THE LITTLE PICTURE AND BIG PICTURE EXIST IN A RECIPROCAL BUT UNEQUAL POWER RELATIONSHIP

Abstract

The little picture and the big picture are interrelated aspects of a fundamental unity. This means that God talk (or theology) must also talk about the real world of power relations. God and world are inseparable. They must be kept together in word and deed and in our analysis. I believe that womanist theologian, Karen Baker-Fletcher is right when she said, .. .we are called to fully reflect God's own just, loving, compassionate communal nature. Most simply, I see God as divine community whose aim is for authentic community on earth as in heaven. This is an ideal. Disposition (i.e. fear, resentment, anger), however, often trumps ideals of community, compassion, and justice. Divine and human power may often appear to be opposite. If God's presence and power is both imminent and transcendent, then God's divine presence and power is at work in the little picture and details of everyday life and in the big or larger picture (patterns of history), too. Hence, pastoral theologians and care providers must think about experiences in the little picture, the big picture, and the reciprocal relationship between that helps shape and influence them, sometimes imperceptibly. The little picture and big picture are fundamentally interrelated. How, then, do we come to understand and interpret the detail of our personal lives? What do they reveal about the