A Visit with the President

After our evening of delightful and insightful conversation at Halldora's home, we all had a chance to get a better night sleep then we had been having the previous few nights. This was  good as we had a fairly busy day on Friday. In the morning we went to Kopavogskirkja where we had breakfast with Pastor Sigurdur Arnarsson. From the pastor and others  affiliated with the parish we learned about how following the financial crisis of 2008 the church was able to not just survive but thrive and continue its work in the area. Especially interesting to hear was from  an older gentleman who shared with us about a weekly program the church holds for senior citizens. It sounded like a wonderful time of fellowship and learning amongst other things. These conversations were followed up by a wonderful lunch there at the church.
We then headed back to Gunnar's so that we could change into more formal attire as we were going to meet the president of Iceland, Olafur Ragnar Grimsson, at the presidential residence Bessastadir. We had a quick review of ettiquette in the car and soon arrived. We were first led to the cloak room and then all signed a guest book before being led into another room. This is where we waited until the president was ready to see us.
After greeting the president and having a few pictures taken went into a library and had tea and coffee with the president. He shared with us about the Church of Iceland and its role in society and how that has shifted some over time. Someone asked a question about the role that religion plays in Icelandic politics being that the church is a state church. It was interesting to find out that unlike in the US, religion is not brought into politics. To parapharse the president,God is not used in Icelandic politics like a football. He said that Icelanders would be surprsed and wonder what had gone wrong with a politician if they started talking like those back in the US. He had very good insights about how Iceland amongst other countries view how religion and scripture are used as a weapon and such inthe politics of a nation that constitutionally has a seperation of church and state. He made good points about how it can (and has in history) lead down a disastorous road.He encouraged us to consider what we learn and observe about the church in Iceland as we continue our time  here and how that differs from what we experience (and many are fed
up with) in the political system back home. Hopefully I'll have more to share with you about that as this journey continues.
God of power, thank you for all that we have learned so far and all that is yet to come. We give thanks for leaders of institutions both small and large who lead with courage and foresight even in difficult times. Amen