Global Warming

Good morning. I would like to thank all of you for taking the time to attend the October Grand Service here at Tenrikyo Pearl Church and thank you for your kind and sincere offerings. I am sure God the Parent and Oyasama is really happy to see you all here today and to have performed the service with joy and in high spirits!

Of course, this month’s “Grand Service” is to commemorate the founding of the Teachings which occurred on October 26, 1838 in which God the Parent was revealed through Oyasama, Miki Nakayama, declaring, “I am God of Origin, the creator the true and real God.” From that time on for fifty years, Oyasama taught us the way to the Joyous Life, going through various hardships in high spirits, with patience, perseverance, courage and deep parental love.

GLOBAL WARMING – WE CAN MAKE CHANGES STARTING FROM ONE PERSON: OURSELF.

Recently I heard the debate between the vice presidential candidates on TV. The moderator asked, “What is true and what is false about what we have heard, read, discussed, debated about the causes of climate change. Until then, I haven’t really seriously thought about this problem, but I took the opportunity to think more about this and from myself, I thought I should do something good for the earth. I think you might have realized that there is not as much rain from December through March. There seems to be a lot of climate change happening around the world too. For example the number of hurricanes has more than doubled and they are much stronger as in the case of hurricane Katrina. There are more floods and wild fires. Rising sea levels has forced a Pacific island nation to evacuate to New Zealand.

Evidently it is said that the smoke from factories and auto exhaust, produce greenhouse gases that keep the sun’s heat inside the earth’s atmosphere thereby raising the earth’s temperature. When the temperature rises, ice in the Arctic and Antarctic regions begins to melt causing the sea level to rise. There’s a possibility that Waikiki and other low areas will be flooded. The reason why the climate changes occur is directly related to our everyday life. We get in our cars; we drop off our kids at school and go to work everyday. As the population increases, more and more people drive cars and release carbon dioxide into the air. More people use the refrigerator, washer, showers, and other electrical appliances; we are using more and more electricity everyday. Here in Hawaii we burn oil to make electricity so our use of electricity is contributing directly to global warming and now due to the rise in oil prices we are paying more in electricity bills. In a sense, the rising oil prices are helping us to reduce our electricity use.

We have been pursuing our dreams of a rich, abundant and comfortable life with modern skyscrapers, nice cars, cell phones, computers and the internet. However, due to overconsumption and global warming, we need to scale back our lifestyle. We need to rethink our values and priorities.

In Tenrikyo we are taught that this whole universe is the body of God. In the Ofudesaki we read

This universe is the body of God.
Ponder this in all matters.

Ofudesaki III: 40

Accordingly, the earth, human beings, land and ocean, plants and animals… everything is the body of God the Parent. When we realize this, we need to be careful on how we use the things on this earth.

The key word here is: the Three R’s. Let’s practice the three “R’s”

Through global warming, God is showing us, telling us that we are entering a dangerous situation. Let us put our hearts and minds into keeping a mind of gratitude, moderation and help others.

Announcements

  1. Yesterday was the 5th annual Kaimuki Recycle Day in which we could bring in things like tires and old car batteries which are not picked up by the normal trash pickup and bulky item pick up. So we went through the whole valley to pick up old tires and car batteries and took them to Kaimuki High School yesterday morning. Thank you very much.
  2. The Young Men’s Association is celebrating their 90th Anniversary this year by having gatherings at local chapters. The Hawaii chapter is planning a park cleanup on Saturday, October 18, 2008 from 9am – 11:30am at Magic Island and later that night a dinner reception at the Hawaiian Waikiki Beach Marriott at 5pm. Pearl Church has reserved a table for OB and senior church members. Our table is presently full, so those of you, who haven’t signed up and still want to go, please see Moses and pay direct to him. Of course please don’t forget the Magic Island Park cleanup on that morning, Saturday, October 18 from 9am – 11:30.
  3. Due to your support I will be joining the October Pilgrimage this month to attend the Tengen and Church HQ grand services and also to attend the new head minister installation service for Saino Nishi Branch Church in Tokyo. Saino Nishi Branch Church, of course is the church that made 500 rolls of sushi for Tenrikyo Bazaar this past August. The new head minister is Yuki’s brother. I will also be attending the 3-day Seminar in Jiba on 11/1-3 as an observer at the Bishop Hamada’s request. The MHQ of Hawaii is looking into starting a three day seminar here in Hawaii.
  4. This month is UNICEF month. Please take a UNICEF collection box home and/or join us on Halloween for Trick or Treat for UNICEF, at MHQ on Halloween Day at 7pm.
  5. I would like to ask all of you to look at the small gong and drum used in our service. As you can see, although they are still usable, they are quite old and worn in many places and have surpassed the condition of being used in our monthly services. They are such that the practice instruments at the mission HQ are in much better condition. I would like to propose that we convert these instruments for practice use only and purchase new ones more appropriate for monthly service use. The estimated budget is $8,000, which is quite an amount. Instead of asking for donations, I would like to ask everyone to take this opportunity to renew your efforts to practice the three “R’s”. Here we will call it the four “R’s”: Practice the four “R’s” and bring your deposit containers to church to support the fundraising effort to purchase the new drum and small gong. Of course raising funds only with deposit bottles will take some time, so we would like to also offer yard service as another fundraising activity. If you know of anyone who needs yard service and tree trimming, please let us know.

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