Norwegian Beachcomber

Why do so many Norwegians come to Holy Island? Is it because they like walking, boats, football, nature, and praying? A pilgrim group from rural western Norway walked St Cuthbert’s Way and stayed four days on the island. Some live on islands and have boats. Others have a boat hanging from their church ceiling. A youth worker and football coach watched the European League match at the Manor House Hotel, which Chelsea won. They said ‘You English brought football to the world and we think your Champions League is the best.’ 

They went on nature walks and observed our many April birds. I realised that we are a ‘bird island’ compared to many places. They told us their fjiords are so deep that birds cannot feed there, but our shallow tidal waters provide lavish feeding grounds for many kinds of bird.
The Norwegians like singing their prayers, which cheers up people who don’t sing much. They told us ‘You people from Celtic lands brought the faith of Christ to us, and we want to re-discover roots we have in common. That is also a reason why we come here.’
One thing we cannot be proud of is the litter on certain beaches. But one Norwegian became a beachcomber and turned rubbish into a prayer. He found a bottle, a balloon and a shoe which was turned into this prayer:
God save us from being like
an empty bottle with no message in it
a balloon with no air in it
a shoe with no foot in it.
All this took place while our TV screens were full of the trial of Anders Breivik, who gunned down scores of young Norwegians. Anders Breivik had an unhappy and oppressed childhood. I thought to myself ‘If only he could have experienced what these pilgrims found, how different might he have been?’
Posted at 14:20pm on 19th April 2012
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