March Madness

March is quite a busy month with many events occurring: Girl’s Day, March Madness, the start of spring, Girl Scout Sunday, and Spring Ohigan service. It would be hard to keep everything scheduled if it wasn’t for the wonderful Weekly Announcements that I’ve been receiving from the OCBC website. Have you been receiving the Weekly Announcements too? Simplify your life and keep updated on the events at OCBC by going to our newly redesigned website www.orangecountybuddhist.org and signing up to receive the Weekly Announcements. While you’re at our new website, please check out the new sections and articles; I know you will be pleased with its vibrancy, clarity, and ease of use. You can also subscribe to the OCBC calendar as well, or filter it by specific events. There are no longer any excuses for missing an OCBC event. Please share this link with your family and friends, so they will also have the opportunity to experience one of the many events at OCBC. I’d like to thank Robert Hansen and Bryan Furumoto for their leadership and Glen Morita and Greg Goodman for their guidance on the newly designed website.

Our hybrid services continued for this past month, so our thanks again to our ministerial staff and our AV crew for keeping us all connected. It was also nice to view the Boy Scouts’ video for Boy Scout Sunday on February 6th.

The month of March always brings the excitement of March Madness to my house. We are a Bruin family, so we anxiously look forward to their game schedule, and we plan our days around it. This has been quite a unique year with the surge in Omicron, and not even the Bruins went unscathed. It seems like there were several times when we were waiting for game time to see who would be playing and who was sidelined due to some type of COVID protocol. Just like the Bruins, OCBC also had to weather the COVID pandemic and change its game plan at the last minute to ensure the health and safety of our Sangha. It may have taken us a little longer to open up, but we’ve arrived healthy and ready to play! Although watching a game from home is entertaining, nothing is better than experiencing an event in person. This is especially true for our in-person Sunday services.

I encourage you to return to the Hondo; from your floor seats, you can experience the ringing of the bell, the entrance of our ministers, and the roar of the crowd as they chant the Juseige and the Sanbutsuge. Join us; we’re waiting for you.

The service is starting- please find your seats in the Hondo. Go Bruins! Go OCBC SEYO teams!

In Gassho,
Jo Ann Tanioka
OCBC President