Opening the Gates

A word from Rev. Rob,

A little girl from Locust Ridge, Tennessee, tucked into the foothills of the Smoky Mountains, grew up in a one-room cabin with eleven brothers and sisters. They had almost no money, but they had music, faith, family, and an abundance of love. That love flowed through her veins and became the foundation beneath everything that followed.

From the mountains of East Tennessee, that little girl made her way to Nashville, carrying a voice the world would soon recognize. We watched Dolly Parton move from country music to movies, from the Grand Ole Opry to stages around the world. But, the greater measure of her life was never simply what we saw beneath the lights; it was what she did when the spotlight was turned toward someone else.

As a progressive minister, and a boy from the South, I see (and hear) in Dolly’s life a living testimony to the truth that love is not merely something we feel. Love is something we practice. Jesus taught us to care for “the least of these,” and as a self-professed Christian, Dolly has made that teaching visible through her generosity. Through her Imagination Library, she has placed hundreds of millions of books into the hands of children. When wildfires devastated her beloved Sevier County, she helped families rebuild their lives. When the world faced a pandemic, she gave $1 million to Vanderbilt University Medical Center to support COVID-19 research, including work connected to the Moderna vaccine.

And I am especially grateful for the way Dolly has made room at her table for people whom others, while claiming the name of Jesus, have too often pushed away. She has spoken with warmth and respect about LGBTQ+ people, defended our dignity, and refused to let religious condemnation have the final word. In a world where queer people are still told that our lives are sinful, our families are lesser, or our belonging is conditional, Dolly’s welcome becomes more than kindness. It becomes a quiet prophecy: God’s love is wider than the boundaries people build in God’s name.

Dolly reminds us that faith need not be used as a weapon. It can become shelter. It can become bread, and a song that helps us find our way home.

Dolly sang, spoke, walked, lived and loved in truth.

She reminds me that following faith is not about guarding the gates of belonging. It is about opening them wider, setting another place at the table, and trusting that love: holy, generous, courageous love, will always have the last word.

Rev. Robert Blair Jr.

08/25/2026