Container or Contents

Mooncakes are traditionally eaten during the Mid-Autumn Festival or Zhongqiu Festival. They are regarded as an indispensable delicacy on this occasion. Mooncakes are offered between friends or on family gatherings while celebrating the festival. The Mid-Autumn Festival is one of the four important Chinese festivals.

Traditional mooncakes are round or rectangular pastries, measuring about 10 cm in diameter. The filling is usually made from lotus seed paste. Some come with yolk of salted duck eggs or nuts. Nowadays the filling can be anything, even durian paste. I still prefer the traditional ones.

Moon cakes are on sale everywhere. We've been the recipient of a number of boxes of moon cakes. We just came upstairs after visiting Red Shield Services Store, for the 8th anniversary celebrations. A very good friend of ours gave us a box of moon cakes. His wife made them herself so they are special. We are going to make these cakes last a long time.

Nowadays moon cakes are packed and sold in beautiful boxes and it's a shame to throw the boxes away after we have consumed the contents. What matters more - container or content? Come to think of it, it is the moon cakes that we enjoy eating, not the boxes! These expensive boxes only add to the cost. What a waste of money.

While eating mooncakes I am reminded of the words of Paul. "If you look at us, you might well miss the brightness. We carry this precious message around in the unadorned clay pots of our ordinary lives. That's to prevent anyone from confusing God's incomparable power with us. As it is, there's not much chance of that. You know yourselves that we've not much to look at." 2 Corinthans 4: 5-7 The Message)

Apparently Paul was small in stature, had bad eyesight, not a great speaker and constantly on the run. He had many enemies and critics. He was hard pressed, perplexed, persecuted and even put in prison. But in this 'clay pot' body of his he carried an important message and had an important ministry. So what matters most really is not the container but the content, not the packaging but the filling, not the external elements but the heart.

As for me, this clay pot is aging, perhaps a little marred or chipped and a little worn out, (not cracked) but I am glad its contents are precious to God. I still have a ministry in an earthern vessel. Well God works within the limits of our humanity. We are still fallible human beings living in an imperfect world.

On a lighter side let me tell you the story of a young preacher who took the words of Paul about this 'treasure in earthern vessels' for his sermon. He published the subject of his sermon in the church bulletin -"The Glory of a Cracked Pot."

Now I'll finish the rest of my piece of mooncake.