Richard sets up our table at Thursday Night on the Square
Every summer, the City of Palmdale hosts a festival called "Thursday Night on the Square," which takes place in downtown Palmdale's Poncitlan Square across from City Hall. For eight Thursday nights, there are different bands playing in the gazebo and different activities for both adults and children. For example, an upcoming Thursday night's theme will be "Fairy Tail Doggies." People will bring their dogs and have a doggie parade.
In preparation for our first Thursday night making others aware of the Nichiren Shu Sangha, we made a new sign saying, "Namu Myoho Renge Kyo: The Sound of Awakening." Reverend Ryuei Michael McCormick gave us three big boxes filled with pamphlets and copies of the Nichiren Shu News for us to pass out. We printed cards with the Odaimoku on them and another set of cards with contact information.
We were excited about our first night at the festival this year and we were not disappointed by the reception we received from the people who came by the booth.
A young man who is interested in theology and in learning about different religions came by and recounted his spiritual adventures. He asked to be on our email list.
A woman who is a healer and was passing out flyers for her practice of the healing arts told us that she used to practice Buddhism with another organization and that she missed chanting the daimoku.
A representative of the GLBT community is pleased that we will be having services and wants to join us in chanting.
Each year for the past several years, a local Baptist church has had their booth close to ours. This year, their booth is further away, but the assistant pastor, a delightful young man, managed to find us, and we had a conversation about what we have in common and how interesting the religious landscape is in our community.
This was confirmed by a lady of Japanese descent, who asked if we were from another organization, and when we said we were Nichiren Shu, said, "Oh! That's what my family practiced in Japan . . . and now I'm a Christian."
There are seven more Thursday night festivals this summer and we will be there for all of them.
Hi, Michele! What a great post! I am so happy that you and Richard are continuing your family tradition of taking Nichiren Buddhism to the people at Thursday Night on the Square!
Sarge sure looks patriotic in that flag tie!
Good luck on Sunday with your pow-wow, I'm sure everything will work out for you.
Horray for you and Sarge!
Yer pal "down below", Byrd Ehlmann