Majoring in the Minors: A Blueprint of Hope: From a Christian Perspective Overcoming Racism, Injustice, Domestic Violence, and Other Evils

By Richard A. Gallo

If you or someone you know has never experienced racism, bigotry, injustice, abuse, or domestic violence, then this book is not for you.

But if you or someone you know has been such a victim and suffered from such societal evils, then perhaps you are not reading these words by chance. Perhaps God has brought you to this moment to make a difference, for deep down in your heart, you know that this is fundamentally wrong. And just maybe, God through his Spirit, has brought you to this very moment to say, "Enough is enough," and start doing something to begin eliminating racism, bigotry, injustice, abuse, and domestic violence.

Rev. Gallo lays out a twelve-step process that he has termed A Blueprint of Hope from a Christian Perspective. Utilizing twelve messages or themes of hope (one from each of the minor prophets), as well as the teachings of Jesus, he formulates a plan. This plan incorporates both small group ministry within the local church and neighborhood outreach to the surrounding community where these societal evils rear their ugly heads and have devastated individuals for generations. These twelve messages, as well as a unique perspective and insights that he has gained over forty-two years of police work and active ministry, he formulates a blueprint of hope that encourages individuals to catch a vision of what might be if people begin to look at each other through eyes of love and hope, rather than hate and despair.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Jul 5, 2021
• ISBN: 9781638442172

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Majoring in the Minors

A Blueprint of Hope: From a Christian Perspective Overcoming Racism, Injustice, Domestic Violence, and Other Evils

Richard A. Gallo

Copyright © 2021 by Richard A. Gallo

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.

832 Park Avenue

Meadville, PA 16335

www.christianfaithpublishing.com

Printed in the United States of America

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version, Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Bible Publishing.

Scripture quotations identified KJV are from the King James Version of the Bible.

Scripture quotations identified NRSV are the scripture quotations contained herein are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible copyright © 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the USA. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations identified The Message is quoted as follows: Scripture from The Message Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group.

Scripture quotations identified CSB are from the Christian Standard Bible Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible® and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers.

Table of Contents

Gaining a Perspective to Make a Difference

Life Is Love, Not War

Are You a Dreamer?

Worship: An Escape or a Catalyst?

Leftovers Are Great

It Keeps on Giving and Giving

Three Simple Virtues

Sleep Loose: Trust God

Faith Leads to Life

Going Home

First Things First

By My Spirit

Showers of Blessings

A Blueprint of Hope: Getting It Done

To my wife, Vicki, who helped me yield to God’s call on my life despite my reluctance to do so.

And to our daughters, Trisha and Susan who helped me see a deeper side of God’s love.

Preface

We are living in a familiar age. We have hoped time and again that life as we know it would be different, but life has not changed. Like a malignancy that reacted somewhat to a treatment in the past and went into remission for a time, the malignancy is still there. Yet like other cancers, every so often, these malignancies flare up, requiring a new protocol or perhaps a more radical treatment. And sadly, if no treatment is performed, if no cure is found, death inevitably comes.

Unfortunately in the case of this malignancy, the cure that is needed is very radical. The cure requires new procedures. It requires a new line of thinking that many might find offensive. It requires not only a vision or dream but the acting on that vision. This new protocol goes against the very grain of many in this day and age because it requires treatment from a Christian perspective.

The malignancy is as old as ancient history and as new as today’s headlines or online media feeds. The malignancy is racism, injustice, domestic violence, child abuse, drive-by shootings, discrimination, bigotry, and prejudices based on differences in skin color, sexual orientation, religion, and the likes.

For the purposes of this book, I want to define a few general terms. The first term is racism. Racism can be defined as a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race. Synonyms include racial discrimination, racialism, racial prejudice/bigotry, xenophobia, chauvinism, bigotry, bias, intolerance, anti-Semitism, apartheid.

The second term is injustice and is defined as the absence of justice: violation of right or of the rights of another.

The third term is domestic violence. According to the National Domestic Violence Hotline, domestic violence—also called intimate partner violence (IPV), domestic abuse, or relationship abuse—is defined as a pattern of behaviors used by one partner to maintain power and control over another partner in an intimate relationship. The NDVH also reports that on average, nearly 20 people per minute are physically abused by an intimate partner in the United States. During one year this equates to more than 10 million women and men. As you can see, by these statistics, domestic violence is also a major problem within our nation. It is my belief that this problem, this malignancy can be curtailed to a great extent by the implementation by what I have termed A Blueprint of Hope: A Christian Perspective.

The fourth and final term I want to highlight is drive-by shootings. This inclusion is that although drive-by shootings are often indiscriminate toward their victims, the carnage they leave in their wake claims individuals from all races and ages at an alarming rate. A drive-by shooting is a type of assault that usually involves the perpetrator’s firing a weapon from within a motor vehicle and then fleeing. Drive-by shootings allow the perpetrator(s) to quickly strike their target and flee the scene before law enforcement is able to respond.

I believe that this blueprint of hope from a Christian perspective, when applied to communities to curb these malignancies using small groups within Christian churches, incorporating both church members and members of the community, will heal our land. For racism, injustice, domestic violence, etc. occur across the spectrum of our nation. They are not limited to one group against another. For instance, racism through history has been experienced by African Americans at the hands of white segregationists. It has been experienced by Jews at the hands of Nazi Germany (called the Holocaust). It has also been experienced by some 120,000 first, second, and third generation Japanese Americans who were placed in concentration camps as a result of forced relocation (from February 19, 1942 to March 20, 1946, under Executive Order 9066 signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt).

Injustice, by nature, can occur to anyone who is subjugated by another who is in authority without legal means to be so. And domestic violence according to the National Crime Victims Rights Week Resource Guide shows that Intimate partner violence (IPV), often called domestic violence, is generally described as abuse within the…millions of individuals, regardless of marital status, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, national origin, age.

It is my hope this book will help individuals, neighbors, churches, and our nation to find solutions to this malignancy that is still very much alive and rearing its ugly head every day. The thoughts herein come from a lifetime of living and working in the vastly different neighborhoods of both northern and southern states as a police officer and as an ordained elder within the United Methodist Church.

Before moving on to the first chapter of this book, I want to pause for a moment and share two helpful hints in utilizing this book. First, if God has already given you a vision and you will be working with a small group, allow your group to be composed of members from your church and from your community where God’s vision will take place.

And second, if you are using this book in a small group setting, take some time to share among the group if anyone has ever been a victim of racism, injustice, domestic violence and how that experienced formed their present way of thinking. If you are reading this book alone, you might want to write a letter to God sharing the same to question.

RAG

Acknowledgments

First and foremost, as special thank-you goes to Joshua Roberts for all his help in taking the time to offer help in the composition of this manuscript.

Although it has been sometime since I was in seminary, I would be remiss if I didn’t acknowledge my fellow students who came from different denominations, ethnic backgrounds, nationalities, and careers and helped me experience God’s love and guidance.

A special thank-you goes to the Rev. Dr. Gennifer B. Brooks and the Rev. Janet Porcher, who made seminary challenging, and to the Rev. Dr. Norma Rust and the Rev. Jeff Glassey, who guided and nurtured me on my faith walk, and now walk in heaven.

Chapter 1

Gaining a Perspective to Make a Difference

It was about a month and a half into our national quarantine from the COVID-19 worldwide pandemic. All fifty states were in some sort of shelter in place executive order from their respective governors. I had been sleeping but then wide awake, just lying there in bed, staring at the ceiling gently illuminated by a distant light, having been woken from a dream. It was around 3:00 a.m. Although I do not recall the dream, I found myself settling into a mode of prayer. As I lay in bed, the words from 2 Chronicles 7:13–14 came to mind. Those verses state:

When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or command locusts to devour the land or send a plague among my people, if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

The context of these verses occurs at the dedication of the first temple that was built during King Solomon’s reign. Solomon had just finished praying to the Lord¹ God² of Israel, regarding the offering that was presented, when a fire came down from heaven and consumed the burned offering and the sacrifices that were there on the altar to the Lord. As a result, the Lord’s presence filled the temple.

After a period of time that lasted over two weeks and consisted of both worship and celebration in which the people gave thanks to the Lord, saying, ‘He is good; his love endures forever’ (2 Chronicles 7:3), we find a dialog between Solomon and the Lord taking place. It was some time after King Solomon had finished building the temple and his royal palace as he saw fit (how long this gap in time after the two-plus weeks of worship and celebration was, we do not know), but evidently during that time, King Solomon continued to pray to the Lord. And after that time, the Lord appeared to Solomon one night. In the Lord’s conversation with Solomon, the Lord said, I have heard your prayers (v. 12). It is in this context that God utters the words found in verses 13 and 14 in the second book of Chronicles.

As I thought about those words that early morning, silently praising and praying to God, I sensed God revealing something to me. I sensed God telling me, It is not too late not only for the world we live in but for us and our nation regarding the way that we treat each other both collectively and individually in our families, our communities, the church, and throughout our nation as well.

For it is Jesus’s disciple Peter who reminds us:

The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. (2 Peter 3:9)

As I continued to pray, God began to reveal a vision for hope. As I became more focused on how I might make some small difference in this vision, my mind sensed not only a need to heal our land but also in helping individuals and communities to return to some sense of civility. I sensed a need to establish a meaningful dialogue, interacting with each other through small groups in the church and their communities, impacting our nation over issues of racism, injustice, domestic violence, etc. As that vision became clearer, the book began to take form.

The truth of my thoughts and the need to do something from that early morning dream and prayer time became a clearer reality in the days that followed. We as a nation witnessed the senseless death of George Floyd in Minneapolis on May 25, 2020, and Rayshard Brooks in Atlanta on June 12, 2020, at the hands of police officers. These tragedies were followed by protests, subsequent riots, and looting.

This truth was further affirmed by comments of Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) given at a senate hearing of Tuesday, June 16, 2020. It was there that Graham contrasted his experiences with the police with those of his colleague Senator Tim Scott (R-SC). Prior to this date, Senator Scott had made known how he, a sitting United States senator, had been stopped seven times in one year by law enforcement and experienced discrimination even in Capitol Hill as a sitting senator. Tim and I have completely different experiences with the cops. Graham, the chairman of the senate judiciary committee, said in his opening remarks, There is no getting around that. It is now time to have an honest conversation about why is that? How can it be that if you’re a United States senator from South Carolina and you’re black, you get stopped five or six times? And you’re white, you never get stopped?

Graham said he’s learned to understand the fright black men have of police and how getting pulled over can be a traumatic experience. Every black man in America apparently feels threatened when they’re stopped by the cops, Graham said. It’s not 99 percent. It’s like 100 percent.

I’ve never been stopped, Graham (R-SC) continued. And when I see a cop behind me, the first thing I think about is ‘what did I do wrong and can I talk myself out of this ticket.’ There’s literally no fear. And I wouldn’t like to live in a country where I’d be afraid to be stopped.³

As the days moved forward, I continued to listen for God’s still small voice as to how I might somehow share this burden I felt being revealed to me. It was sometime between George Floyd’s death and Senator Graham’s comments that my mind wandered back to a series of sermons I had preached years before on the minor prophets. This book reflects those thoughts and subsequent thoughts that I have had through the years, and of late, on how we might as individuals, a church, and a nation find a way to finally eradicate from our lives and society racism, injustice, and domestic violence (or at least stem the tide so that a black man no longer has to worry about being stopped by a police officer). One segment of society should not condemn another segment because they do not look or act like them. A wife or child should look forward to their husband or father coming home from work rather than being in fear of what he might do to them.

You see, I believe that the prophets of old still have a message that we need to hear today. Someone once said that the prophets are the mystery people of the Bible, often appearing out of nowhere, speaking boldly for a period, and proclaiming messages from God that were both religious and political in nature, then disappearing back into the archives of history just as suddenly as they had appeared, never to be heard from again. The Prophets came from all walks of life, from all parts of society, and from all parts of their country, proclaiming the message that they had received from God, Most High.⁴ Isaiah, for instance, was a city prophet born in Jerusalem. He was well educated, privileged, and sophisticated. Jeremiah came from a priestly family. Yet Amos was a herdsman who bred livestock. Habakkuk was a chorister assisting in the worship of God. And Jonah, for all intents and purposes, was an obstinate, headstrong statesman. But God used each one of these prophets, these mystery people, and the others to proclaim His messages found in the pages of the Bible.

Although you might not know anything about many of the major or the minor prophets, I think it would be safe to say most of you know a little about either of the five major prophets (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel, and Daniel) or the twelve minor prophets (Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi). After all, who has not heard about Daniel in the lion’s den or the whale in the book of Jonah?

From a historical aspect, the prophets prophesized during the divided kingdom⁵ and the resulting exile. Timewise, it was approximately from 800 BC, beginning with Jonah through the prophet Malachi around 400 BC. Although each message of the minor prophets was uttered many centuries ago, these messages can and does speak to us, the church, and our nation today, if we allow them. It is my hope in these pages to not only acquaint you further with the minor prophets but to affirm that their messages of hope are still relevant for us today and are a blueprint of hope to change and eradicate these evils that plague our society for years.

Further, in gaining an understanding of each prophet’s message, we might also find the hope we desperately need to heal our land and