Tenrikyo Pearl Church Monthly Service – 2009 June Monthly Service
Good morning! Next week is Fathers Day so I would like to wish all the fathers a happy Fathers Day in advance. I would like to thank all of you for taking the time to attend the June Monthly 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!
KUMOYOMI-NO-MIKOTO
This month we will continue on the ten aspects of God’s providence. Today we will be speaking on the 5th providence: Kumoyomi-no-Mikoto. /
In the human body, it’s the providence of eating, drinking and elimination; in the world the providence of the rise and fall of moisture. /
Drinking water is important to our existence. Most of you know that 70% of our body is water and that if we lose 10% we get dehydrated and if we lose 20% we will die. This is how important water is./
Also we cannot live without food. Food is the source of our energy. Especially for children who are still developing physically, they need a lot of food to eat. /
When we eat we put food into our mouth. We crush the food with our teeth, mix it with our saliva and taste it with our tongue. / Next we swallow it and send it to our esophagus and stomach. Without our slimy saliva, the food would not be able to slide down our throat. The food is broken down with our teeth; next it is mixed with digestive juices in our stomach, and then sent to the intestines. / As the nutrients are absorbed and sent to the respective organs, the waste goes on to the rectum and anus as stool. /
In the Truth of Origin, for Kumoyomi no Mikoto, God uses the slippery eel to represent this function. It is not the actual eel that God used, but God used the eel to illustrate the function metaphorically. /
The eel is slippery and moves up and down easily which illustrates the providence of eating, drinking and elimination. At the same time the eel also represents metabolism in the human body. This is how our body functions. /
In the world, this function is the rise and fall of moisture. The sea water evaporates and forms clouds. When the clouds cool, water falls down as rain. / When it rains the mountains, hills and fields are moistened and the water forms rivers which flow back to the ocean. / When we water plants with seawater the plants will dry up and die. / There is a lot of salt in seawater, but the sun will separate the salt by evaporation. This how the earth sustains life: through this cycle of the rise and fall of moisture. /
When we receive illnesses of the digestive system, how can we reflect on the message from God? / Illnesses of the stomach as well as the mouth, throat, esophagus, intestines, anus and bladder are caused by the mental dust of self-love which is related to the function of ingress and egress. / The dust of self-love is to think only of oneself and to be unconcerned about others welfare. Especially when we have constipation, we are unwilling to pay our bills or we begrudge giving, we’re sore losers and we are very picky and uncooperative. / To receive blessings of the digestive system, we need to give willingly and accept whatever situations with joy and not be so picky with food and people. /
Please note that this information may not apply to all cases and that there may be other factors unique to your situation. But it is important to realize that we should not take our health for granted. / (From Ref: Rev. Yoshitaro Ueda’s book “Ten Providences”.)
When my wife, Taeko, was 3 years old, she had a lot of vomiting and diarrhea from eating too much persimmons. The doctor said that she had duodenitis, which is an inflammation of the duodenum. The duodenum is the first section of the small intestine. She was very skinny and the doctor said that she may not survive. / However she was saved. But she was a very weak child throughout her school days. She went to her high school by train. During her train ride she experienced severe stomach cramps and had to squat down to relieve the pain. / Even in her twenties, she couldn’t eat rice and fresh salad, because it would cause a gripping pain in her stomach. Especially when she was tired she couldn’t digest well and this caused stomach pains. / So she was always eating soft foods and thought that she had to live with this stomach pain through her whole life. / Then she went to the three-month Spiritual Development Course at Jiba when she was 27. / The first thing she learned was that the body is a thing lent and a thing borrowed and that we have free use of the mind. / She learned that everything happens according to our mind. She reflected on herself and how she was using her mind until now. She was only thinking about herself. If she was ok, everything was ok. / After that she tried not to think only about herself and started to try to help others and care about other people. Her way of life totally change to one of helping others and caring about others. / Miraculously, during the third month of the course, her stomach pains disappeared completely. Since then she could eat fresh vegetables and cooked rice. Now she can eat and taste all kinds of food and is blessed with good health. / She tries to improve her use of mind daily by:
1. To become a flexible person. /
2. Avoid having dislikes about a person. /
3. Put her hands together and gives thanks for the food before eating. /
4. After using the bathroom, gives thanks to God. /
She tries to be mindful of giving thanks to God for all these blessings. /
In closing the providence of Kumoyomi-no-Mikoto the function of eating, drinking, and elimination and in the world the function of the rise and fall of moisture is another providence that we should learn to appreciate and that disorders relating to this function gives us reminders as to how we can adjust our thinking to receive blessings and live the joyous life.
Announcements
- I would like to thank all of you who participated and volunteered in the YMA, WA & YWC joint General Meeting at Mission HQ on May 16. Eight persons from Pearl Church participated.
- Also later that month in building up towards next year’s 100th Anniversary of the Women’s Association be a Pep Rally was held on Saturday, May 30th from 9:30am in which ten persons participated.
- This month the Hawaii One-month Spiritual Development Course will start next Sunday, June 21 after the Mission HQ monthly service and continue for four weeks until July 17th, Saturday. This course is open to anyone 17 years and older, who wish to deepen their understanding of the teachings and open the doors to a new life of meaning, joy and resolve. Please see me or Taeko if you or a friend would be interested in attending. Today is the deadline for applications to be submitted.