Josh found this little book on the curb down the street from the Live Arts office. It’s called Five Missionary Minutes—no it’s not what you think. These time-worn pages, first published in 1912 by George H. Trull, contain invaluable “Brief Missionary Material for Platform Use in the Sunday School for 52 Sundays in the Year.” There’s a lot to be learned . . .

Like what we discovered at Live Arts Sunday School this week, the fact that Santa Claus in Korea and Santa Claus in America are two very different beings:

“In Korea he is called Angwangi, and he is supposed to be an old man who lives in the upper air. . . There is not a girl or boy, man or woman, in Korea who is glad when Angwangi comes around. Everybody fears him, for he is a villainous old fiend, whose gifts are typhus fever, cholera, leprosy, and other diseases . . . Now nobody wants any of Angwangi’s gifts, so one plan after another way tried to prevent his leaving any. This is the one that the Koreans believe is most successful. A common flour sieve is left beside the shoe mat on New-year’s eve. As Angwangi has a mania for counting the meshes in these sieves, his attention is at once drawn to them the moment he sees one outside the house. He begins counting, and soon forgets everything else. Before he is aware, daylight has come, and with it Angwangi’s opportunity to scatter disease and pestilence.” (p. 118)

Better dig out your old flour sieve and stay tuned for more Titillating Moments with Five Missionary Minutes.