Towards the end of Janet’s walk today there was this miners’ memorial in Kirkconnel…
… these people were heroes – but did it have to be like this? In any case, what they did and what these communities suffered is now vanishing from the landscape. Deep mining of coal is long gone from here, and the opencast workings have been unused for two years… rightly so, because we don’t want to ruin the world’s climate. And these communities now suffer in different ways.
The heroism is not for nothing though. It is woven into the story of the place. It will long be remembered.
God of glory, we thank you
for the courage and love of people
whose ways, whose causes have been left behind
as the stream of life flows on.
In your mind and ours
let them never be forgotten.
We thank you for Jesus,
for his courage, his love,
for being the one who was killed,
and yet is alive among us.