Dolly Parton’s grandfather inspired her entire life in numerous ways. He was a wandering preacher who also played music. In many parts of Appalachia, preaching and music and religion and happiness and the Good Book all go together. Dolly was a gorgeous flowering of all that.
Their kind of religion is not the bad kind of religion. It is not even the judgmental kind.
It is the life-giving kind, the happy singing kind, the joyful kind, the everything-will-be-okay-including-DEATH-ITSELF kind.
In this kind of religion, anyone who suffers in any way at all is seen as holy instantaneously (more holy than they already were), and as someone we should all LOOK UP TO, not pity. Even children. ESPECIALLY CHILDREN.
There is little pity in this kind of religion.
What there is here is LOVE. Just love. Only love. All love. And love is the only thing there is. Even when it doesn’t LOOK (or feel) like it at all. You don’t even have to believe in God.
The best preaching never happens in churches, as Dolly’s grandfather knew very well.
It happens on the streets, on the sidewalks, in the parks, in the mountains, in the cities, or anywhere just one person suddenly feels the Holy Ghost inside and decides to connect with another “just one” person who also feels the Holy Ghost within themselves. These are epiphanies, moments, flashes of sunlight from behind the dark clouds, not constant things; but they leave an afterglow.
You can be gay, you can be trans, you can be black, white or green, you can be any color or creed under the sun or above it, you can be anything you want to be and already are.
The best preaching is informal, brief, fast, sudden, spontaneous, and OFTEN WORDLESS.
It often happens in less than a single second, with a single glance of the eyes. And then you pass on by. You always pass on by.
All it takes is two willing people who will remember one another even though they don’t even know each other’s names.
Dale Williams Barrigar (images by DWB)
Una lectura sumamente enriquecedora sobre The Preachers by Dale Barrigar. Se agradece el rigor y la perspectiva práctica de los argumentos.
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Dale
Tremendous joy! Dolly was joyful. I like holiness in suffering. I do not like to complain and I find it low. Reaching out is not bitching. Big difference. You could sense goodness in Dolly and Loretta Lynn. Dolly’s husband was a blessed guy. Loetta’s was a Test of Faith.
Great week again!
Leila
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LA
Thanks for all the support and inspiriting inspiration!
It’s a JOY to be your literary collaborator as Co-Editor at the Springs.
DB
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Hey Dale
Nice work this week. I listened to Hank W. songs and I realized how famous those songs are and how powerful, you can never forget them the same with Dolly. I didn’t know Lady G. and Dolly were 5 ft tall.
Jesus would like this kind of ministry. He seemed adverse to the rituals of the Pharisees and priest. The kind of hollow religion that isn’t holy.
CJA
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CJA
Yes, Jesus was not someone who was bent on following the rules. And when he said, “Follow me,” I think that meant BREAK THE RULES LIKE I DID.
And on the other hand, there were all those other rules he DID want people to follow, like “turn the other cheek,” “forgive,” and be a Good Samaritan. NONE of those things are what most people think they are on the surface.
Following him is a high-wire act of trying to figure out what should and should not be done, but he never said it would be easy. Actually, he said it would be hard and difficult. But worth it!
Thanks for everything!
DWB
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Good grief what is this religion you’re speaking of? I have never heard of such a religion. It sounds friggin’ fantastic, tho’🙃
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Glad you heard about it here first!
Check out the character of Alyosha in Dosto’s The Brothers K. He’s the least interesting character on the first few reads of the novel, and the most interesting one in the long run.
Also, see some of David’s Psalms, like Psalm 23.
Leonard Cohen called David “the first modern writer,” and there’s no doubt that a very strong case can be made for that claim.
Thanks for reading and commenting!
In America, Johnny Cash is also a great source.
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I’m familiar with all of those. I do believe that if one is looking for God, one should look within. And go ahead and make a joyful noise!
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Thanks! If you’re interested, see my brief essay on KAFKA from this Sunday for a different spin of the wheel. As Whitman said, contradicting yourself is a good thing if done correctly (and not driven by commercial self-interest)!
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I read your essay. I haven’t read Kafka other than the Metamorphosis in high school but I liked your essay. I think the trick really is to find that feeling. Make something beautiful for free, for love, because you can’t help it. You’ll never go wrong.
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(PS…Literature is my own private religion, which is why my writing is so filled with sources, or as Montaigne called them, “borrowings”…)
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I borrow from everything. Songs for sure, lit, and I’d like to know more about art. I like things that are frozen in the time they’re created, that we can still investigate and be amazed by.
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