Palm Sunday. Yesterday afternoon I drove to Skalholt, about 1 ½ hr northeast of Reykjavik, the spiritual center of Iceland by reason of being the birthplace of Christianity. I’ve been to this place many times before, the last being in September. Everyone so often the Lutheran Church has retreat weekends in Skalholt which has accommodations for about 20 persons. Sr Jakob Hjalmarsson, a good friend, invited me so I took it up at once; figure it’s a good time just before Palm Sunday, etc. En route I hit considerable rain which relented somewhat as I drew near at 6 pm. However, it continued throughout most of today though the temp is fairly warm, about 7C. I should note that Skalholt has a dining room which puts out truly fist class meals, surprising for the middle of nowhere! I should note that Icelanders, restaurants or otherwise, serve cold water with meals. Water here is so pure that it’s almost a treat. On Friday evening we had Vespers, a talk and then Compline around 9pm, very nice, with about 10 people. Afterwards I walked around a bit under clearing skies with a full moon peeping through and heard what I thought were dogs in the distance. I asked someone who said they were swans, newly migrated from Scotland. They weren’t just your run-of-the-mill swans but huge beasts. In this part of Iceland orange-yellow glows are visible here and there on the landscape: not just settlements but geothermally heated greenhouses, quite a few I might add. Even at night my experiences of being in the Icelandic countryside never produced fear which I attribute in part to the lack of trees. Besides, there is that sense of being watched over which I noted before but watched in a protective way despite several active volcanoes and geysers nearby. As for geysers, just up the road is Geysir, the place after which they are named.

When in a famous though isolated spot such as Skalholt you realize more fully that memories retained by society keep it alive. If, for example, people forgot about Skalholt, quickly it’d degenerate into a heap of ruins and be just another hill like so many in the neighborhood. Because Skalholt was important re. Christianity, the church has ample diagrams, etc, of it. In other words, church related stuff which seems almost as alien as prehistoric artifacts.

I had a couple of good discussions with Kristjan who lives at Skalholt and twice a week commutes to the University of Iceland in Reykjavik. He teaches Hebrew and knew of me through Gunni whom I coached this past week for an exam. Kristjan informed me that in recent years sociologists have been studying the phenomenon of sacred space, an interest which had been gaining wider ground. It struck me as somewhat odd that it should come from this quarter, so will try to find out more info. I was also struck by the fact that this sense of sacred space was a commonplace experience in the past or better and that despite advances in technology and the rest, discovering old truths is as if they’ve never been known before. In many ways they are approached in a naïve sort of way. As for sacred space, currently I’m jotting down ideas about how people live fractured lives, Iceland or any other place. Part of this comes from not appreciating the meaning of a sacred space or better, not having the slightest clue of what it means. Despite this, people seem to have an inbuilt desire for the sacred.

Although Skalholt is the spiritual center of Iceland (founded in 1052), I’ve noticed that the Lutheranism had pretty much have cut out the idea of the sacred (space). Despite their goodwill and sincerity, Lutherans lack this essential ingredient. More specifically, it’s present though diminished; for example, churches are more like glorified meeting halls. I continue to marvel at what Luther had wrought, and the effects are still with us. His intent of reform may have been noble, but we ended up with an emasculated form of Christianity. Of course, the Catholic Church at the time was less than admirable but upon hindsight, not worth the pain of separation. Iceland is different from other so-called Lutheran countries in that Catholicism remains dear to the people, and you don’t have that cold, isolated distance with respect to God. I’ve noted this earlier, some of it being due to the heavy Celtic (Irish) heritage. Often I can sense people groping about, albeit unconsciously, for their Catholicism. How, when and if it will emerge is anyone’s guess.

I write this mid afternoon on Saturday; could have stayed overnight but desired to return this evening. The Iceland post, all departments, is having a bowling tournament with free eats and beer, so can’t miss that!

Last evening the town of Hafnarfjöður which borders Reykjavik had an important vote. Within the town is a large aluminum processing plant which cranks out some 146,000 tons a year. The company has been pushing to enlarge so as to produce over 460,000 tons. As of 11 pm last evening the vote was virtually tied, under 100, which might mean a recount.