Comments for Susanne Kromberg's Musings on Faith

Comment on The Spirituality of Privilege by Soul Food « Women & Environmentalism

Soul Food « Women & Environmentalism — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 16:44:01 +0000

[...] By giving up! [...]

Comment on A New Way of Living by Michael Bischoff

Michael Bischoff — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 21:39:26 +0000

I just happened on this blog post, as I was searching for things about spirituality and institutions. I’m happy to have found your blog, and a little disappointed that the blog has been inactive for the past few months. I am also a Quaker, and I’m focused on studying and applying the connections between spirituality and organizations. Here’s a blog I do about the topic: http://spiritofinstitutions.blogspot.com/.

I also appreciated your earlier post about discernment. I thought that you summarized discernment in a very helpful and concise way.

Comment on A New Way of Living by Martin Kelley

Martin Kelley — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 16:38:59 +0000

Sometimes I’ve waited a few months before blogging about something and changed minor details so that it wouldn’t be connected to specific people or events. I’ve done that when the specific issue spoke to a larger phenomenon that I thought worthy of conversation.

A lot depends on the institution and its unique confidentiality requirements, but I’ve found many organizations don’t have to be nearly as secretive as they are. People appreciate honesty and the ability to see inside some of the decision-making processes. But this might might be a moot point if the organization loves its secrecy and you’re just an employee. My own blogging has definitively shifted at times because of employment issues.

Comment on A Time to Mourn by Mattie

Mattie — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 23:48:20 +0000

One of the evangelists simply said, “Blessed are the poor,” which makes this specific Beautitude more interesting, talking nothing about the poor in spirit.

Those stories of the Old Testament were about nothing but the suffering of the Jews, of man’s inhumaity to man and woman, which continued in the suffering of the New Testament, times described as equally frightful as living in Euorpe in the 1940s. The response from God to take on human suffering, identify as His, and try to do something about it was one of the greatest hope. He died. And then He rose.

A chaplain who dealt with suffering everyday was a super hero.

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.