Before God the Parent, Tenri-O-no-Mikoto, I, Owen Osamu Nakao, Pastor of Tenrikyo Pearl Church, wish to humbly express the following prayer:
God the Parent, throughout the long expanse of time since the beginning of this world, You have nurtured and guided us as our loving Parent. In order to fulfill Your desire for all of us to purify our minds and live in accord with Your will, You revealed the Truth of Origin, taught us the Service, bestowed upon us the Divine Grant of Sazuke, and opened the path of true salvation for all human beings. This truly fills us with gratitude and we offer to You, our most sincere appreciation.
You appeared through Oyasama as Shrine, to teach us the truth of our origin and the purpose of our creation…, which is for all of us to live in joy, and to share that joy with You, God the Parent. And, knowing the nature of us human beings to forget, You left a vivid example for us to follow in Oyasama’s Divine Model of 50 years.
Then on January 26, 1887, while the first followers of the path fulfilled Your request for the Service to be performed by all means, our beloved Oyasama opened the portals and hid Her physical form, to work forever, in spirit, for the salvation of all humankind.
In commemoration of this event, today is set aside for the performance of the January Grand Service. We, yoboku and members of this church, have assembled before You, to perform the service in high spirits and in unison with the harmonious sounds of the musical instruments. We pray, that as You look upon us, our joy may be truly shared with You.
As we look forward to this New Year, we remember and give thanks for your deep parental love through the blessings of miraculous healings, and the many people who have attended the various church activities during this past year. With the pastor of this church serving as chairman of the Boys and Girls Association Hawaii chapter, activities were successfully held without serious accidents. Last year, an average of twenty-three persons attended the Pearl Church monthly service. Eight persons from Pearl Church participated in the Boys and Girls Association park cleanup and BBQ picnic in January; ten persons helped at the all Tenri Cultural Center Cleanup Hinokishin in February; four children and eleven adults attended and helped at the annual Boys & Girls Association Spring Camp and General Meeting; ten persons attended the Boys and Girls Association Oyasama Birthday Activity, twenty-three persons from Pearl Church participated in the All Tenrikyo Hinokishin Day at Honolulu Zoo in April, twenty-four persons attended the annual Tenrikyo Picnic, 3 persons participated in the YMA International Hinokishin Corps in Jiba, 2 persons participated in the Children’s Pilgrimage to Jiba, one person joined the Tenri University Japan Earthquake-Tsunami relief effort, one yoboku entered the one-year mission program at MHQ in Los Angeles, twenty-one persons helped at the Annual Tenrikyo Bazaar in which the pastor served as chairman, and six persons attended the Young Men’s Association-Women’s Association-Young Women’s Club Joint General Meeting. An average of three persons helped with the weekly yard work on neglected sidewalks and yards of the elderly and physically challenged throughout the year, as well as at the Tenri Cultural Center. Also, a special tree trimming hinokishin was done at MHQ by four Pearl Church members on November 20th and 27th. The Sazuke was administered a total of 306 times in 2012. In addition, solar panels were installed on June 29th, utilizing the sun’s light to produce electricity for the church and inhabitants. The pastor of this church was appointed president of the Jarrett Middle School Foundation in July of last year. We give thanks for all these blessings.
This month we will start the three years, one thousand days leading up to Oyasama’s 130th Anniversary since Oyasama hid her physical self. The Shinbashira has issued Instruction Three in the hope that we yoboku and followers will make decisive efforts to grow spiritually and conduct our activities with a unity of mind. With the Shinbashira as the core we resolve to engage in nioigake and salvation work to plant seeds of sincerity during this seasonable time towards Oyasama’s 130th Anniversary.
In this 176th Year of Tenrikyo, please accept our sincerity as we strive to become single-hearted in our efforts of salvation work. We shall spread the fragrance of the Path even further, so that the minds of all in the world may become awakened to the Truth that You teach. We pray that our actions throughout this New Year will bring us yet closer, to the goal of the Joyous Life.
In union with the congregation, I humbly pray, may it be so.