Transition

I think I need something new...a new setting or place to be more creative while sharing my thoughts and the ideas of others. For the next few weeks, months, or whenever, I will be trying out things over at tumblr. Not sure I'll stay there but I'm giving it the old college..eh...grad school try. Let me know what you think...

http://alexgallimore.tumblr.com/

Bobby Franklin Does Not Speak For Jesus

I am currently working on an open letter to Georgia State Representative Bobby Franklin (R-Marietta) in response to his recently proposed legislation. If passed these bills will criminalize miscarriages, cut federal funding for abortions involving rape or incest, and will allow (even encourage) parishioners to carry guns inside houses of worship. I will post my response to Franklin soon. Until then, read about his stupidity...

Franklin on Miscarriages


On Rape


Guns in Church

Spring Semester Booklist

After my Egyptian pilgrimage (more to come on that) I am finding myself revived and ready for the new semester. I am really excited about my classes this term not only for the subject matter but also the booklist. I thought then that I should share what I will be reading with the world and extend an invitation to discus these texts with anyone who has read them or would like to read them with me.

Urban Ministry

Sabbath in the City: Sustaining Urban Pastoral Excellence, Brian Stone and Claire Wolfteich
Doing Justice: Congregations and Community Organizing, Dennis Jacobsen
Tattoos on the Heart: The Power of Boundless Compassion, Gregory Boyle
The Word on the Street: Performing the Scriptures in the Urban Context, Stanley Saunders
Cry of the Prophet, Chittister

Classics of Christian Devotion

Revelations of Divine Love, Julian of Norwich
Testament of Devotion, Thomas Kelly
Imitation of Christ, Richard Kempis
Contemplative Prayer, Thomas Merton
Cost of Discipleship, Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Anthology of Christian Mysticism, Harvey Egan
Evelyn Underhill: Essential Writings
Practice of the Presence of God, Brother Lawrence

Ethics

Readings in Christian Ethics, Philip Wogaman

Theology

Theology for the Community of God, Stanley Genz
God--The World’s Future, Ted Peters
Night, Elie Wiesel
Exclusion and Embrace: A Theological Exploration of Identity, Otherness, and Reconciliation, Miroslav Volf
Jesus the Liberator, Jon Sobrino


Feel free to come along on the journey!

Forever Settled: The Greg Griffey Story

At some point we all leave home. We begin our own lives, chart our own paths, and develop our own thoughts that more times than not differ greatly from those who raised us. Still, no matter how far we go, there remains the fact that you can always go home. But what if while away, your home were to leave you? This is the question third year student Greg Griffey seeks to answer as he considers the theological future of Appalachia.

Born and raised in the southwestern corner of Virginia, Greg grew up in the Independent Baptist tradition which he refers to as “bluegrass gospel” remembering that in these appalachian churches, “a call to ministry was a call to preach.” So when at the age of 20 during a Wednesday evening prayer meeting Greg made his calling into vocational ministry public, his pastor immediately asked him to preach the next Sunday. By the age of 25 Greg had already secured a very successful career in Appalachian baptist life. He had been a pastor, youth pastor, and even hosted a weekly radio program showcasing his preaching titled “Forever Settled.” While anyone meeting Greg today understands just how appropriate such a title is, at the age of 25, Greg was becoming more and more unsettled.

While on the radio, Greg was also serving as a youth pastor at a Southern Baptist Church. Always concerned for justice, Greg began to write opinionated responses to the local newspaper dealing with a wide range of social issues. When his prophetic boldness led him to the topic of homosexuality, Greg not only found himself out of a job but “the baptist who saw and affirmed my call were now telling me not to come back.”

So Greg left, came to Wake Div, and began to discern just what he wanted out of life. Today Greg is on path to become a hospice chaplain and is in process of becoming ordained by the United Church of Christ. While away however, Greg has begun to discern the special place he has in his heart for Appalachia and has considered a return to his roots but fears that perhaps the region has changed. Greg notes that historically the geography of appalachia has shaped its theology but with the rise of strip mining, technology, and corporate commercialism, the land and theology he loves might be slipping away. Ironically, Greg longs to save the same small churches and theology that rejected him years earlier and has even devoted his third year project to exploring such themes. He is tentatively titling his work Faith to Move Mountains: How Geography Shapes Theology in Appalachia and claims as home changes “I’m called to change with it but I still grieve the loss.”

We all leave home for a reason but what do we do when home begins to leave us? Greg Griffey is “forever settled” on finding out.

For more on Greg and to read his thoughts, check out his blog at religiomusings.wordpress.com

Image of Chatham Hill Church, Southwestern Virginia, Greg Griffey

Pew Survey Discovers Serious Flaw In Religious Education

Perhaps you have heard the news. A recent study by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life has revealed that American Christians, whether they be Evangelical, Mainline, or Catholic, have less knowledge of basic religious concepts than American Atheist, Jews, and Mormons. The survey asked 32 questions related to the core teachings, history, and key figures of the major world religions with atheists and agnostics getting an average of 20.9 questions correct, while White Evangelical Protestants (the highest scoring Christian group) answering only an average of 17.6 questions correct.

In addition to these general findings, the survey also revealed information on specific religious knowledge held by most Americans. For example, 89% of Americans know that public school teachers cannot lead classroom prayer, while only 23% know that the Bible can be read in public classrooms as a source of literature. Also, 82% of Americans know that Mother Teresa was Catholic, however, only 16% know that salvation through faith alone is traditionally a Protestant and not Catholic teaching. 72% of Americans see Moses as the leader of the Exodus, while only 8% even knew that the medieval philosopher Maimonides was Jewish. That one got me too...

The reality is that as people of faith, this survey should disturb us and serve as a wake up call for how we address religious education in our communities. In our increasingly global and pluralistic age, Bible stories told from a flannel board or movies depicting the blonde-haired and blue-eyed British Jesus will no longer cut it. Our churches must begin to rethink how they go about communicating the basic elements of our faith and their peculiar teachings that might make up their denominational identity. However, as the Pew survey has shown, not only do American Christians have little knowledge of their own faith, but they comprehend the faith of others even less. Because if this, we must begin to see Sunday school, or whatever form education might take, to no longer be limited to simply instruction on the Christian faith. Knowledge of world religions, their basic teachings and practices must become a serious aspect of Christian education in the local church if we are to maintain any relevance in the 21st century.

A sample quiz that mirrors the one used in this survey can be taken online at www. pewforum.com.

Article originally published in the tablet

Raleigh to Winston-Salem with Shane Claiborne

Long story short, yesterday my colleagues and myself had the privilege of driving neo-monastic and founder of The Simple Way Shane Claiborne from a conference we were all attending in Raleigh to a speaking engagement at Wake Forest University. Now I have always admired Shane however when I learned that we would be spending a little time with him, I was a little uneasy.

If you know me, you know I have a soft spot in my heart for the finer things in life. I can often be spotted in a bow-tie or a pair of designer jeans and I knowing I was about to meet someone that has literally “sold everything and given to the poor” I was feeling very vulnerable. Honestly, I think I was expecting a speech about the rich young ruler who couldn’t enter the kingdom of heaven because he unable to part with all his stuff. Needless to say I was worried...

Shane blew me away. I’m not sure I have ever met a more gracious, authentic, or humane human in my entire life. We drove Shane (and got him lost) in my pastor’s new Volvo sedan and our pastoral staff was well dressed in clothes that were hardly used. Shane was dressed in clothes that his community had made themselves and had dreadlocks halfway down to his waist. As we got 20 minutes outside of Greensboro I finally broke. I told him as plainly as I could that he was Shane Claiborne and that I might not ever get the chance to talk to him one-on-one again and that if he didn’t mind I would like to ask him a few fairly serious questions. Shane didn’t mind and this was the first thing I asked.

In doing what you do, is there anything that you have discovered that is distinctly human that can be applied in any geographical area to any particular group of people?

Shane’s answer was so simple. I did not no if I should laugh or sit in awe. I chose the latter. Shane said that all his community is trying to do is love and be good neighbors. According to Shane everything else they do stems from this. Sounds pretty cliche right? I mean did this guy seriously just have the audacity to tell me to love and be a good neighbor?

For some reason Shane’s response to my question hit me in a way that I can’t quite explain. For the first time, this concept was real. I truly felt as if Jesus himself had just spoken this word to be and the reality is that if Jesus we’re physically walking the halls of Wake Forest today he would probably look a lot like Shane. Love and be a good neighbor.

“Love others as much as you love yourself.” This was another challenge from Shane. I love myself a lot. After talking to Shane, I felt that I have spent a great deal of my life loving me way more than I love others. He tells me this as I had just left a family vacation in which I ravished the Ralph Lauren, Brooks Brothers, and J. Crew outlet malls. The application was simple, do for others not what you would have them do for you but rather what you already do for yourself.

So today I give you the same challenge that I have been given. Love. Love others as much as you love yourself and be a good neighbor knowing that everyone is your neighbor. Even if you feel that someone is 90% wrong, this still means that they are 10% right and that 10% can be a powerful thing when leveraged (another Shaneism).

So may you love and be a good neighbor.

What are practical ways we can all do this?

Center

Christ be the center of our lives
Be the place we fix our eyes
Be the center of our lives

You’re the center of the universe
Everything was made in You Jesus
Breath of every living thing
Everyone was made for You

You hold everything together
You hold everything together

Christ be the center of our lives
Be the place we fix our eyes
Be the center of our lives

We lift our eyes to heaven
We wrap our lives around your life
We lift our eyes to heaven, to You

God wants to be at the center if everything we do. He wants to be the reason for everything that we do. Is God currently at the center of your life?

What do you think keeps you from allowing God to truly be the center of your life? Take a moment and ask God to reveal the things in your life that you place at the center of your life instead of Him.

Reflect on the lyrics of “Center” by Charlie Hall. Consider asking God to become the center of your life and the reason for everything that you do.

If you decide to do this, you must truly be willing to let go of your own life and let God rule.

Are you willing to let God have all of your life whatever the cost?

Read: Jeremiah 29:11-13

God has an amazing plan for your life but you must remember that it is God’s plan and not your own. Do you trust God enough to seek His plan for your life? If so, you have cut the cords, raised the sail, and are beginning the epic voyage of follow Jesus.

Pray and ask God to forgive you for placing other things at the center of your life. Ask God to reveal His plan for your life and that he gives you the courage to trust Him and to let Him be the center of your life.