This week, two legends died — and their deaths have prompted many (including myself) to think again about how we live.
The first of these was the incomparable Dolly Parton. And while there is always much to say about Dolly, what is particularly striking in the wake of her death was summed up in one post I saw, which said:
“Imagine spending 80 years on the planet, writing over 3000 songs, winning 11 Grammy Awards, 10 CMAs, 1 Emmy, countless nominations, having 55 top 10 hits… and at the end of your life, no one talks about that. Instead, they talk about the kind of person you were; how you loved others well, how you stayed true to yourself, how you were generous and would champion others, and how you inspired others to do the same. If that’s not the goal, I don’t know what is.”
The second death — on the very same day — this world lost Tim Curry. Once again, there is much that could be said — and that Tim himself said regarding death in the last few years. But it was the resurfacing of a tweet by Tim himself from 2018 in response to someone who saw him at a convention and claimed that he was “destroyed by the stroke he had and it’s so sad.” At that time, Tim responded:
“You do know that if I’d been destroyed by it that would literally mean I was dead? What you saw was someone with physical limitations and a mind as sharp as a tack who was giving his assembled fans his time. If that means I’m destroyed — I pity your definition of complete.”
There is indeed something exposed in this message about Tim’s commitment to live a full and complete life that was not self-serving but in service to others. And indeed, many of the tributes that have been offered have, like those for Dolly, have expressed the ways he and his art were freeing and uplifting to those that much of society might have tried to suppress or keep to the shadows.
In both cases, the emphasis has been less on their achievements than their impact. And that — it seems to me — is quite the opposite of the way we usually measure “success” in real time. Most of the time, “success” is measured by views and awards and audience sizes and dollars and such — whether we’re talking about music, theatre, the movie industry, or the local church. And yet here are two individuals who “achieved” every measure of that kind of success in their life — yet at their death, all anyone can talk about is the impact they made by empowering ordinary people to live their ordinary lives more full and free than they thought possible.
Maybe there’s a lesson there for us — about the work of the local church, about legacy, and about doing what matters most.
Remember, we’re all in this together,
Pastor Michael