A Season in Athelney

Lent has begun, the season of turning inward, self examination and preparation for a renewal in our world.

Almost everyone that has gone on to greatness has had a time of Lent, a time of hiding and turning inward before going once again out into the world to make a miracle happen.

For St. Alfred, his season came in Athelney, a swampy marsh in what is now the Somerset shire of England.  In 878, Alfred and a few loyal followers had been driven back by the Danes to hiding on the Isle of Athelney, an island in the swamps of Somerset.  A king of the Saxon peoples had been driven into an ancient fortress, defending a swamp.

This was St. Alfred's season.  He entered it as a mere King of the West Saxons, and emerged to become the brave and wise ruler of all England .  While the story itself may be apocryphal, it is said that here Alfred confronted the realities of daily life, learned that in order to best serve his people, he must pay attention to the everyday reality of ensuring that dinner cakes did not burn.  Reportedly, he was scolded by a common goodwife to pay attention to the cakes on the hearth and not let them burn.  It is said that Alfred accepted the scolding, understanding that he needed the scolding of a common person to pay attention to the everyday needs of his people and himself.

From Athelney, the newly humbled Alfred was able to call up allies who would sustain him and the fledgling England in the coming days.  It is often said that Alfred went to Athelney as Alfred, King of the West Saxons, and came out as Alfred the Great of England. He learned humility, and in his humility, he was able to forge the alliances necessary to ensure the birth of a nation  at the battle of Edington in May 878.

We each must go through a Lent of our lives, a season in Athelney, a time when we are beaten and discouraged and hiding in a swamp, wondering who we are and where we would ever go next .  When we hide in the swamp in our own darkness, we are building toward a time in our own lives of brilliance and birth of a new world.

May we learn humility and wisdom in our season of Athelney.  Let us ask Alfred, the saints and our Lord to help us use the darkness of Lent to forge a future time of light. 

As St Alfred the Great did.