Analysts know that in the human context there will always be change. They feel it is irresistible. Perhaps that belief is motivation that it will take place in all matters, even those that relate to God, who declares himself unchangeable. I have been something of a student of change especially related to media, education, religion and the family. Some of those changes have been affirmative, some negative. That one hand gives to the other hand may take away from that we may not want to lose. I will refer to the media for illustration. Asked what they thought to be the greatest invention of all time, several historians responded: The printing press. From it education expanded to the masses, recovery of muted information was communicated, and the world was on its way to completing the Renaissance to modernization. The first book to be printed was the Bible, and the press has been occupied with printing more Bibles than any other title in history. From the listening congregation there grew the reading congregation – sight was added to hearing. That was a change that contributed to effectiveness for substantive verbal messages.
In my early collegiate research I gave considerable time to following a theme in the Niles’ Weekly Register, a well-known newspaper at the beginning of the nineteenth century. I was struck at its excellence, the evidence, the analysis, and the questions related to matters of national import in the newly formed American nation. As a lad I had delivered newspapers that could not have gained the respect afforded to the Register. In the passing of time the news seemed to give more and more attention to lesser matters, including gossip. Miss Manners began her advice column, mostly given to what had formerly related to the finishing school of good manners taken by young ladies whose families prepared them for the finery of life. (The column faded – although it has been revived.) Other columns rose, notable in the humorist approach of Will Rogers. At last two sisters took the agony columns by storm: Dear Abby and Ann Landers. The sisters are now gone with Abby’s death recently in the Twin Cities just a few miles from where I live. She had lived long and faded into dementia in her final years. New columns have emerged, not so breezy, but more insightful in a significant change from the former approach. The change is certainly better for the education of those that read them than most of the old ones I reviewed. Two appear ln the Minneapolis newspaper. They are astute in catching the problems of the questioner, the letter writer, asking about the problems of someone else. The response rightfully begins by addressing what the questioner may be doing to cause the problem, or perpetuating it, and not understanding the human complexity related to the contexts of personalities. The style will be interpreted as sometimes a bit harsh, but stays with the issues, and offers options for the asserted problems. I am wondering if the new accent might bring about a change in human response so to start with the complainants before addressing what may be wrong with others. (The page-long columns of Dr. Phil and Dr. Oz belong to the new style accenting humanism.) The most common advice in this genre is that troubled persons seek counselors.
The best newspapers are more educational about than they used to be in my lifetime. The gossip and the shallow stuff is getting so great coverage in the radio and television and internet that the newspaper, working toward sustainability in the market-place has improved in the direction of the Niles’ Weekly Register. I am finding a bit more savable material than appeared in the past. There are valued materials on community, family, health, science, and faith that contribute to education and understanding. Survival of printed material may be necessary for society looking for more than the sound and visual bytes of television/internet. Thereto hangs a lesson for Christians. How do we manage change in a changing world? God hasn’t changed a word from Scripture. The unchangeable may be cast in a changing pattern of presentation. We advance with the news of life found often in the parables of Christ. The Church must be a center in which the faithful members can find their personal spiritual/intellectual needs met, and in a way that fits truth to faith and conduct – the celebration that the human race is looking for. The church serving well is for every person seeking maturity for world life formation through an unchanging Gospel. *Mark W. Lee, Sr. — 2016, 2020