Joy in Misfortune

TENRIKYO PEARL CHURCH SERMON ‘ 2005 August

Good morning! I would like to thank you all for your kind support and sincere offerings. I am sure that God the Parent and Oyasama is pleased to see you today to participate in this August Monthly Service 2005.

JOY IN MISFORTUNE

We are not living by our own accord, but by the grace of God. Our life of faith is to believe that everything is by the intention of God. What we see, hear and experience are due to God’s workings. This is the religious life which we should live. Because we believe, we can receive many blessings and we come know the value and significance of faith.

However, blessings do not mean that we always have a healthy body, have no accidents and disasters, and situations in which bad things never happen. The real blessing for people who have faith in God is that no matter what misfortune occurs, they can find God’s love, courage, joy, positive attitude and can appreciate God’s mercy. In other words because we have faith in God, we will not consider such seemingly negative things as misfortune or disaster. No matter what unfortunate things may happen in our daily life, we can find courage, hope and joy and receive strength from God to move on and that is the treasure which we can receive from God.

In the Mikagura-uta, it says:
Thirdly,     All of you close to me
watch whatever God acts and works.

The way to walk on the path of faith in which God guides us is to obediently go wherever the path leads us with a joyous mind no matter what happens. In order reach our goal, there are places where the road is rough, also where the road is winding. We often ask ourselves, ‘Why do we have to go on this winding road?’ In other words, why do we have to experience the hardships in life? God says that it is not a question of why. Rather this is God’s admonishment. This is all due to the seeds we have planted and how they have sprouted into our present situation. And this is exactly what the following example is about. Sometimes in our daily life we may think, ‘if only that person changes his attitude, I can cooperate, work harder and live a happier life.’ And we live our lives hoping and wishing that someone would change without improving our self. God is showing us what we have done in the past and this is called causality. In another example may we think, ‘If this person is not in our workplace, we can do our work smoothly, we can finish our work faster.’ Even between husband and wife, we may think, ‘If he doesn’t change, I will divorce him,’ or vice versa. We can see this type of thinking wherever we go.

     God brings a person into our life, because there is a need for that person to be here. For the sake our spiritual growth God puts that difficult person in our life. However, when we have received the truth (understand God’s deep intention in that situation), God will remove the difficult problem. So whoever or whatever problem we encounter we must believe that God wanted this to happen and accept it with joy, without complaining and without avoiding the problem person.

Announcements:
1.     I would like to thank those who came to help out during Rev. Iburi’s visit to Pearl Church on July 16th. Thank you very much!

2.     We are in the last year before the 120th Anniversary of Oyasama and I would like to ask all of you to participate by returning to Jiba in 2006. We hope to form a pilgrimage group for the children’s summer pilgrimage and hope that many of you can join us. However, you can return anytime during the year. The bazaar is coming on August 28th. We would like to ask for everyone’s help with the pre-bazaar scrip sales and help at the bazaar with the ohagi making and parking lot attendant. Also this year, I will be in charge of the Joyous Life booth at the Japanese Garden so please stop by.

3.     Next month on September 10, the day before our monthly service will have a Tenrikyo Pearl Church information booth at Palolo Pride. We will pass out pamphlets and administer the Sazuke.

Monthly Service Prayer

MONTHLY SERVICE PRAYER
August 2005

Before God the Parent, Tenri-O-no-Mikoto, I, Owen Osamu Nakao, Pastor of Tenrikyo Pearl Church, pray with reverence:

     God the Parent, since the time You appeared before us with Oyasama as Your Shrine, You gave us the proof of the origin, and revealed to us the divine model, teaching us the way to follow this path. Then with your free and unlimited workings, You swept away the dust from the minds of people, showing us miraculous blessings as You guide us toward the Joyous Life.

     Today is the day we are granted to conduct the August monthly service at Pearl Church. The service performers will unite their hearts to perform the seated service and Teodori joyously 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 we had the honor of a visit to Pearl Church by the church headquarters director in chief of administrative affairs Rev. Masahiko Iburi and the head of the Overseas Department America section Rev. Takaharu Ichise on July 16th. Also on that same day, 6 persons including one from Pearl Church graduated from the Hawaii Shuyokai. In addition the Pastor of this Church departed on July 19th to attend the July monthly service at Tengen Bunkyokai and the Children’s Pilgrimage activities as the chairperson of the Hawaii Boy’s and Girl’s Association and returned safely on July 30th. We thank you kindly and deeply for these wonderful blessings.

In this seasonal time, the last year of the three years one thousand days before Oyasama’s 120th Anniversary, we vow to work together to further our spiritual growth by engaging in salvation work with a unity of mind.

     With the Shinbashira as the core we vow to take Instruction Two into our hearts and make sincere efforts in our daily lives to truly follow the Divine Model of Oyasama.

     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. With our minds in unity towards the Truth of the Jiba, we would like to spiritedly perform the August Monthly Service today, held in this 168th Year of Tenrikyo.

     In union with the congregation, I pray for these blessings.

Rev. Iburi Visits Pearl Church

On July 17, 2005, Rev. Iburi visited Pearl Church. We all appreciated his appearrance. Rev. Masahiko Iburi is Tenrikyo Church Headquarters Director in Chief of Administrative Affairs. Rev. Takaharu Ichise is chief of the Overseas Mission Dept. North America and Oceania section. Please click here to see pictures of his visit or go to the Photos section.



Group picture in the Shinden.

There are also pictures of our current homestay students who are a part of the GES program located in Waikiki. Please click here to see the photos or go to the Photos section.



Ayako Morihashi (7/16-7/23/05) and Carmen Amor Cordero (6/28-7/24/05)

Rev. Iburi Visits Hawaii Dendocho



Rev. Ichise and Rev. Iburi are picked up at the airport


Rev. Takaharu Ichise and Rev. Masahiko Iburi


Rev. Takaharu Ichise and Rev. Owen Nakao


A group picture in front of the Shinden


Shuyokai Students: Top row: Terri Iwata, Cheryl Horikawa, Lewis Nakao; Bottom row: Jessica Tagawa, Kiyomi Hotta, Dean Mizuno.

Rev. Takaharu Ichise and Rev. Masahiko Iburi visit Hawaii.

Monthly Service Prayer

MONTHLY SERVICE PRAYER

July 2005

Before God the Parent, Tenri-O-no-Mikoto, I, Owen Osamu Nakao, Pastor of Tenrikyo Pearl Church, pray with reverence:

     God the Parent, since the time You appeared before us with Oyasama as Your Shrine, You gave us the proof of the origin, and revealed to us the divine model, teaching us the way to follow this path. Then with your free and unlimited workings, You swept away the dust from the minds of people, showing us miraculous blessings as You guide us toward the Joyous Life.

     Today is the day we are granted to conduct the July monthly service at Pearl Church. The service performers will unite their hearts to perform the seated service and Teodori joyously 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 the Pastor of this Church will be departing on July 19th to attend the Children’s Pilgrimage activities as the chairman of the Boy’s and Girl’s

Association. We thank you kindly and deeply.
In this seasonal time, the last year of the three years one thousand days before Oyasama’s 120th Anniversary, we vow to work together to further our spiritual growth by engaging in salvation work with a unity of mind.

     We are now six months away from the 120th Anniversary of Oyasama. We pray for the victims and survivors of conflicts and disasters in the world that they may have faith and resolve to overcome their grief and suffering. We pray for the homeless, that they also may have faith and resolve and eventually find shelter. In this last year, we continue to reflect on our ways and resolve to engage in Hinokishin and administer the Sazuke to those suffering from illness, so that we may convey the intention of the original Parent to people who are lost about their place in the world.

With the Shinbashira as the core we vow to take Instruction Two into our hearts and make sincere efforts in our daily lives to truly follow the Divine Model of Oyasama.

     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. With our minds in unity towards the Truth of the Jiba, we would like to spiritedly perform the July Monthly Service today, held in this 168th Year of Tenrikyo.

     In union with the congregation, I pray for these blessings.