One of the best seminary lectures I ever sat through was a one-off given by a graduate student trying out his skills for a Systematic Theology class. He asked us to list off all of the different terms used in the Bible for “salvation.” Adoption, one student said. Reconciliation, added another. Soon the board at the front of the room was filled with good words and phrases for the thing that God does in the life of the believer through Jesus. It was a simple exercise that impressed upon me the idea of seeing all of the facets of a thing, picking it apart even, but also of putting the pieces back together again.  Being mindful of the whole.

I think there’s some real truth in that today, definitely for faith but also for so many other things in a fragmented, specialized society. Consumer industry is based on taking one thing and running with it (with the exception of digital technology, which has now moved towards housing everything in one network and on one device). I suppose that when the stakes are high, you choose early and work hard in hopes that the one thing you focus on will take you the farthest.

I choose to believe in the bigger picture, and that striving to see it all together matters. Real context and connection for real content, biblical truth not isolated from the biblical story. It’s no easy thing to put seemingly discrete parts back together again, let alone keep them that way in whatever healthy tension the collecting provides. But it’s a skill worth striving for, working at, correcting if it has been damaged. If we love a God who “holds it all together,” we might be wise to try and do the same as best we can.