The March 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 toward a world filled with joy by providing us with boundless parental love as well as free and unlimited blessings. Continuing, he said: “All of us Service performers as well as church head ministers and other Yoboku will make layer-upon-layer of efforts to settle our minds by always keeping the Divine Model in our heart and thereby devote our full measure of true sincerity to the path of single-hearted salvation as the instruments of Oyasama. We are determined to dedicate our utmost sincerity to addressing the challenge of nurturing the next generation of followers who are to take over the path in the future.”
The prayer was followed by the joyous performance of the Kagura Service and the Dance with Hand Movements. After the Service performance, Honbu-in Yoshiyuki Nakano took the podium to deliver the sermon.
By quoting from the Divine Directions as well as sharing his experiences, Rev. Nakano spoke about how to follow the path in a way that allows us to respond to Oyasama’s parental heart. After quoting a predecessor’s words, “‘Doing what we were asked to do straightforwardly with joy’ was what Oyasama was most pleased with,” Rev. Nakano expressed his hope to respond to Oyasama’s boundless parental love. He then noted that the current season is a time when we are encouraged to conduct the pre-anniversary activities with a mind full of joy and reflect it to those who are to carry on the path in the future.