Good Morning, everyone! Happy New Day, Week & special "Thanks" for attending today's service. This is our monthly service for April 2018. I hope you are all in good health & excellent spirits.
Konkokyo will celebrate the 160th Anniversary of the Divine Call all over the world in 2019. KC Chicago will also celebrate the 10th Anniversary of its establishment next year. We are now focusing on showing Konko Daijin's way of living, that Rev. Otsubo taught us when he said, "What Kami wishes for me now is to revive the vivid way Ikigami Konko Daijin lived so each day I would feel Kami near me and hear the Divine voice. I seek to blaze a trail into the active world of Konko Daijin, and experience the essence of his faith - as if by touching I'd feel Kami's warmth and by poking I'd draw spurting blood."
So we are doing our best to develop the heart of the earth to the fullest, reciting the following sentence in our mind all the time:
"Coming from earth and returning to earth, thus our life in between should be as the heart of the earth."
The Konko Churches of North America will have a ministers' seminar this coming May. All the ministers were asked to write articles about "What does the Divine Call mean to you as a minister?" within 500 words or less.
Here is mine:
"Without the Konko Faith, I would not be the man I am now. Thanks to Konkokyo, I have looked deeply into myself and realized that I have no power, no talent and no abilities before Kami. It is the realization that there is no other way; that for me, I must entrust every moment of my life to Kami.
Thanks to the Konko Way, even a powerless person like me can walk the way every human must, to have the best, fullest life; which Kami desires for everyone. Thanks to Konkokyo I am profoundly grateful to be included a life where I can feel Kami near me, where I can hear the Divine voice of the Universe.
Because of Konkokyo, I burn with a desire to fulfill the mission of the opportunity of human birth and rouse myself to go forward to help create a true world of peace & mutual fulfillment between Kami & all people in the world.
Whenever I think of them, I am in awe, before the Divine Call.
This is the Way, of Konkokyo, started when our Founder received The Divine Call in 1859. He has continued to develop his faith with Kami, day by day, endlessly both in this world and the next. This Way, I believe, is the way of Mediation. The way of having a peaceful & joyful heart and the way of mutual fulfillment of Kami and people. We are very fortunate to have received the Mediation of Ikigami Konko Daijin not only in this world, but also in the next.
Reverently reading this Divine Call, I feel Kami's earnest prayer to save mankind.
The Divine Call was given to Konko Daijin from the Divine heart of Kami. It was both stern & gentle at the same time. Konko Daijin was told, "regard this event as your death" and "dispel all selfish desires." "Your wife should consider herself a widow-this is better than being a real widow, as she can still talk to you and discuss things."
The Divine Call always reminds me to get rid of my selfish desires, so I can serve Kami & people in the world. It always reminds me to respect each and everything that happens in each day as Kami's doing, and through gratitude to deepen peace & joy in my heart.
The ultimate request of Kami is the manifestation of the mutual fulfillment between Kami & humanity. By no means is this Divine Call only for our Founder alone.
Whatever the era or the society, for the happiness of mankind, as a mediator I will do my best to always seek the Sacred Mediation of Ikigami Konko Daijin to completely embrace the world with this Faith. We must all try to comply with the true intent of Konko Daijin's way of Mediation." This is what I wrote about the Divine Call.
Now, Kami wishes me to completely renew myself. Thus Kami wishes me to be of great service to Kami and people in the USA. I believe this is especially true to mediate to young people who seek the true way of human fulfillment.
The Divine Call is the request from Kami first to our Founder. Our Founder sincerely accepted this Divine Call and devoted himself with all his heart to the sacred Mediation to manifest the mutual fulfillment of Kami & people in the world.
Revering this Divine Call, I will devote myself wholly, to humbly respect everything that happens, with a heart of the earth and deepen peace & joy to the extent of fully influencing others around me to reveal Konko Daijin's world of human fulfillment to the world.