Closing the book on 2007

December 31, 2007
by Rodney Olsen
1 Comment

Have you wrapped up your reading for 2007?

What was your favourite book for the year?

Mine would have to be Exiles: Living Missionally in a Post-Christian Culture by Michael Frost.

We live in a time when more followers of Jesus are living outside the church than ever before. People who are still very keen to follow Christ are giving up on going to church. Frost asks why this is happening and looks at new ways of creating authentic communities of faith.

Earlier this year I had the pleasure of interviewing Michael Frost about the book and we looked at just what is meant by the term post-Christian culture. We also talked about Mike’s use of the term exiles. Are we really exiled in a foreign culture? How do we thrive in a post-Christian culture while staying faithful to Jesus? How much should we engage with the current culture? How much do we stand up against the existing culture?

My interview was broadcast on 98.5 Sonshine FM. You can listen to the interview by clicking the play button on the audio player below.

Also this year I interviewed Alan Hirsch about his current book, The Forgotten Ways. I still haven’t finished reading it and so I’m looking forward to some more good reading over the next little while. It may well be next year’s favourite read.

So I guess that 2008 will start with reading the rest of The Forgotten Ways and then getting stuck into a range of other bits and pieces.

One of the books I’m hoping to read is Shantaram a novel by Gregory David Roberts. It’s set in India and is about the size of a house. While I’m not normally one to tackle such large books, I’ve read too many good reviews to ignore it. I’ve read reports from several people who booked tickets to visit India simply due to the picture painted through the book.

I’m also looking forward to getting stuck into Messy Spirituality by Mike Yaconelli. The book was sent to me by Tony Sheng as explained in my post You’ve Got Mail.

So what have your favourite books been in 2007? What books are on the reading list for 2008? Are there any books you think I should add to my 2008 reading list?



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Words

December 31, 2007
by Rodney Olsen
1 Comment

John Smulo has a simple yet profound post about the power of words.

Check out Powerfully Positive Things People Say and maybe you can decide to use some of the phrases he suggests to make a difference in 2008.



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Talkin' about a resolution

December 28, 2007
by Rodney Olsen
4 Comments

In all the busyness of this time of year have you managed to set time aside to draft out a few New Year’s resolutions? Maybe you’ll get some time over the weekend.

I know that a lot of people don’t believe in such things but I reckon that any time that we can sit down and take stock of our lives and make plans for the time ahead is time well spent.

Of course there are all the usual resolutions that people make about losing weight, getting fitter, quitting smoking, reducing debt and all the rest but I wonder what 2008 would look like if we made resolutions and goals about improving relationships with those close to us and then asked those people, or others, for help in staying accountable to those goals.

I wonder how things would be if we made resolutions about helping those we may not even know but who need a hand up.

How would 2008 shape up if we determined that family was more important than the demands of work and then structured our schedules accordingly?

What would it be like if we decided that 2008 was the year that we would look beyond the physical and material things of this world to discover deeper spiritual meaning?

I wonder.



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From giving to greed

December 27, 2007
by Rodney Olsen
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How can it turn around so quickly? One day we’re buying the line that giving is better than receiving; the next day we’re buying anything we can get our hands on.

How is it that we can talk about how wonderful it is to give to others when we know that just a day later we’ll be spending much, much more on ourselves.

On Christmas Day we celebrate with friends and family and talk about how awful it is that Christmas has been over commercialised, yet 24 hours later we’re lining up at shopping centres ready to send our credit cards into meltdown. It would seem that we’re not so averse to commercialism at this time of year after all, or are we happy to be ‘non-commercialised’ for just one day a year?

Most cities around Australia start their big sales on Boxing Day, the day after Christmas. We wait an extra day and that always seems to be a good reason to grumble. Each year we see people on TV talking about how awful it is that they have to wait an extra 24 hours before they max out their credit cards. They think it would be better all around if those who work in the retail industry only had the one day off for Christmas to recover from the extra stress of last minute Christmas shoppers before they face the barrage of post-Christmas shoppers.

In a first this year, the shops in Fremantle were open on Boxing Day so that people could get their shopping fix. Thousands of people flocked to the port city to grab a bargain.

Have we really become that addicted to consumerism that we can’t relax with our families for an extra few hours? Do we really need to fill our homes with extra ‘stuff’ that much and that soon?

I enjoy getting a bargain as much as anyone but I have no real desire to be crammed in next to thousands of other people, all wanting to be served at once. I have enough self-control and patience to wait a week or two until it all calms down.



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Over for another year

December 26, 2007
by Rodney Olsen
5 Comments

Christmas has come and gone.

It was a great day, though I’m glad that we were in air conditioning all day. The forecast high temperature in Perth was 39 degrees but it reached a maximum of 40.7 just after 4:00 p.m. (105.26 degrees Fahrenheit). Today the people at the weather bureau say that it’ll get even hotter.

Today is Boxing Day, a wonderful opportunity to lie around on the couch recovering from all the celebrations yesterday. Well, it would be if I wasn’t at work this morning but I do intend getting in some couch time this afternoon.

How was your Christmas Day? Did you have the opportunity to spend time with family and friends? We had a wonderful time having lunch with my side of the family and then dinner with Pauline’s family. I certainly ate a lot of good food but I managed to avoid that – “Oh my goodness I ate too much and now I feel sick” – kind of feeling. I paced myself and enjoyed some scrumptious treats without overdoing it. Mind you, I don’t really feel all that hungry today.



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