The August 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 creating the world and human beings out of the desire to see the world filled with joy and for nurturing us with the providence of fire, water, and wind as well as with boundless parental love. Continuing, he said: “All of us Service performers as well as church head ministers and other Yoboku will deeply reflect upon various occurrences that are shown to us—such as our illnesses and other problems, society-shaking family-related issues, natural disasters, extreme weather, wars, and so on—and seek to perceive them as Your parental guidance and admonitions. We are determined to continue to walk the path of world salvation in unity of mind by using Oyasama’s Divine Model as our guiding principle.”
The prayer was followed by the joyous performance of the Kagura Service and the Dance with Hand Movements. After the Service performance, Honbu-in Noriyuki Ueda took the podium to deliver the sermon. Speaking about the frame of mind that Yoboku are encouraged to maintain as they implement the teachings, Rev. Ueda said: “Making steady efforts to implement the teachings with a gentle, caring heart will allow us to gradually spread the teachings widely to people around us. This will help people sweep away the dusts of the mind, which will in turn bring a settling to our local communities.”