Column: Pilgrim's Progress: Malcolm Chamberlain: The Greatest Love
On Sunday 19th October, I had the privilege of attending and addressing the National Union of Mineworkers Yorkshire Area Miners’ Memorial Service at Wakefield Cathedral. In a moving service we gathered to acknowledge the significant place that coal mining has occupied in the history of this region and to remember the human cost of that industry.
I’m currently reading the book ‘Now Then: A Biography of Yorkshire’ by Rick Broadbent. In the chapter entitled ‘Miners’, Broadbent tells of how communities of mutual support and care grew around the collieries, of how miners were so often taken for granted with pay and working conditions bearing little or no relation to the level of risk the work involved, and, most powerfully of all, he describes some of the most notable pit disasters, the tragic loss of life and the deep impact that pit closures had on mining communities. This is particularly poignant this year, as December will mark a decade since the closure of the last deep coal mine at Kellingley Colliery.
As part of the service, we read Psalm 121, in which the psalmist confidently declared his help to come from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth, before expanding in beautiful poetry that the Lord keeps watch over us, never sleeping or forsaking, but always defending and keeping. This psalm of deep assurance in the midst of human suffering and tragedy opens with a simple question: “I lift up my eyes to the hills: from where is my help to come?” At the outset of what was an emotional service, I invited those present to lift their eyes to the hills – to the highest places – maybe even picturing some of the stunning hills of our own region, and have the courage to say with the psalmist, “My help comes from the Lord: the maker of heaven and earth.”
In our other Bible reading, from chapter 15 of John’s Gospel, Jesus called his followers ‘friends’, invited them to find their place of belonging and security in his love, and explained that the greatest love anyone can have for their friends is to lay down their life for them, the very thing that Jesus did for them and for us. In an ever-changing world, we are also invited to find our help and belonging in the unconditional love of God and, recognising our common humanity, to dedicate our lives to serving one another and the common good.
Malcolm Chamberlain
Bishop of Wakefield