In a few weeks, a handful of Salt Lake area residents will converge in Emigration Canyon for a sunrise service to celebrate an event they believe ushered in a new age.
They belong to the church of World Messianity, although many of them also belong to other churches as well."We have members who are Jewish and Catholic and who belong to several Christian religions," said Etsuko Freeman, leader of the local group. "We have LDS members as well, although they sometimes feel a little uncomfortable because they worry they might be condemned by other members of their church."
Most of the members continue to go to their own churches but attend World Messianity church functions as well.
The Salt Lake group is one of 14 nationwide. Every other Sunday, about 30 people meet in the church, a bungalow on 500 East across from Liberty Park. Rather than a formal denomination, Freeman said, the group is an extension to the religions of each of its members.
The event they celebrate happened in 1926. It was then, on a mountain in Japan, that a man named Mokichi Okada faced the sun and began praying. He returned to start a movement that is more of a fellowship society than an organized church.
The movement became known as Johrei (pronounced jo-ray) fellowship. Johrei is a Japanese word meaning spiritual purification. Okada taught that the time had come for God to transform the world into a paradise of physical and spiritual health, economic abundance and world peace.
The focal point of the Salt Lake church is an altar in the main room, a symbol of the embodiment of God, Freeman said. It is here church members leave written prayers for world peace or for specific problems, such as the violence in Bosnia.
Rather than following a list of commandments (although the church does believe in following the Bible's 10 Commandments), the church stresses the need for spiritual work; helping humanity; beauty and the arts; and natural farming. The church operates a farm in Lompoc, Calif.
"Our bodies are temples, and it is up to us to take care of them," Freeman explains.
World Messianity has been in Salt Lake City since 1962. Freeman, who was raised as a Buddhist in Japan, said her grandmother first became involved in the movement. Growth in Utah has been slow.
"We don't advertise," she said, noting the group grows through word of mouth. "When people are happy, they talk about it."