make a more conscious effort to engage in salvation work every day.”
Ms. Satomi Ipposhi, who is Asakura Chapter’s young women leader, said: “I can reach out to other young women anytime and anywhere. The most important thing is to sustain my effort to do so every day. I would like to reach out to other young women and follow the path together with them in high spirits during this ‘three years, one thousand days’ season.”