The Irresistible Pull Of Faith Made Clear, Finally

Bertha's Tale: A Novel - episode 18

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Bertha’s Voice  
c. A.D. 597  
Canterbury, Kent

It was a few days after our visit to Thanet that there had been another knock at the door. One that would change the direction of our lives forever.

“I need to talk to you.”

My heart was in my throat again, pounding. I gestured wordlessly to the stool next to me.

“Since I met Augustine, I have been having all sorts of thoughts that are very confusing to me. When we spoke, he told me all about the Christian faith, the sorts of things you’ve told me before: about how your God created the world, and the way that Adam and Eve and others didn’t listen to God, and how God had to send Jesus to make the ultimate sacrifice so that we can live with God in heaven.”

I nodded, slowly.

“And when I was listening to him I thought, this is all just the same stuff that I’ve heard before and if it matters so much then I guess I could just add an altar to this God at the temple, like we’ve got an altar for Thunor and Woden and so on.”

He paused, breaking our gaze.

“But then, I find myself thinking about it often, and when I do my heart races, like I’m panicking. Why would I be panicking about something that I don’t even think is true? About something that doesn’t even matter to me?”

I didn’t know where to look. I wanted so desperately to reach out and hold his hand but didn’t know how he would take it, so trained my eyes on the fire in front of us.

“I’ll be honest with you Bertha, when I met them on Thanet they were a sorry looking bunch, all wet and shivering and pathetic almost. I’d thought your Christians were coming to take my kingdom from me but I realised in an instant that they were no threat to me. They didn’t even have swords! I can’t believe they made it across Europe without swords. They claim their only weapon is the word of their God and I guess they were truly living that out.” He caught my eye. “I dismissed them, Bertha. I thought I’d let them spend a few months on Thanet hoping they’d get fed up of the brutal North Sea weather and return to Rome in due course. As we rode home I genuinely didn’t think I’d give them another moment’s thought.”