Before God the Parent, Tenri-O-no-Mikoto, I, Owen Osamu Nakao, Pastor of Tenrikyo Pearl Church, pray with reverence:
God the Parent, we are grateful for Your constant protection and gradual instruction that guides us on the path to spiritual growth. In this last month of this 176th year of Tenrikyo we give thanks for the many and continuous blessings we have received throughout the year.
Today, for this December monthly service at Pearl Church, the service performers will now unite their hearts to perform the seated service and Teodori joyfully and in high spirits. Please accept our prayers as we brothers and sisters of this Path have looked forward to this day and have gathered before You to sing the Mikagura-uta.
Through your blessing an average of three persons performed weekly yard work services for the elderly and disabled in the community, including four persons who trimmed trees at Mission Headquarters for two days in November.
Twenty-three persons attended the thanksgiving service and dinner held on November 28 at Pearl Church. Lastly we give thanks on the successful acquisition of the back property which has doubled the size of the church property. The addition will initially provide housing for staff and parking for members. We thank those instrumental in the purchase.
In the remaining days of this year we vow to work together engaging in hinokishin and salvation work with a unity of mind and we look forward to the New Year, the second of the three years, one thousand days leading up to Oyasama’s 130th Anniversary in 2016. We have since received Instruction Three from the Shinbashira and vow to take the words to heart and respond to Oyasama’s boundless parental love with decisiveness.
We pray that Your guidance will strengthen us into worthy Yoboku, striving with a single heart for the salvation of others. We hope that our efforts will bring joy to You and peace in this world where all people help one another as brothers and sisters. With our minds in unity toward the Truth of the Jiba, we would like to spiritedly perform the last monthly service of the 176th Year of Tenrikyo.
In union with the congregation, I pray for these blessings.