An extempore introduction to the Konkokyo faith by the Reverend Rodney Yano
An extempore introduction to the Konkokyo faith
Good evening everyone. We have a lot of newcomers today so, today, I’m just going to talk about what Konko faith is about because you might be wondering why we’re clapping so much, bowing so much, what is this church about, what is this faith about?
And so it’s a real simple faith. It’s a nature-based faith with a foundation of appreciation and gratitude in our daily life. That’s pretty much what the Konko faith is about. It’s about how do we incorporate appreciation and gratitude. And so, there’s this main teaching that you see on there (see picture on the right) . . . So the Konko Faith revolves around this one teaching. Right there, all the teachings revolve around this one teaching, and it’s called the Tenchi Kakitsuke (天地書附) or the Divine Reminder. And the reason for that is because the first part of it says, “Pray sincerely, with all your heart. Be one with Kami.” And so the founder always talked about sincerity — and so sincerity in your life, sincerity in your relationships, your kids, your work, everything you do has to have that tie-in with sincerity and dedication, and what you’re doing, because, you know if there isn’t, it just doesn’t work out in the long run. So he always, the founder, always emphasised living your life with sincerity.
And in the second part, “[Kami’s] blessings begin within hearts grateful and caring, In harmony and joy.” So what that means is living our life like Thanksgiving Day. You know Thanksgiving Day, it’s a day to say, Oh, you know we should be grateful for today, we should count our blessings, we shouldn’t be complaining, or get mad, or anything, right!? Because it’s Thanksgiving DAY, right!? But if we, if it’s not Thanksgiving like the very next day, road rage comes back, all the attitude comes back, it’s because our mindset is, again, not on gratitude anymore. It’s about, like, what do I want, what can I do, okay, you know. We become selfish in a way, right, if it’s not Thanksgiving DAY. And so this founder, the founder, always emphasised to live our daily life with that same heart of gratitude in our hearts. Because, when we live with gratitude, we can see and realise a whole lot more in our life. And so the more we realise how blessed we are it just adds on to that, and then we’ll think back on life. It’s like, oh you know, that was a blessing too, oh you know that, that’s not just luck. I was blessed to be able to get that job, I was blessed to be able to meet this person. You know, all these tie-ins. There's so [many] strings that are tugging, it’s like a gentle wind. But, Kami gives us opportunity all the time, all the time. And it’s sometimes, we don’t see it though. So we’re given this opportunity, but we don’t take it, we don’t see it anymore, we’re scared, and we don’t have enough confidence, you know, all kinds of things happen, right? And so, sometimes, when we are scared, when we are depressed, when we are anxious, all these other things that prevent us from moving forward, that’s why we have church. That’s why we’re open every day. It’s for people to be able to come in to talk because we need some support, we can’t do this alone. That’s why, when my mom read the Divine Call, it talked about how, you know, Kami needs man and man needs Kami, we need each other. It’s not, I mean we need family, we need friends, we need everybody. So, you know, the church thrives because everybody is here, and each one of us — even if it’s just one person attending that's plenty — you know, because it’s the quality that matters not the quantity or anything like that. And so we have this mediation desk area here, so my father sits here every day, every day to come to listen to people’s problems. Some people they're going through troubles with work, relationships, with financial issues, all kinds of things, every single issue you can think of, Kami-sama is all ears, the universe is all ears, listens to everything, and that’s what the mediation desk is for. It’s kind of like in Catholic [churches] there’s a confession where you confess your sins. But over here, it’s a little different, you discuss your prayers, you discuss your concerns, you share your appreciation again. And so this faith is about how to incorporate gratitude to each other, gratitude to our things, you know, just even our house, the clothes, the family, the friends, that we have. It’s just about just living with gratitude is what this faith is. It’s really simple.
Yeah, so the bottom line is that it’s about living your life with sincerity, living a life of gratitude and practising that every day. That’s what this faith is. It’s that simple. And so, you know, that’s the only takeaway that I want people here to think about, you know, for like the rest of their lives. It’s just those three things. And so, if you, if you follow that, you know, Kami-sama guides us in interesting ways and as time passes on you'll start again realizing, more and more, of how blessed we are, and it just kind of expands from there on. So I hope you guys can think about that and take that home for the day, and for the year as well. Thank you so much.
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