65° - 01.11.1969, Page 27

Adapted Icelanders
A Sporting Parson
by
REV. ROBERT JACK
I was born near to Glasgow in Scotland one
year before the outbreak of the First World
War.
I knew little of Iceland until the late summer of
1936 when the Va'lur Soccer Football Club in
Reykjavik invited me to come and be their coach
for some time. As a schoolboy I had gained inter-
national honors at soccer and later played with
some measure of success with the Glasgow Uni-
versity, Scottish Junior Clubs and Sunderland F.
C. in the English First Division. I liked Iceland
from the first and returned each summer until the
outbreak of the Second World War for soccer
coaching. I never had any intention of living in
Iceland but when I couldn’t get away at the be-
ginning of the war I was faced with a dilemma.
During my tours in the country I had met the
Bishop of the Icelandic National Church. I went
to him. We discussed my situation with the result
that he advised me to attend classes at the theo-
logical seminary of the University of Iceland in
Reykjavik until the way was clear. It was a diffi-
cult task because my knowledge of Icelandic at
that time was very meagre. And to make things
worse I had no money ... At the outbreak of the
war all British banks had closed for foreign ex-
change. It was, therefore, that after attending
classes at the University in the mornings, I taught
English from late afternoon until bedtime. It was
my only means of living. It will always amaze me
how much Icelandic I learned while teaching
English, especially to beginners, and with the
Bible I slowly but surely got to know the language
of my studies. When the Allied Troops took
over Iceland in May of 1940 I expected to leave
but instead I Was given the job of helping in the
work of the Y.M.C.A. for the troops. In time I
fitted in this work with my studies. It was during
this time that I felt myself flung into the trough
of war, in company with several thousand others.
Life seemed to stand uneasily still, and in no
direction was there any prospect. I spoke to men
from many nations who felt acutely the physical
strain; their minds were full of private anxieties;
above all they saw the shattering of the house of
life they had made for themselves, and despaired
of building another. They had no stimuli. I had
mine, from my classes and the lectures from good
men. It was during this time of war, when it was
clear to me that the old regime was passing both
in the outside world and in Iceland that I received
a Call to the ministry of the Church where I was.
But first I was to graduate and that proved a
formidable task because of the language. However
I got through my finals in May of 1944 and was
ordained a month later while Iceland celebrated
her newly founded republic.
In my first parish in the east of the country
I formed a soccer team. This was something new
... a sporting parson! . . . unheard of before in
the history of the Icelandic Church. It gave me
immediately some insight into the Icelandic mind.
The young people loved it but many of the older
parishoners frowned. To them it was undignified
to play ball with the youngsters. These contacts
then and since through sport with the younger
people of my parishes have, I believe, helped con-
siderably in church attendances and in the chang-
ing mood of Iceland the older people have seen
the importance of such a medium.
Apart from two years in Canada, serving people
of Icelandic descent on the prairies of Manitoba, I
have always been working in rural parts, minis-
tering to people who work long hours for little re-
muneration. They are not emotional people and
have perfect control of their nerves. Most have a
firm belief in God and are Christian. Some are not.
In their minds are dregs of the ancient beliefs cf
their Nordic forefathers and their leanings are to
the Eddas and Volispa rather then to the Bible, but
I have never yet met an agnostic in Iceland. You
will find much religion among the Icelanders but
less belief that Christ died for sinners. Therefore
there is a natural belief in the hereafter, whether
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