“The Light Beneath the Mountain” WVA
Based On History
1907 St. Clair Mine disaster of Fayette County, WV, and candlelight reading, or Christmas program.
“The Light Beneath the Mountain”
“For unto you is born this day in the city of David
a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.” — Luke 2:11 (KJV)
Beneath the West Virginia hills,
Where winter winds blew cold,
The miners walked the darkened path
As generations told.
In Fayette County’s rugged earth,
A trembling shook the ground,
The St. Clair Mine fell silent then—
No shift‑end whistle sound.
The lamps went out, the dust rose thick,
The night pressed hard and grim,
Yet in the black, one whispered prayer
Reached heaven’s heights from him.
Sam Hensley held a tattered note
His Lila placed with care:
“The Lord is Light,” she’d written down—
A truth he breathed in prayer.
While rescue crews fought smoke and stone,
And wives knelt in the snow,
A Bethlehem‑born promise stirred
Where only fear should grow.
For in that mine’s consuming dark,
A brighter truth broke through:
The Child who came to save the world
Would walk the shadows too.
And when Sam rose from underground,
His face with soot still worn,
He whispered, “Even here below,
A Savior still is born.”
So every Christmas, candles shine
In churches on the hill,
Reminding hearts in troubled times
His Light is shining still.
Susan Barker Nikitenko 2026©
MSBANNABENNMRMPBPMKBPASTORGCP 43336#13
A Church/School Reading:
“The Night Hope Found the Miners”**
Reader 1:
In the early 1900s, Fayette County knew the weight of the mountain.
Families lived by the mines, prayed by the mines, and mourned by the mines.
Reader 2:
On December 16, 1907, the St. Clair Mine shook with a violent blast.
Darkness swallowed the men below.
Fear gripped the families above.
Reader 1:
Among the trapped was Samuel Hensley, a man who carried Scripture in his pocket
and faith in his heart.
Reader 2:
When the lamps went out, he remembered the words of Christmas:
“For unto you is born this day… a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.”
Reader 1:
He prayed in the darkness.
He encouraged the injured.
He believed the Light of Bethlehem could reach even the depths of the earth.
Reader 2:
Above ground, snow began to fall.
Wives and children gathered at the mine entrance,
their tears freezing on their cheeks,
their hope held together by prayer.
Reader 1:
Just after midnight, rescuers broke through.
Voices rose.
Hands reached.
Life returned.
Reader 2:
Sam emerged from the mine—weak, soot‑covered, trembling—
but alive.
And he said, “The Light found us, even there.”
Reader 1:
This is the message of Christmas.
Not that the world is without darkness—
but that the Light has come into it.
Both Readers Together:
And the Child born in Bethlehem still shines today.
In sorrow.
In hardship.
In every valley and every shadow.
Christ the Lord—
the Promised Child of salvation—
is the Light that no darkness can overcome.
Susan Barker Nikitenko 2026©
MSBANNABENNMRMPBPMKBPASTORGCP 43336#14
Comments