A few years ago I was back in Norway at a national conference on separating state and church – Norway’s constitution declares the Lutheran faith to be the state’s religion. I entered the conference hall very clear in my own Quaker mind that the ties between state and church had to be severed. The conference hall was filled with representatives of […]
Love and Sacrifice. Or Self-Donation?
“Five years or fifty, when people have sweated, suffered, and shed blood together, there can be no hesitation: If one calls, the other responds.” This is how Laurie R. King’s heroine in the mystery novel “Justice Hall” explains why she is going off to help a friend in distress when she is really to tired to stir. And […]
Worship without Sacrifice
(The conversation on how we can lower barriers to faith communities continues on my other blog.) Mohandas Gandhi made a list of 7 deadly social sins that I got from Sojourner’s Magazine. 1. Politics without principle; 2. Wealth without work; 3. Commerce without morality; 4. Pleasure without conscience; 5. Education without character; 6. Science without humanity; and 7. […]
As Sweet As Honey
(Quaker-specific musings are now on my new blog.) In the book of Ezekiel, God instructs the prophet to tell the rebellious Israelites to behave themselves. I like the part where God reassures Ezekiel that he is only responsible for speaking God’s words, but not for making the tribe hear them. As preparation for prophesying, Ezekiel is told to […]
My New Quaker Blog
I woke up this morning to the realization that I wanted to add in a new blog. This blog, “Musings on Faith” has given me a wonderful opportunity to explore liberal Christian faith, and to move freely from one topic to another and to range widely. As I have looked more closely at class and faith over the last […]
Lowering Barriers to Worship: Culture
The poll I recently did on class and faith, as well as what I’ve learned from similar conversations elsewhere (links) pointed out culture (not theology or practices) as the primary barrier for someone with fewer privileges. I expect to write 4-5 blogs on various aspects, and will start with social interactions, then address practices, and end with thoughts about theology/faith/beliefs […]
Fighting Against, Standing With, or Building Bridges?
I promised earlier that I would talk about steps we can take towards making our faith communities more welcoming of people who don’t fit the majority profile, whatever that may be in a particular community (I was talking specifically about liberal Quakers and class when I said that, but now I want to broaden it out a […]
Poll on Class and Faith
The ongoing conversation on class/education and faith in the Quaker blogosphere makes me curious about WHY something like 9 out of 10 liberal Quakers have college degrees when only roughly 1 in four Americans in general has a college degree (I’m basing this on information from Jeanne’s blog). Can you help me out by letting me know what […]
The Spirituality of Privilege
I want to start my blog today with a confession about class and privilege. As I followed the discussion on Quakers and class via http://www.quakerquaker.org, I said that I find it hard to place myself in any particular class or culture. My mea culpa (or confession) today is that I didn’t see at first how much of a privilege it is to be […]
More Thoughts about Faith and Class
As I have read and pondered the question on class and faith (see yesterday’s post for links), I have also thought about my own background and how it might influence my perspective. I don’t know how to answer more than a couple of questions in the various questionnaires that try to place a person in terms of privilege, […]
Susanne Kromberg's Musings 