From Father Ben: Embracing ‘and’

The Rev. Ben Maas

BY THE REV. BENJAMIN WELLS MAAS

Dolly Parton died last week. If I had heard that news 10 years ago, it wouldn’t have had the same impact.

I had been pretty dismissive of her. She struck me as unserious. Her blond bouffant hairstyle, her kitsch rhinestone outfits that seldom failed to accentuate her curves, her southern mountain drawl, and her light self-deprecating banter all belied a richly textured life, worldview and talent.

Dolly Parton in 1970

My eyes were really opened five years ago during a trip with friends to Pigeon Forge. We caravaned into the Smoky Mountains and in our car we listened to each episode of “Dolly Parton’s America.” I had not realized her story, her journey to stardom, her character, her brilliant and prodigious song writing, her remarkable depth, or her passionate and staggering benevolence.

I have come to see her as a unique spirit who had the remarkable ability to say “AND” when my instinct is to say “BUT” or “OR”. She could hold disparate ideas, beliefs, individuals not in tension but in inexplicable harmony. In not wanting to hurt, squash, or malign she did the seemingly impossible, she held space for all.

I found her thoughts on faith to reflect the same openness. She was formed in a very severe Pentecostal church where her grandfather was the pastor. She credits the church with opening her to a relationship with God and she cherished that place where her voice and love of music met that deep spiritual well.

AND she also describes her deepest encounter with God at another church, an abandoned, decaying, heavily and crudely graffitied gathering place for young people participating in mischief and exploration. She recalled as a teenager playing the few remaining keys on the piano, seeing the religious symbols married to seemingly incompatible images, and those familiar spirituals would rise out from her and her voice would resonate through every holy and profanely ornamented wall. In that place God met every part of her and her world. Dolly’s spiritual foundation is the moorings and conviction of her grandfather’s church AND the messiness, honesty, and openness of that abandoned sanctuary.

Since hearing her describe her two churches and her deeply held spirituality and conviction that exists mostly outside the church, I have wondered what Dolly would think of our church. Would she find it a marriage of her two? Would she feel at home? Would she find a deep sense of God here? This feels like a pretty good litmus test. Are we a church where Dolly can feel firmly rooted AND see God working and loving amid our very imperfect lives. And, are we a church, are we people who lead not with BUTs, or ORs, but with ANDs?

We are the living representation of a Christ who loved the rich man AND the widow, the pharisee, the zealot, AND the Samaritan, the tax collector AND the overtaxed fisherman, the centurion AND the hemorrhaging woman, that Pentecostal mountain pastor AND the teen with spray paint in hand. All had a place at Christ’s table, I pray they all have a welcome spot at ours.

Ben+

The Rev. Benjamin Wells Maas is the rector of Saint James’ Episcopal Church and the chaplain of Saint James’ Episcopal School. Contact him at rector@saintjameswarrenton.org.