I have been recently working on the issue of irony for my new book. The ironic gesture allows us to engage in an activity while simultaneously ridiculing it.

Two of my favorite comedians (the great Mitchell and Webb) brilliantly expose the problem with this in the following clip. Enjoy.

As my latest book progresses I thought I would offer you another little sample (between us of course). This is a story that I wrote to explore the themes of the first few chapters. Again I will hold off from commenting on its philosophical connotations. All reflections welcome,

There were once two lovers who would spend each waking day together. At the same time every day the man would stop what he was doing, look his beloved in the eye and say, ‘Tell me, do you love me with all of your heart’. And each day he would receive the same answer, ‘yes, my dearest, I do’. He would then follow this initial question with another, ‘But tell me, do you really love me’. To which he would receive the same reply, ‘yes, my dearest, I do’ .

Eventually the woman tired of this ritual and thought to herself, ‘if I am really to convince him of my love then I will need to give him access to my deepest inner thoughts. Then he will know and not doubt my honesty’. So, later that day, she went to a well known wizard who lived on the outskirts of the city and asked that he concoct a potion that would enable the drinker to hear another’s inner voice.

The wizard accepted the challenge and told her to come back in three days with a bag of gold coins. When she returned he took the money and, in exchange, gave the woman a small vial full of odourless liquid.

The next day, like clockwork, her beloved stopped what he was doing and asked his girlfriend, ‘Tell me, do you love me with all your heart’?

However, instead of answering she held the veil of potion up and asked that he drink it. He accepted this small gift and, upon swallowing it, found that his ears where opened and that he could now hear the inner thoughts of his beloved. As he leant in close to her he heard, as clear as the sound of church bells on a still summer morning, a voice emanating from her mind. And what did he hear?

‘Yes, my dearest, with all of of my heart I do’.

The young man paused for a moment, then looked into her eyes all the more deeply and said, ‘Yes, I hear what you say, but still I wonder, do you really love me’

I have been busy working on my lastest book and so have not been posting much up on my blog of late. Sorry about that. However I can say that I am very excited about how the new book is shaping up. I am currently working on some reflections on Hitler, Mother Teresa, Columbo and Mel Gibson. However right now I am writing on the deep theological significance of the following anecdote that I remember from the home where so much of my heart still lives. Can anyone guess the point I am making with it?

There was once a British army base located in a tiny town in rural Northern Ireland. The story goes that each time a new battalion of soldiers arrived to do their tour of duty one of the resident Officers would show them a trick that could be played on the hapless locals.

When the latest group of soldiers arrived the Officer brought them down to the local pub for a drink. When they were settled he got out an old twenty pound note and a one pound coin. As the soldiers watched he crumpled up the twenty pound note and polished the pound coin before placing them on the table. Once he had done this he then scanned the bar for one of the oldest and drunkest men in the place, and called him over. When the local had settled himself the Officer said, ‘I want to give you one of these, but which would you prefer, this bright shiny coin or this old crumpled piece of paper’?

In response the old man picked up the coin, bit into it with his teeth and then exclaimed with delight, ‘I’ll take the shiny coin please”. The soldiers, of course, found this hilarious and started trying it with others. The foolishness of the Irish provided them with endless hours of entertainment.

However there also happened to be a tourist in the bar that night who watched what was taking place in disbelief. When the soldiers had left, she went up to some of the old men and exclaimed, ‘why on earth did you take the coin when you could have had the note? Do you not know that it is worth twenty times more’?

‘Of course we do’, replied one of the locals, ‘but if we took the note they would stop playing’.

I am currently in Seattle hanging out with some of the students from Mars Hill Graduate School. Due to a few problems with my website I have not been able to update my speaking schedule. So thought I should mention here that I am giving a public lecture tomorrow evening (10th) entitled:

When God doubts God: Some thoughts on belief, metabelief and doubt

This will take place at 18:00 in the school and will be followed by some Q&A and an interview. For more information visit the facebook page.

My friend Jon Hatch from ikon reminded me that it is St. Nicholas’ Day (the patron saint of children and prisoners). He also pointed me, via facebook, to the following story that he describes as, ‘an act of resistance in his name, restoring the insurrectionary power to the Christian message’.

This story was taken from the Ekklesia website

The police were called on the patron saint of children and the imprisoned today, as he tried to deliver Christmas gifts to children at a detention centre.

… Join the Insurrection …