Real Religious News in Short Supply

Real Religious News in Short Supply      2-18-17

The world of religious news is in a famine time.  Bad news is frequently set aside by religious journalists . However, the reader understands that if all the news is good then a considerable amount of information has been set aside.  If all the bad news comes from commercial secular press this shapes the culture.

For years’ my work in a Church profession involved writing information that was to inform people about actual events and ideas. Sometimes promotion took over. Slowly I learned the difference and some skills for making news interesting to the reader.

Good writing involves getting into the minds of the readers.  Then it becomes possible to draw those readers to come back again and again.  

 The writer does not have to pamper the reader with comfortable information that reflects already formed opinions. Some actual news is necessary along with limited interpretation.

The articles intended for a religious newsletter or journal in our time of political and social turmoil are blessed with opportunity.

 1.Keep your audience in mind.
2. Be aware of your own assumptions and personal party line
3. Major in questions relevant to the readers.
4. Limit the number of words in a paragraph. 

Delton

Aging as a Mountian Expedition

Even if you have never followed a trail into a mountain range, join me in this way of picturing ageing as an adventure. Think of every birthday as a new height of land. Each year involves climbing over and around obstacles. 

 Join with me at Glacier National Park in Montana, USA. The mountain trail going up and over Siyeh Pass begins on the Going to the Sun Road at Sunrift Gorge.

We begin the hike with Sun Mountain to our left. The trail climbs sharply through a grove of trees and then continues through open rocky flats to a water fall.  Up we go around the falls and then take some switch backs gaining altitude rapidly. Much of the climbing season we are in snow fields.

If the sun is hot there are occasional small streams coming down over the trail and cooling us. The air is getting thin and hikers notice stress of legs, feet and lungs.

One last surge of energy and we can see into the next valley and the trail down. Looking back, it is obvious how high we have climbed and what obstacles have been surmounted. 

 That moment of seeing the next horizon is much like a birthday. 

Each birthday a person is at a higher point in the mountain range of a lifetime.

 Delton    2-12-17

The Nietzsche Revival

There is no meaning in anything!  That is what Frederich Nietzsche (1844-1900) was all about. It was in 1947 that I was first exposed to the ideas of this European philosopher. At first it seemed just strange but then other people and organizations took up the ideas.

 Now America is again being exposed to people running the country involving at least one person with the same ideas. 

I did not agree 70 years ago, and do not agree now. This wolf comes in a sheep’s disguise of solutions to all the problems of society if people will only stop thinking and do more following of the leader.

In my world, all who claim to have certain answers to difficult challenges but are not willing to hear and answer questions are off my list. Be it in business, religion, politics or personal life.

 

We are humans capable of learning from experience. I am trying.

Connectivity is Destiny

         

The phrase “Connectivity is Destiny” is borrowed from Parag Khanna.  He means that the ways we are in touch with one another is key to what is and will be happening in our world.  This writing is a personal example of how it works.

This post helps me understand firsthand how the ever-increasing methods of being in touch with each other shape our future.  

 

My process of sharing happens in turning to Facebook. This is done with some anxiety because of having little control over where these ideas go. We share ideas, memories and hopes. Some conversations may develop. 

 

This blog forces me to improve my skills in communicating. You may welcome the chance to exchange ideas with my kind of person. Racial and cultural heritage are in the background. Gender identity shows through. County of origin is part of the mix.  

If interested, you can learn about me from earlier posts on this blog.

The Immigrant Experience

Our people arrived in America from Germany in the 1850s.  Sounds like a long time ago.  The signs of being isolated as immigrants continues in my family. The wounds heal but there is scar tissue of the soul. The Elders remember best.

 I was born in the Mid West in Great Depression Era.  Germans were among those seen as The Problem. I recall the way we were treated and how we were made to feel unworthy. We made it through and now try to welcome others who want the American Way.

It has taken a long time to feel a part of the main stream American way. That is the story of the American way.  

I want America to be patient with all of us. The wider world needs us as a patient people.  America needs the wider world as a company of humans on the way toward a better community.  

Del