First Lines: Dominee Gremdaat

Dominee Gremdaat is minister of unknown denomination who used to appear on TV a lot, and whom you probably have never of if you are not Dutch.* Back in in the 1990s two collection of his sermons were released. In his sermons, he does not dwell on theology, but rather on encounters he has had. He meets people, talks to them, and helps them to make sense of their situation. Or, just as often, something quite unexpected happens.

The first of those books, the a ‘best of’ collection Kent u die uitdrukking?, I hadn’t revisited since probably 1998. I read them with Dominee Gremdaat’s voice and mannerisms in my head. I would hear him pause and stutter and his voice rise and fall at all the right moments, with his hands fluttering around in excitement. That made reading his escapades and borderline brilliant similes, like Het gebeurt vaak in het leven: de rij voor je wordt kleiner, en de rij achter je groter. En soms ben je blij, het is nu mijn beurt, en soms ben je teleurgesteld, het is nu al mijn beurt. (If often happens in life: the line in front of you gets smaller, and the line behind you gets longer. And sometimes that makes you happy: it is now my turn. And sometimes you are sad: it is my turn already.) so much better.

The other book, Dominee Gremdaat wijst de weg naar een prettige overgang, collects a series of sermons trying to guide people through the confusing time that was the transition of the 1900s into the year 2000. Those haven’t aged very well.

Book read
Kent u die uitdrukking? De beste preken van Dominee Gremdaat.
First line
Onlangs zag ik in een afgelegen bos een wat oudere man.
Book read
Dominee Gremdaat wijst de weg naar een prettige overgang
First line
Van de week botste ik in een drukke winkelstraat tegen een vrouw op.

* He is also a character played by comedian Paul Haenen, who is able to imitate the voice of Bert in Sesamstraat quite well.