I was having a very good cup of coffee in a café in Reykjavik, Iceland, last December at a very dark 11 a.m. I noticed that across the street from the café sat a large church, which appeared to be empty except for a few tourists who were paying to go up the bell tower.
My friend and I were the only ones in the café that morning, so I thought I’d strike up a conversation with our server. I asked about the church across the street and if many people attended. I figured I knew the answer, but I did want to pick her brain a little.
“No, not many people go to church here,” she replied. “Christianity is really not our religion. It was imposed upon us.”
Our server went on to say that, if she remembered correctly, Iceland became a Christian nation to avoid a war with Norway hundreds of years ago.
“Most people here believe in other things,” she continued.
“What do you mean by that?” I probed.
“Well, I believe in Thor,” she started. I learned that Thor is the red-haired, bearded god of thunder in Germanic paganism and its subset Norse paganism. But that wasn’t all.
“I believe in the elves who live in the rock formations on this island, and I also believe in Jesus,” she continued. “I think He was a good man who had good moral teachings.”
Had I not lived in Europe for almost seven years, I would have been floored by such a belief construct. She was a spiritual person interested in talking about spiritual matters. From her point of view, the institutional church imposed its beliefs on her ancestors; therefore, the people of Iceland simply added those beliefs to their religious practices.
Our server is just one of a number of people in Europe who have some exposure to Christianity but have simply crafted it to fit their beliefs. The challenge here is helping them understand the Gospel in a relevant and true way.
