Rösli Flütsch September 2, 1918 - June 5, 2008
On June 11, 2008, in the Reformed Church of Dübendorf, we said our last goodbyes to Rösli Flütsch. It was a beautiful celebration that gathered friends from all over Switzerland around the daughters, sons, sons-in-law, grandchildren and great-grandchildren of Rosa Flütsch-Blaser, Rösli as she was called.
The warm invitation, with photos showing Rösli at different stages of her life, which should have been sent to celebrate her 90th birthday, was used to announce her death. In the preface were the words of Psalm 32, his confirmation verse, which accompanied him throughout his life: "I will teach you and show you the way. This text was the guiding principle for Pastor Kölliker from Dübendorf during the service he presided over, and here are some excerpts.
Rösli Flütsch practiced listening to God for many years, in fact until the last days of his life. This can also be called prayer, if one understands it as listening and talking to God. Perhaps, as she grew older, she devoted even more time to prayer than before. It was a source of spiritual renewal for her, a source of strength. Through prayer, she kept in touch with her relatives, but also with many friends who lived far away. She had a real interest in people and was concerned about them. This is the secret of the friendship she experienced and which filled her.
This did not prevent her from being very direct at times in her contacts. She was particularly concerned about genuine honesty with herself and others. She would never pretend to others or to herself. With her, one always knew where one stood and no one was forced to practice the painful art of pretending. Someone close to her spoke of "salty love" a love with salt, which she gave to her pairs. [...]
"I want to teach you, as it says in the confirmation verse, and I want to show you the way, I keep my eyes on you. Today, to "navigate", to find one's way in the traffic, we use the GPS to reach the goal more surely. On the spiritual level, the human being can let himself be guided by God to find his destiny. In Moral Re-Armament - now renamed Initiatives of Change - being led by the inner voice or by God is an important theme. I can imagine that Rosa Flütsch thought a lot about this. She had very personal experience of this, for example, after the untimely death of her husband, when she returned to Caux and took on the responsibility for the laundry on a voluntary basis. She let herself be guided by God. This too must be done in freedom. God does not lead anyone by force. The human being must seek of himself to follow his direction and submit to his will."
Maya Fiaux Préveranges
There are two memories I would like to share with you. The happy meals with the four lively children around the family table at the Galgenfeldweg in Bern are unforgettable for me, with Hannes and the hilarious descriptions he gave of his class when they were heckling and making fun of the teachers. (I was preparing to become a teacher myself!)
A few years later, when I was thinking of giving up my good position at the school in Bolligen to go to Caux, I went to see Rösli. To my great surprise she recommended me to stay in my profession for some time. For ending, I did not follow her advice but in my life, it was very important for me to have the certainty that I made this decision on my own. Later on, Rösli often found the right words for me at the right time.
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