Four Discoursemen

Ash Wednesday

It is an uncanny thing to be told that you shall die. This is an understatement for those given only a short time to live. But if one is young and hopeful, to be informed of mortality feels more like an uncalled-for affront, something strange and difficult to reconcile with one’s sense of self.

Why I Like Maths

When the idea was recently floated that all children should study mathematics until the age of eighteen, it felt for a moment that Britain had become a classroom of baying teenagers, asking a question I am already well used to as a maths teacher: “Why do we need to learn this?” The cynicism was quiteContinue reading “Why I Like Maths”

Reformed Paganism

Then Bacchus and Silenus and the Maenads began a dance, far wilder than the dance of the trees; not merely a dance for fun and beauty (though it was that too) but a magic dance of plenty, and where their hands touched, and where their feet fell, the feast came into existence sides of roastedContinue reading “Reformed Paganism”

Among the Fir Trees

Again, the traveller’s foot plunged into the snow, and he lurched forwards, his weight swinging his other foot out of the snow. Before, his crutches had taken weight off his twisted feet, but now they anchored him more firmly into the thick, thick snow.

The gospel home

Meditations upon Christmas and community Life, I have increasingly come to believe, is all about people; and that is because it is all about love. We were made to love, to give ourselves to others without undue attention to our own concerns. And in this sense the way of the cross, the cruciform life byContinue reading “The gospel home”

Jesus, the Word become flesh

TO THE CHOIRMASTER: ACCORDING TO RUDOLPH THE RED NOSED REINDEER. A PSALM OF THE THIRD DISCOURSEMAN. Jesus, the Word become flesh Through him the world was made And in the incarnation The creator God’s displayed In him was light and life That shines in the darkest place Darkness could not supress it He came toContinue reading “Jesus, the Word become flesh”

Matthew’s Christmas Tree

The Third Discourseman The following is a very lightly edited version of a practice evangelistic Christmas talk I wrote as part of my ministry training. I’ve edited it to be more ‘bloggy’, less ‘talky’. Feel free to share! It’s on Matthew 1:1-17, which I’d recommend reading and then having open in front of you. ChristmasContinue reading “Matthew’s Christmas Tree”

Three Qualities of Life

At the messy, irritating ends of the human span, our society has put life under threat. Progressives in Britain are desperately trying to follow our Canadian cousins in killing the disabled, the old, the poor and the lonely under the title of euthanasia. Already, we kill myriad unborn babies when they get in the wayContinue reading “Three Qualities of Life”

No Other Name

A Response to the Third Discourseman I Perhaps some of our readers were perturbed by the Third Discourseman’s article on the essence of the gospel. We have been so trained to believe that penal substitutionary atonement and justification by faith alone are the central tenets of the gospel – particularly after the proliferation of Reformation-themed talks andContinue reading “No Other Name”

How to Get a Good Night’s Sleep

Throughout my first year at university, I struggled to go to bed on time. I would work late and when I returned to my room I would spend hours on YouTube and Facebook and the like, before finally closing the screen, tired and distracted, at two o’clock in the morning. It fed into a miserableContinue reading “How to Get a Good Night’s Sleep”