The April Monthly Service of Tenrikyo Church Headquarters was performed on the 26th in the Main Sanctuary, with Successor-Designate Daisuke Nakayama serving as chief officiant on behalf of the Shinbashira.
In the Service prayer, Rev. Nakayama first expressed gratitude to God the Parent for guiding us along the path that leads to the Joyous Life by providing us with divine blessings with warm parental love. Continuing, he said, “Assembled before You are the Service performers and the heads of dioceses and directly supervised churches who are attending the Service in the Main Sanctuary on behalf of all other followers. I ask that You, God the Parent, become spirited by looking upon the way they express their gratitude for Your daily blessings as they continue to rely completely on Your unchanging providence. All of us followers will seek to understand God the Parent’s intention that is lying behind various occurrences in the world and thereby move forward on the path of single-hearted salvation while maintaining a cheerful, spirited mind in any situation.”
The prayer was followed by the joyous performance of the Kagura Service and the Dance with Hand Movements. After the Service performance, Honbu-in Ikuhiro Masui took the podium to deliver the sermon.
In his sermon, Rev. Masui said, “As long as we are alive, we are borrowing the body from God the Parent.” He then stressed the importance of the teaching of “a thing lent, a thing borrowed” by referring to the Truth of Origin and Shinja no shiori (Followers’ guide). After pointing out how we followers sometimes take God’s providence for granted, he said, “It is important to feel and savor the divine blessings with a sense of gratitude in any matter as we follow the path.”
He moved on to talk about how the mind of making repayment translates into the attitude of hinokishin. By discussing how Tenrikyo’s hinokishin activities have been seen in a positive light by people in larger society over the history of the path, he called on the members of the congregation to strive to make repayment for God’s blessings with the mind of hinokishin as they move forward toward the construction of the Joyous Life World.