As a new year approaches, we would like to take a moment and reflect on everything we talked about here on stpetersfireside.org in 2015. We released 45 articles and had over 30,000 unique visitors to our website. That’s not bad, not bad at all! We covered a ton of different things this year. It is truly hard to select our top 10 posts, so we simply go by which posts were viewed the most. In case you missed any of the most read articles throughout the year, here are the 10 top posts from 2015:
10. The Consumerism Fast
Colin May writes “For Lent this year, having examined myself, listened to God, and seen what was getting in the way of me loving Him fully, I have fasted from consumerism. Or at least tried to, I admit I bit off way more than I could chew on this one. I have stumbled along the way. I have caved and bought myself things. But through these 30-some odd days, I have felt the closeness of God’s presence in my relationship with money.”
9. Simon Pegg Makes Me Happy
Derek Martin writes “My main fear in life can probably be boiled dow to this: the fear of being single. Being single has been the (pun intended) single most dealt with unfulfilled longing of my life. Being single when you don’t want to be sucks. Films like Hector and the Search For Happiness force me to confront my desire to one day have a significant other, and it usually ends with me in tears or writing lyrics to a really sappy song.”
8. Fandom and Kingdom
Our blog’s Managing Editor Shannon Daly writes, “As we draw the circles of our participation in the fandoms we enjoy and the Kingdom we serve, we have to ask ourselves which of the circles we inhabit more fully? Which do we enjoy more extravagantly and discuss with more joyful enthusiasm? In the complex Venn diagram of our lives, the challenge is to live wholly in the space that overlaps.”
7. Reaching Across the Aisle
Shannon Daly writes, “I have been thinking about how the church talks about politics, and how I, as a member of the church speak about those who represent us. I am the first to admit that I am far too free with in my personal commentary on the failings of politicians. I even remember, during a period of extreme governmental irritation, turning one politician’s name into a multi-purpose cuss word (It’s impressive what you can do with a variety of suffixes).”
6. The Lure of Luxury
Julia Sterne writes, “We can mistakenly pursue luxury to an extreme and we can find luxury irresistible, because we are looking for something that luxury just cannot provide.”
You’re halfway through our top 10 posts, and it’ll just keep getting better and better! Take a breather, top up your coffee, and read the last five posts of our top 10 posts from 2015:
5. What The #!&@$ Is My Calling?
Alastair Sterne writes, “Can we admit that when Christians talk about calling it can carry a lot of baggage? Surely we have all asked, “What’s my calling?” We can feel a lot of pressure to figure it out. It can be a confusing process. It can carry a lot of worry and fear. “What if I miss the call? What if I do the wrong thing?”
4. The Challenge of Saying No
Alastair Sterne writes, “We say ‘yes’ out of a sense of obligation. We say ‘yes’ because we feel a need to be busy and accomplished. We say ‘yes’ because we don’t want to miss out. We say ‘yes’ because we want to fit in. Underneath many of our yeses is an identity issue. The things we do, what we accomplish, the milestones we meet — we allow them to build our sense of worth.”
3. Physician-Assisted Suicide: Choosing To Die
Alastair Sterne writes, “If we carry the gospel in this way, if we choose to die well — we will actually be powerfully demonstrating the gospel. No law can rob Christians of their ability to proclaim the gospel in the midst of their deaths. Death and suffering do not rob us of dignity. Because the gospel has defeated these things.”
2. The Death Of A Disciple, The Death Of A Pastor
Alastair Sterne writes, “Despite how things may appear, or how our doubts may convince us otherwise; when life goes south, when things fall apart, when tragedy hits, in a very mysterious way Jesus still has authority over all things. We’re also given a profound promise: he is with us always. In grief. In loss. In pain. In heartache. In tragedy. In suicide. He is there. In joy. In laughter. In hope. In healing. In resurrection. He is there.”
Finally, the top article of our top 10 posts is:
1. All The Single Ladies
Alida Oegema writes, “Even when it feels like we’re missing out on so many things that come with the partnership, friendship, and romance of marriage and perhaps spending more moments than we want to alone – your life is no less full or wonderful or important or significant if you are single.”
We hope you enjoyed checking out our top 10 posts of 2015. Here’s to 2016 and another great year of writing! — The St. Peter’s blog team.
