This Week’s Two New Articles

Answer to the travel picture on Home Page: Quito, Ecuador

Note: Do check out the new books available for download (in the weekly newsletter).

Years ago, nearly every Sunday, I set aside about five minutes during worship to preach to children under 12 years old. This children’s sermon is also called children’s message. Typically, I would prepare an object and a Bible verse, then connect the theme of the verse with the function of that object. The purpose is for the children to remember the Biblical teachings whenever they see that object again in the future. These few minutes in the worship service made children feel valued, enhancing their worship experience as they come with their families.

In the United States, it’s common for Presbyterian/Reformed and Methodist/Wesleyan churches to feature a children’s sermon prior to the adult sermon. Some pastors invite the children to gather at the front, sitting with them to share the message. Afterward, the children may leave the sanctuary for classes or other activities. This setup reminds me of times in the Bible when Jesus preached to the crowds, occasionally calling children to him. It shows that children often accompanied adults to meetings with Jesus.

Preparing a children’s sermon can be more challenging than preparing one for adults. In my decades of experience delivering sermons ranging from five to forty-five minutes, shorter ones are often harder to craft. Psychological research indicates that adults typically have an attention span of about 20 minutes. Beyond that, the brain needs a break to look at something else or daydream. Listening to a sermon requires continuous focus, unlike reading, where you can pause and resume at your convenience. Therefore, an effective sermon requires placing the focus at a strategic moment. A preaching mentor once compared sermons to flights. The preacher guides the congregation through takeoff, cruising, and a safe landing. It means that a sermon needs a good introduction, solid content, and a firm conclusion to create an enjoyable journey. For children whose attention span is shorter, this analogy implies a quick takeoff, a brief cruise, and an immediate landing.

Occasionally, after services, some congregants would express gratitude not just for the adult sermon but also for the children’s sermon, which shows that adults also pay attention to these messages.

One of my favorite writers is C. S. Lewis (1898–1963), a British scholar, writer, and theologian. Besides academic works, he also wrote many children’s novels full of imagination and adventure that are still loved by young readers nowadays. The dialogues, symbolism of animals, and internal thoughts and emotions of the protagonists resonate with adults as well, sparking deeper reflection. While communicating with children necessitates using simple and concrete language, it doesn’t mean that such messages are shallow for adults. Lewis’s ability to explain profound truths in simple terms is truly remarkable.

I don’t preach children’s sermon anymore. However, I often remind myself to assume there might be children-like adults in the audience during my sermons. This encourages me to keep my messages simple and accessible. While my audience might not fully understand everything, even a small understanding of God and themselves can be impactful. When both children and adults take something meaningful away from the sermon, it has truly fulfilled its purpose.

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In my newest fiction, Thunders over Idle Land (Book 2 in the dual-time odyssey series), the protagonist, a kung fu master, landed on a remote island without food. As he explored the dense, tropical landscape, he used his skill and caught a fowl. Without cooking utensils, he followed a well-known Chinese recipe called “The Beggar’s Chicken” to cook his bird.

Beggar’s Chicken, a dish originating from eastern China, is a gastronomic delight steeped in tradition, ingenuity, and timeless culinary flair. This beloved dish exemplifies not only the ability to create delicious food using simple ingredients but also the profound relationship between culture and cuisine.

The legend of Beggar’s Chicken is as enchanting as the dish itself. As the story goes, a destitute beggar in imperial China stumbled upon a chicken but, lacking any cooking utensils, was forced to come up with an ingenious solution. He coated the whole chicken (uncleaned, ungutted, with feathers) in mud and placed it in a makeshift fire pit to bake. When he cracked open the hardened mud shell and peeled it away together with the feathers, a tender and aromatic chicken awaited inside. The delightful aroma attracted the attention of passing royal members, who were so impressed that the dish was adopted and refined in the imperial kitchen.

At the heart of Beggar’s Chicken is a whole chicken encased in a layer of clay before being roasted. Later versions use a cleaned, gutted chicken stuffed with spices such as ginger, star anise, soy sauce, Shaoxing wine, and garlic. The preparation of Beggar’s Chicken requires patience to encase the bird meticulously and wait for the slow cooking process to work its magic.

Beggar’s Chicken is a reminder of the ingenuity rooted in Chinese cuisine, where simplicity meets sophistication. It highlights the importance of resourcefulness and the ability to elevate basic ingredients to something flavorful and memorable. The story behind the dish also touches on themes of transformation and creativity, rendering it a cultural emblem that resonates well beyond its taste.

Modern renditions of Beggar’s Chicken may not involve mud encasements, but chefs often use a bread dough wrap or stick with a less traditional approach using foil or parchment paper. Despite these adaptations, the essence of the dish remains as an homage to an ingenious origin story, allowing the chicken to be steamed within its own juices to concentrate its essence.

Eating Beggar’s Chicken is more of an event than a mere meal. The cracking open of the hardened layer brings an element of drama. The tender meat, easily coming off the bone, is a testament to its thoughtful preparation.