Why I Love Iceland
Recently a friend of mine, Al Shaw, asked me, via Twitter:
Yeah, so what is it with you and Iceland? Give us the inside story. Huh? A blog post, perhaps….
So here is the inside story…
I’m afraid that it’s not a very exciting one. I have a fascination with a unique people and a rich culture. As I read the sagas and enjoy Icelandic music I find that myself more and more intrigued by the people and their country. If my wife has my way, however, it will never be more than a simple fascination – an interest. That is not because she doesn’t like Iceland – we both enjoyed a weekend there together – it is simply because she doesn’t like the cold.
I’ve only ever been there twice in my life. Once, when I was twelve, I went with King’s Kids to do outreach in Iceland. We were there for about 10 days and I had a wonderful time. More recently, my wife surprised me by taking me to Reykjavik for a weekend to celebrate my thirtieth birthday. This was a much closer, albeit shorter, look at Iceland and it’s people.
Would I one day like to move there? Would I even like to see a church planted there? Absolutely, yes – but I cannot in any sense say that I think that’s because of a call of God on my life. In fact, though it would take less to convince me, I think that my wife would need to see angels before she would !be brought around to the idea! (Any volunteers to dress up as angels welcome).
I would certainly, however, want to encourage and pray for anyone else who feels God calling them to this amazing country. Officially the country is a christian one; although it is dominated by religiosity and legalism. According to the Icelandic Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 83% of Icelanders belong to the Evangelical Lutheran Church. Only 1% of Icelanders belong to what is considered a charismatic congegation. Most of the church activity is outside of the capital city. The Operation World website records that there are 8 charismatic congregations (and 1 pentecostal) with under 700 members.
The influence of Paganism is still quite strong in Iceland; perhaps largely due to a sense of history and an acient culture.
If nothing else – I would certainly recommend to anyone that they visit this wonderful country. One side effect of the awful economic breakdown is that visiting is much cheaper than it used to be (although still not cheap). This means you can help their economy and have a wonderful holiday at the same time!
Well, what do you know? One tweet and it’s a blog post. My curiosity has been satisfied, thank you.
Having visited as a child, and passed through as an adult, I’ve also found it a fascinating place. The geology is something else. I remember being impressed by stories of blocks of peat being dug up from the geo-thermally heated ground and placed in living rooms as instant free heat.
I also appreciate the fact that they discovered America before Columbus but had the sense not to tell anyone about their villages in Newfoundland.
Why don’t you start learning the language? You never know….
I’m already able to insult your mother. A blog post is only a tweet with more characters