Thoughts from Pastor
Ueli Greminger
From the magic word on the east wall of the church via Ernst Jandl to the contempt of mankind above and the self-contempt underneath.
The “word” stands at the top front of the east wall of the church. Its meaning is central to everyday life. Every person carries this word within them and wants to become it. It is the most precious commodity we have in life. At the same time, the Almighty says that he is it. The word that I mean exists in the life of every single person. It is the Old Testament name for God that is never spoken. The translation of these 4 Hebraic letters in our language means: “I am who I am”.
The word
This is the word. This “I am who I am” is that which opens the soul, lets us strike up our own song. Whether it is sacred or secular; beautiful or loud and a little out of tune, a song of praise or a lament, classical or rather sentimental.
The poem by Ernst Jandl
The simplest and loveliest song that fits to the name of God is a poem by Ernst Jandl. It is more like a sound pattern made up of words. Perhaps these words reflect the lifestyle of modern people. Perhaps it is the simple desire to be closely at one with oneself. The title is: “My own song” - and it goes something like this:
“I do not want to be how you want me to be,
I do not want to be ‘YOURS’, I do not want to be like you.
Not like you want me to be how I am I want to be.
How I am I want to be, how I AM I want to be.”
A magic word
It is an allegory. When God says about himself “I am who I am”, then we people, being his likenesses, may also say this. Then we are redeemed from the eternal comparison; free from the contempt of mankind from above; free from the terrible self-contempt from underneath. “I am who I am”. This is the magic word that must be found. It means the Almighty; it exists within each of us: as a desire, as a longing, as a reality then, when we say it to ourselves, when we sing it, when we become it.
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