Monday, April 28, 2008
April 27, 2008
Cause and Effect was the theme for today's sermon Rev. N. We are so used to superstitions that we forget that cause and effect is what actually happens.
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
March 30, 2008
I was in church on Sunday, but I don't remember anything other than meeting a visitor from Hawaii - sorry! I think I lost the message of the day. It was probably because we came back home late the night before - we ate in Chinatown after watching the Dodgers-Red Sox game at the Los Angeles Coliseum with 115,300 of us in a Guiness-certified world record for attendance at a major league baseball game. The peristyle in the eastern side of the Coliseum was used for seating - the normal Sun Deck bleachers used for USC football games was missing, so the folks in the the far right field were seating on concrete or standing/sitting in the grassy area.
I was in what would be left field had this been at a regular ball park. This exhibition game was to commemorate the 50 years that the Brooklyn Dodgers have in Los Angeles. The first four years was played in the Coliseum while Dodgers Stadium was being built. Then the Coliseum floor space is bigger than it is now, but still not big enough for left field - so a high fence was erected. The Dodgers went to the World Series and then the attendance was highest for a major league game. The track and field stadium for both Los Angeles Olylmpics had its track taken out and replaced with seating while the field was lowered...so the length of the third base line was only 250 feet.
In fact the Dodgers did not play a left fielder - they had five in the infield instead. But they still lost the game.
50 years is also a common period for observance of memorials in Jodo Shinshu traditions. It is almost 50 years since a memorial for Shinran was held, so it is coming back again in a few years. The Hongwanji in Kyoto hopes that many of us will make a pilgrimage to Kyoto to attend the services and the BCA will be holding a national observance and memorial in 2010. This will be the 750th. Fifty years later, who knows what this world would be like and what the BCA will be like in 2061 when the next memorial services will be conducted.
I was in what would be left field had this been at a regular ball park. This exhibition game was to commemorate the 50 years that the Brooklyn Dodgers have in Los Angeles. The first four years was played in the Coliseum while Dodgers Stadium was being built. Then the Coliseum floor space is bigger than it is now, but still not big enough for left field - so a high fence was erected. The Dodgers went to the World Series and then the attendance was highest for a major league game. The track and field stadium for both Los Angeles Olylmpics had its track taken out and replaced with seating while the field was lowered...so the length of the third base line was only 250 feet.
In fact the Dodgers did not play a left fielder - they had five in the infield instead. But they still lost the game.
50 years is also a common period for observance of memorials in Jodo Shinshu traditions. It is almost 50 years since a memorial for Shinran was held, so it is coming back again in a few years. The Hongwanji in Kyoto hopes that many of us will make a pilgrimage to Kyoto to attend the services and the BCA will be holding a national observance and memorial in 2010. This will be the 750th. Fifty years later, who knows what this world would be like and what the BCA will be like in 2061 when the next memorial services will be conducted.
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