On left, coastline of Sado island off the main island of Honshu; on right, Yukinori Matsushita vested after Sunrise Service. PHOTO: Keiko Inoue

Yukinori Matsushita, Eriko Ueno, Keiko Inoue, Miyuki Okayama, Shoko Oba and Yaeno Sanada went to Sado Island in Niigata province for a Sunrise Service there on Epiphany Day.

Niigata is located on the island of Honshu on the coast of the Sea of Japan.

From left to right, Miyuki Okayama, Eriko Ueno, Yukinori Matsushita, Yaeno Sanada, Shoko Ohba. PHOTO: Keiko Inoue

The Community in Japan attends Sunrise Service in Kurume every Sunday and visited Hokkaido and had private Sunrise Service there as well. When we look at Kurume and Hokkaido as points, and then add Sado Island, there are 3 points that together make a large triangle for Light to prevail over a larger space. That is why Yukinori picked Sado island.

Standing from left to right, Yaeno Sanada, Yukinori Matsushita, Miyuki Okayama, Shoko Ohba. Crouching in front is Eriko Ueno. PHOTO: Keiko Inoue

The place was already ready for a Sunrise Service. The weather was as warm as it is at beginning of March and birds also attended the Service. That morning was overcast but the sun came out by the end of the Service. We were expecting the Sun from the East during the Service. That is the direction that points towards San Francisco and on to Reno.

Everyone felt relief that everything was going well. In this year, we will hold our big conference in Japan. We are looking forward to a big success for both Communities!

PHOTO: Keiko Inoue

Japanese New Year decorations at hotel. On the left are two sheep made of pottery. Behind is a Japanese folding screen with a well-known proverb is written on it: “Good fortune and happiness will come to the home of those who smile” or “Fortune comes in by a merry gate.” PHOTO: Keiko Inoue

submitted by Keiko Inoue
(translated by Noriko Roy)

Rev. Neal Anderson, Senior Minister, Unitarian-Universalist Fellowship, welcomes members of the gathering. PHOTO: Stephan Fuelling

The traditional MLK service and car caravan originated in a new Reno location in 2015. The 29th Annual Interfaith Community Memorial Service will be held at 3:00 p.m. on Sunday, January 18, 2015 at the Unitarian-Universalist Fellowship, 780 Del Monte Lane Lane in south Reno. According to Bishop Gene Savoy, Jr., Chair of the Northern Nevada Martin Luther King, Jr., Holiday Committee, this change from the longtime former venue, Reno’s Second Baptist Church, represents a new direction toward wider celebration of the holiday in the Reno area. The Second Baptist Choir will perform on Sunday. The 2015 theme is “Loving All Our Children.” The keynote address will be delivered by Dr. Angie Taylor, Vice-President of the Washoe County School District Board of Trustees.

Dr. Angela Taylor delivers Keynote Address. PHOTO: Stephan Fuelling

Lifelong community organizer and NAACP matriarch Dolores Feemster will be honored with the committee’s Humanitarian Award. Courtney Bell will receive the Youth Advocate Award.

Darryl Feemster congratulates Bishop Gene Savoy Jr. On his closing remarks. PHOTO: Stephan Fuelling

On Monday, Jan. 19, the 17th Annual Community Memorial Caravan will depart from Unitarian-Universalist Fellowship at 10:00 a.m. As always, this year’s motorcade will travel the stretch of Interstate 580 which Rev. Onie Cooper successfully campaigned to have named in honor or Dr. King. The Holiday Committee and Memorial Caravan were founded by former NAACP Reno-Sparks Branch President Cooper (1925-2011). Mrs. Mary Cooper continues to serve on the committee.

Details of the MLK program are available in downloadable PDF format <HERE>.

< For more information on the celebration in Reno, read “Reno’s Interfaith Service celebrates King’s legacy” posted online at the Reno Gazette-Journal on January 20, 2015. >

< For more information on the MLK caravan read “Reno remembers Martin Luther King at annual caravan” posted online at the Reno Gazette-Journal on January 20, 2015. >

Saturday, February 7, 2015
10:00 AM COMMUNION
Chapel of The Holy Child
RC Robert Petrovich
Lector: RM Carol Ann Crabb
Cantor: Rev. Robert Anderson
Reader: Dea. Shane Grady

Sunday, February 8, 2015
6:52 AM NEW DIVINE SERVICE
Church of New Epiphany
Leave: 6:00
Gate: 6:38
Sunrise: 7:07
RR Gene Savoy Jr.
Concelebrant: RR Sean Savoy
Assistants: RC Roger Weld
RC Ted Staver
RM Carol Ann Crabb
Organist: RC Gary Buchanan

OPEN-AIR COMMUNION
Church of New Philadelphia       Rev. Robert Roy
Church of New Qumran       Rev. Larry Coesens
Church of New Bethany      Noriko Roy

Wednesday, February 11, 2015
12:00 N COMMUNION
Chapel of the Holy Child
RM Rebecca Willis

Friday, February 6, 2015
9:00 AM PRAYER & FELLOWSHIP
Chapel of the Roses
Rev. Barbara Whitney

Mysticism means nothing if the attitude and the discipline which it recommends be adapted to fair weather alone: if the principles for which it stands break down when subjected to the pressure of events, and cannot be reconciled with the sterner duties of the national life. To accept this position is to reduce mysticism to the status of a spiritual plaything. On the contrary, if the experiences on which it is based have indeed the transcendent value for humanity which the mystics claim for them—if they reveal to us a world of higher truth and greater reality than the world of concrete happenings in which we seem to be immersed—then that value is increased rather than lessened when confronted by the overwhelming disharmonies and suffering of the present time. It is significant that many of these experiences are reported to us from periods of war and distress: that the stronger the forces of destruction appeared, the more intense grew the spiritual vision which opposed them. ~Evelyn Underhill

“Would you want to see a doctor who, in medical school, attended only those classes she found interesting and skipped others? Would you even want to get your car repaired by a mechanic who did the same? I hope the answer is no to both questions. If someone decided not to follow most of the rules of musical composition, what kind of sound would he produce? If would most likely be irritating noise, not music. Yet many people approach spiritual studies as if they are in a buffet line and can select those things they like and ignore the rest.”

< Read the entire article online on Harold’s blog at spiritsun.net. >

contributed by Harold Boulette

PHOTO: voa-ncnn.org

The Volunteers of America (VOA) 2014 “Shelter from the Storm” fund-raising breakfast was held on Thursday, November 6, 2014 at the John Ascuaga’s Nugget Rose Ballroom in Sparks, Nevada.

VOA is a national, non-profit, faith-based organization founded in 1896 that provides local human-service programs primarily dedicated to ending homelessness and affordable housing for the elderly. The Northern Nevada branch serves more than 700 men, women, and children everyday.

Bishop Gene Savoy Jr. delivered the Invocation at the breakfast event. Also in attendance from the International Community of Christ were Radheka Patel Savoy and Sean Savoy.

Large Japanese-style Second Advent Cross mounted on Chapel wall at Cosolargy Center in Japan PHOTO: Yukako Kawai

Recently Yukako Kawai, an ordained member of the Community in Japan, created Second Advent Crosses out of wood to adorn the wall of the Chapel at the Community Center in Japan.

Yukako had not done any woodcarving since she was in junior high school. She just thought it would be nice if she could make the Crosses for the Community in Japan. At first, she wanted to use a single round wooden board to make the Cross, carving the American-style Cross on one side and the Japanese-style Cross on the other side. When she went to look for a wooden board at the lumber store, she found a big nice round wood board at store that she wanted to try to work with. But she thought it was too big and that there would not be enough space for it at the Center. So she bought a smaller round piece of wood 30 centimeters in diameter.

After the finishing the smaller wood Cross, she showed it to Bishop Yukinori Matsushita, who requested Yukako to make the bigger Cross. It was then she realized that it had been no coincidence that she saw the big round wood board at store, and she felt that somehow her consciousness was guiding her to make the Cross with it.

American-style Second Advent Cross PHOTO: Yukako Kawai

Japanese-style Second Advent Cross PHOTO: Yukako Kawai

Each side of the smaller cross design took about two weeks to carve and one week to paint, a total of 40 days. The larger Cross took about four weeks to carve and a week to paint, a total of 50 days.

By Noriko Roy

December

3
April Wahl  †
Rajwant Mahar
Moriah Marston

6
April Wahl  †
Rajwant Mahar
Moriah Marston
A J Harris  †

10
Rajwant Mahar

13
Rajwant Mahar
Tom
Thomas Sheehan, Jr.
Paul Engelmann
Toni De Salvo
Erica May Carey
Cleave Renso

17
Rajwant Mahar
Tom
Thomas Sheehan, Jr.
Paul Engelmann
Toni De Salvo
Leland Bates

20
Thomas Sheehan Jr.
Paul Engelmann
Toni De Salvo
Leland Bates
Chad Moore

24
Paul Engelmann
Toni De Salvo
Chad Moore

27
Paul Engelmann
Toni De Salvo
Chad Moore
Zeke Oliver

31
Paul Engelmann
Toni De Salvo
Chad Moore
Zeke Oliver

 † indicates Memorial Prayer

Saturday, January 31, 2015
10:00 AM COMMUNION
Chapel of The Holy Child
RR Gene Savoy Jr.
Lector: RC Gary Buchanan
Cantor: Rev. Gary Huss Sr.
Reader: Rev. Vickie Hewlett

Sunday, February 1, 2015
6:59 AM NEW DIVINE SERVICE
Church of New Epiphany
Leave: 6:00
Gate: 6:45
Sunrise: 7:14
RR Gene Savoy Jr.
Concelebrant: RR Sean Savoy
Assistants: RC Roger Weld
RC Ted Staver
RM Carol Ann Crabb
Organist: RC Gary Buchanan

OPEN-AIR COMMUNION
Church of the Races of Man       Rev. Ben Hubbard
Church of the Golden Age of Light       Rev. James Elliott
Church of the Universal Theocracy      Rev. Harold Boulette

Monday, February 2, 2015
6:58 AM NEW DIVINE SERVICE
Church of New Epiphany
Leave: 6:00
Gate: 6:45
Sunrise: 7:13
RR Gene Savoy Jr.
Concelebrant: RR Sean Savoy
Assistants: RC Roger Weld
RC Robert Petrovich
Rev. Barbara Whitney
Organist: RC Gary Buchanan

Tuesday, February 3, 2015
6:57 AM NEW DIVINE SERVICE
Church of New Epiphany
Leave: 6:00
Gate: 6:45
Sunrise: 7:12
RR Gene Savoy Jr.
Concelebrant: RR Sean Savoy
Assistants: RC Roger Weld
RC Ted Staver
RM Carol Ann Crabb
Organist: RC Gary Buchanan

Wednesday, February 4, 2015
6:56 AM NEW DIVINE SERVICE
Church of New Epiphany
Leave: 6:00
Gate: 6:45
Sunrise: 7:10
RR Gene Savoy Jr.
Concelebrant: RR Sean Savoy
Assistants: RC Roger Weld
RC Robert Petrovich
Rev. Barbara Whitney
Organist: RC Gary Buchanan 

12:00 N COMMUNION
Chapel of the Holy Child
RC Robert Petrovich

Thursday, February 5, 2014
6:55 AM NEW DIVINE SERVICE
Church of New Epiphany
Leave: 6:00
Gate: 6:45
Sunrise: 7:10
RR Gene Savoy Jr.
Concelebrant: RR Sean Savoy
Assistants: RC Roger Weld
RC Ted Staver
RM Carol Ann Crabb
Organist: RC Gary Buchanan

Friday, February 6, 2015
6:54 AM NEW DIVINE SERVICE
Church of New Epiphany
Leave: 6:00
Gate: 6:45
Sunrise: 7:09
RR Gene Savoy Jr.
Concelebrant: RR Sean Savoy
Assistants: RC Roger Weld
RC Ted Staver
Rev. Barbara Snyder
Organist: RC Gary Buchanan

9:00 AM PRAYER & FELLOWSHIP
Chapel of the Roses
RC Roger Weld

PHOTO: healthfreedoms.org

The article below indicates that looking at the sun as a primarily healthy physical process seems to be gaining popularity. Here’s how the article begins:

“Sun Gazing has been followed by numerous people since ages and is prominent practice even today. However, the dispute (between sun gazing practitioners and many who have practiced and seen the damage caused by it) regarding whether the action causes damage to the eyes or not are loudly prevalent.

Several sun gazing testimonials from people are available online who say it is beneficial if done properly, and there are studies that support its benefit as well. However, on the contrary, the western scientific community doesn’t support the validity of sun gazing.”

< Read the entire article online at healthfreedoms.org. >

submitted by Stephan Fuelling

“During the last two thousand years, but especially since the sixteenth century, humanity has achieved a tremendous work, namely, the conquest of the globe and the constitution of experimental science, in what concerns the material and visible world.

“That this gigantic and herculean task should be successfully accomplished, it was necessary that there should be a temporary eclipse of man’s transcendental faculties, so that his whole power of observation might be concentrated on the outer world. These faculties, however, have never been extinct or even inactive. They lay dormant in the mass of men; they remained active in the elect, far from the gaze of the vulgar.

“Now they are showing themselves openly under new forms. Before long they will assume a leading and directing importance in human destinies.” ~Edouard Schure

“I’m not sure it was a good thing that people became very materialistic over the past several centuries, but it certainly is true that it allowed us to explore the world and create a global society. Some might credit that to such things as Facebook, or the internet, but those things are all standing on the shoulders of much that came before. It can, of course, be argued that in spreading over the globe humanity did a great deal of damage and hasn’t stopped yet. But it is also true that many atrocities that despots and terrorists used to get away with because no one outside of their little domains knew about it. Now the whole world soon finds out, whether they choose to do something about it or not.”

< Read the complete blog post at Solar Wind. >

Visit and bookmark Harold Boulette’s blog Solar Wind at:  http://spiritsun.net/

contributed by Harold Boulette