The death of Dolly Parton on August 25 unleashed a torrent of tributes from

across the cultural and religious spectrum, confirming her status as one of the

nation’s few non-polarizing figures. She was celebrated not only for her

music but for her kindness, philanthropy, and positivity.

As the granddaughter of a Pentecostal preacher, Parton was steeped in the

Bible. She learned to sing in church, and topics of faith were naturally

threaded into her lyrics, which as one commentator said, touched on hope,

home, happiness, and “the exasperating nature of all men except Jesus.”

Yet, as an adult she was never part of a congregation and she generally steered

clear of religious and moral debates. When pressed about her affirmation of

gays and lesbians—not a given in the conservative-leaning Christian world of

country music—she replied: “I keep saying, ‘Well, if you’re the fine Christian

you think you are, why are you judging people? That’s God’s job. We’re not

God. We’re not judges. We’re supposed to love one another. We’re supposed

to not judge and we’re not supposed to take vengeance on other people.”

“We’re supposed to love one another.” Parton boils the Christian way of life

down to a few words. That much she took from her Pentecostal upbringing,

and in the way she lived out those words, they were hardly trivial.

I had never thought to put Dolly Parton and the apostle Paul in the same

sentence, but in this week’s reading we find Paul also boiling down the

Christian way of life to love. All the commandments, he says, “are summed

up in this word, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself’” (Romans 13:9).

By “love” Paul (and Parton too) is not referring merely to a warm feeling but

to concrete action—treating others with a generosity and grace that reflects

the generosity and grace of God in Jesus Christ.

Proclaiming the “law of love” is not necessarily the end of the discussion, in

the Bible or in our everyday life. Sometimes we puzzle over the form that

love should take in a particular situation. We may wonder if it is possible to

love without ever judging. That struggle would make a good Dolly Parton

song.

Still, love is the starting place, Paul says, and we know, as Parton did, that

whatever love entails, it (as Paul says elsewhere) “is patient; love is kind;

love is not envious or boastful or arrogant . . .” (1 Corinthians 13:4).

See you in church,

Pastor David