Watching TV and reading the newspapers is so often a depressing experience. So I’m sure we all felt uplifted last month as we watched the Chilean miners being rescued from their underground prison – one which could so easily have ended up as their tomb.

It was one of those rare good news stories – the overcoming of seemingly impossible odds, the meeting of huge technical challenges, and – most importantly – the triumph of the human spirit in the face of adversity and despair.

It was also a triumph of the Holy Spirit. Clearly the Chilean mining community shared a strong faith. We saw images on TV or family and relatives praying together, of the miners themselves thanking God and putting their faith in him.

I’m sure it would not have gone unnoticed by those in our own secular society, one in which the pursuit of affluence or fame or pleasure seems to take priority over the spiritual.

Perhaps some of those watching the images on TV may have wondered just what it takes to survive weeks on end 600 metres underground sharing an area the size of a squash court with 32 other people. Perhaps some will have noticed the strong faith shown by those trapped and their families. Perhaps some may have even started to ask themselves what role God plays in our lives during times of adversity.

I write this only a few days after the rescue and it is too soon to have heard the miners’ own stories. I am sure in the weeks to come we will hear some amazing accounts of the courage it took to survive underground. I’m sure we will also hear how faith and belief in a loving God helped them through the ordeal.

Sadly, I suspect the unity the miners showed underground may not last above the ground. The psychological impact of the experience, the pressures of instant fame and the offers of money to tell their stories in books and on film will start to take their toll.

In some ways the Chilean miners’ experience is a metaphor for the Church. We, too, show unity and a common sense of purpose when “underground” – isolated within our own Christian community. We are as one as we share the common experience of worship inside our church buildings on Sunday morning. But then we have to go outside “above ground” and deal with the pressures of the wider world. That’s when our unity, faith and sense of purpose are put to the test.

And, like the miners underground, that is when we need to stay focused on Jesus.

– Duncan Pardon