Y Not I

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I have had this theory that goes from politics to religion to life in general. I am not sure what the answer to the problem is and I have seen various strategies to try and combat the problem, some successful, some not. I do not know the ultimate answer to the problem however. What is the problem and what is it all about? The problem is big. I see big as generally causing more problems than advantages being big can have.

What I am speaking to is that I think as groups become larger, a loss of relationship is natural and with that loss of relationship comes a host of bad things. For instance, a big, large corporation has no problem letting hundreds to thousands of employees go at a time, if there is a good financial reason for doing so. A small company, might agonize over that choice and try to find another way to cut cost. The reason for this difference, as I see it, is relationship. To the board of directors of Giantcorp, the employee is nothing more than a number on a page. Thousands of numbers actually. To the small company, the employee is most likely known, their name is known and probably other personal information, like their family and even their own personal events (likes, dislikes, medical history, etc.). To that boss, it is more likely a challenge to let the employee go then it is for the head of the large company (or th board of directors who might mandate the cuts), and that is because of relationship (or lack thereof). I can see the same thing within a large congregation. I can not get over how massive the crowd is when you see Joel Osteen at his congregational home (a former basketball arena). When I walk out of my services and the Rabbi knows me and my kids by name, and knows whether I have been missing services more lately, or if I am behind in my tithes, or conversely, knows that I have been serving more lately and that I have been donating more time, money and energy to the congregation and related ministries. Walking out of the basketball arena, even if I happened onto the leader, it is more likely that he would not know, me, my family, whether this is my first time or anything else. How much easier it is to slip through the cracks of accountability there. Once again, I can also see the same dynamic play out with big government.

I see other ways that big can be problematic. I think when it comes to innovation and making things happen, smaller companies do better. I have no statistics or large reports to link to to prove this, but from my observations and experiences it seems like especially in the tech world, innovation comes from a small company, that then gets bought by a large company so they can then own that innovation. And then, quite often the large company can ruin that innovation through the corporate processes and studies they do. Not always, but it does happen.

The other thing with big, is that it has to please so many people. Making a dish for a family or a small group, one can add certain ingredients that may be popular with this small group, but to do so for a large group might mean a sacrifice and the end result can often be a more bland dish. I think this is something that can be commonly seen with many of the corporate chains. Their food, while maybe not terrible, is not great either. The menu is designed to appeal to the most mouths possible and that means less experiments with spices and techniques. Basically the innovation argument again, but this time it is because they are trying to please too many, while in the general business world I think it may be caused by the need to match quarterly results and please stock holders, etc.

So, where does all this fit in with a spiritual life. I mentioned the big congregation versus the small congregation, but is there a Biblical teaching on this that indicates that big can become problematic? I searched through Scripture a bit and here is what I came up with:

• When G-d chose Israel, He specifically pointed out their size, or lack thereof (Deuteronomy 7:7)
• Reading through Scripture it seems like more often than not, G-d is parring down the ranks, always keeping a remnant. I found the word remnant 91 times in the KJV.

I thought a bit about how G-d set up the government of the nation of Israel. In some ways I guess you can say it had a centralized big government, however He also broke the nation up into 12 groups, based upon families. I will leave to others to do a deeper evaluation as to the parallels between the G-dly government set down by G-d in Torah and the similarities and differences to other governments, both big and small.

What I do see though, is that there something in Scripture that is big. It is G-d. G-d is the perfect big. Perfect big government, perfect big company, perfect big congregation. However, His creation in comparison is small and even in His bigness, He still develops and cultivates a unique relationship with each and every one of us. While a big business or big government might try to develop a sense of unity and closeness, it is more a facade to get greater productivity, however with G-d, He truly desires what is best for each one individually. He will not lay off you to cut costs, he will not remove blessing to lower expenses. He will not take blessing from you to give to someone else that seemingly is less blessed. He has enough love for each of us. He is actually bigger than the biggest company or the biggest government for His resources are infinite.

So the problem with big I guess is more a problem with man and man’s ways. Our ways do not lend themselves to big, however G-d can pull off big like no one else and does so with no problem. G-d is truly holy. So, may we come together and relate with one another, love one another and do some small great things to bring glory and praise to our big G-d.

B”H