Comments for Susanne Kromberg's Musings on Faith

Comment on A Theology of Busy-ness by And God created the Testosterone + busy summer « Min kvekerblogg/My blog of faith

Thu, 19 Jun 2008 16:18:25 +0000

[...] to write about things that are happening in my life, without knowing. This time it’s about the Theology of busyness. All my travelling this summer is to give speaches and workshops abut trans-issues and read my [...]

Comment on God In Our Transitions by Tarald Stein

Tarald Stein — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 11:11:24 +0000

Thank you!

Comment on Resurrection Stories by Omar Poppenlander

Omar Poppenlander — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 15:51:40 +0000

Nate took (some of) the words right out of my mouth . . .

I love sports and I enjoy competition of all sorts, but not because I think it ultimately matters who wins or loses. Rather, I believe that there are so many great opportunities for learning about ourselves, God and the world around us through participating in sporting activities or watching sporting events. It seems as if M learned a lifetime worth of such lessons in just one season!

When I played youth league basketball, I learned only one lesson that I recall, but it was a somewhat important one: I am not a good team player. I spent way too much time observing what was going on in the game and thus neglecting the fact that I was supposed to be doing something — setting a screen or guarding my opponent for example. I wanted to watch the game as much or more than I wanted to play it!

It was this observational component that eventually led me to become interested in writing and other forms of storytelling. That was good to know, but on the flip side, the additional lesson from my youth basketball days is that I need to remember to stop observing and engage with the world around me from time to time. Sometimes my teammates need me to play!

Comment on Resurrection Stories by Nate

Nate — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 06:21:23 +0000

What! Something good coming out of basketball! How timely, and great justification to my indulgence of watching thirty billion college games this weekend!
In all seriousness, I appreciate your reframing. We, as Americans, are so enamored with sport and quick to figure out what it means, package it up and move on. Yet, despite all the obvious flaws our sports metaphors, there is a lot to be seen.
My friends and I play basketball every Tuesday. I call it basketball, but that’s a pretty loose definition. We work pretty hard to make sure that people who come to play understand that our purpose has nothing to do with the egomaniacal efforts you usually see displayed. We’re mostly 30 somethings who don’t exercise enough and never had anything resembling basketball careers to begin with, and yet…..somehow egos sneak onto the court, we run each other over, we get intensely frustrated, as if we had anything to prove anyway…..
I think sport, when we approach prayerfully gives us great insight into ourselves and others. Why are we so concerned about winning? Why does my personal value rest on my ability to throw a ball through a hoop or stop somebody else from doing it? Isn’t compassion, team work, joy, play more important?
Thanks Susanne for making me at least think about what we see in the little things around us! I’m eargerly awaiting the Disney movie (the 6 Seattlites that Could) or something, starring Hannah Montana as M….

Comment on State Accountable to Church? by Johan

Johan — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 19:05:59 +0000

We received some similarly counterintuitive (from the liberal US point of view) comments from Muslims in Ramallah when the Friends Schools were going through a difficult period some years ago. According to the comments, these Muslims wanted the schools to be firmly Christian and Quaker and not to drift into a vaguely secular identity or become enmeshed in a Christian-Muslim tug-of-war.

Comment on Worship without Sacrifice by AYo aka SouL

AYo aka SouL — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 03:02:20 +0000

I think if we truly see our neighbors as God, then we cannot rest while knowing that they are suffering. Hence, we are led to pursue a life of self-discipline and working with them on their behalf. That is the sacrifice.

I don’t think Gandhi was talking about YOU but there are many people in the world who are pious and religious and yet never look at their neighbor as equals.

Comment on Lowering Barriers to Worship: Culture by Susanne Kromberg

Susanne Kromberg — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 23:01:10 +0000

Thanks, Chris. I’ll look forward to hearing hearing your thoughts and insights if/when the time is right. And I hope I didn’t sound too whiny in my other blog… It was just hard to strange how much traffic and commenting was going on while I talked about the problem, and how little interaction there was wen I started coming up with solutions. But that’s often the case, isn’t it, and isn’t necessarily something I need to take personally.

Comment on Lowering Barriers to Worship: Culture by Chris Mohr

Chris Mohr — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 22:53:12 +0000

You wrote on your other blog about not getting much response to this post. Well, my response was “hidden”: I printed out the essay, so I could re-read it more slowly and carefully, “in real time” so to speak. And I saved it in my bloglines reader so I could come back to it. I still don’t have more direct comment, but I wanted you to know I paid a lot of attention!

Best,
Chris M.

Comment on Worship without Sacrifice by Susanne Kromberg

Susanne Kromberg — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 16:50:23 +0000

Interesting… I think of seeing God in my neighbor as part of worship - it is such a powerful revelation to see “that of God” in a person and to respond to him or her as Beloved-of-God. It feels like I am receiving the valuable gift. So your statement leaves me still wondering about the “sacrifice” part?

Or does it matter? I always feel a bit strange when I start parsing things so carefully, because my interest in seeking this kind of knowledge is what it means for my/our understanding of God and how God calls me/us to live in the world. Knowledge for its own sake is not what I’m after…

Comment on Worship without Sacrifice by AYo aka SouL

AYo aka SouL — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 08:11:33 +0000

I heard a Gandhi quote that was along the lines of, “If you do not see God in your neighbor, then you don’t see God at all.” I think that is what #7 means.