for the 21st Century

As you enter today…

Take the strips of paper in front of you and write an example or description of an injustice that you see or hear about in your everyday life. When you are done, curl the ends together and tape it to form a loop. Repeat the process with another issues, this time link the second issue into the first and tape it to create a chain of injustice.

My Druid is Christ, the Son of God St. Columba

‘Mo drui, mac Dé'

Céad Míle Faíte!

for the 21st Century

A Call for Solidarity

The world belongs to GodThe earth and all its people.How good and how lovely it isTo live together in unity.Love and faith come togetherJustice and peace join handsIf the Lord’s disciples keep silentThese stones will shout aloud

Iona Community –Opening Prayer

Blessing for the Journey:

God, bless to me this day,God, bless to me this night;Bless, O bless. Thou God of grace,Each day and hour of my life ;Bless, O bless. Thou God of grace.Each day and hour of my life.

God, bless the pathway on which I go,God, bless the earth that is beneath my sole ;Bless, O God, and give to me Thy love,O God of gods, bless my rest and my repose ;Bless, O God, and give to me Thy love,

Reviewing HomeworkPractical Application

TASK - Engage a Friend by writing a letter to a Soul Friend

Consider thanking them for how they have walked beside you in times of difficulty and joy. Recount how their companionship, in life, work, or leisure has been a life giving gift. Make sure you give it to them.

Overview of the Lesson

• To watch a short movie of the Celtic Saints coming to the British Isles.

• Examine the emergence of the topic of justice within the Celtic Church

• Discover the application for our world• Discuss and analyze the idea of how “seekers

of peace and wellness of the city” are justice seeker

Culture Making and JusticeHow do Christian engage to creating a just society?

Response - condemn, consume, copy, critique, or cultivate.

Injustice must be addressed in a relational setting.The only way to change culture is to engage it. Toprovide an alternative from what was, to what willbe. Engaging the world unlocks potential of whatcame before and creates possibilities for what willcome in the future.

• What evidence is there that we are just? – As individuals?– As a Church?

Growing Justice

Some believe that justice is an act of nurturing.

How is justice like the act of cultivation?

Marian Wright Edelman stated “we must not, in trying to think about how we can make a difference, ignore the small daily differences we can make, which, over time, add up to big differences we cannot foresee”.

Theories of JusticeWhen we speak of justice we speak of:

Distributive Issues of Justice •Fairness

Retributive Issues of Justice •Punitive

Restorative Justice Issues of Justice•Healing and Reconciliation

What affects an understanding of Justice?

What is Justice?

Geography

Intercultural Contact

Culture: Traditions, Ideas, Values, Experiences &

Knowledge

Influences of the Celtic Churches View of Justice

Celtic Justice

Rural Mindset: The Balance of Natural

Consequences

Roman, Greek, and Christian Laws

Spiritual Practices established by

various intersections of

culture

The essentials for survival had to be wrested out of a chaotic and unpredictable environment often in small vulnerable communities

• A distinctive characteristic of Celtic Christian spirituality is a keen awareness that we do not just "fit" justice into our lives somewhere or sometime when it's convenient.

• We insist it is part of the engagement of a spiritual life in tune with community and creation, fully immersed in a material world.

Love Mercy, Act Justly and Walk Humbly with God.

• Doing justice is a central imperative and the practice applies to the whole range of human interactions.

• It means that we deal fairly with others, recognizing the equality and dignity of all. It assumes that none of us is free until all of us are.

Justice as a Path to Reconciliation

Social justice, based upon the belief that weare all created in the Image of God, and a firmconviction that we must love our neighbor aswe love ourselves is a natural flow from CelticChristian spirituality. God's Justice is Mercy,reconciling all things in Christ.

Ancient Celt Understanding“In accordance with the truth".

A cosmic, indisputable rightness which human behaviour must seek to imitate.

The Mission and Life of St. Patrick

The Response to Injustice

Listen, Observe, Pray

• Participate in sacred conversation to awaken your senses

Respond

• From an authentic place

Reflect

• For deeper growth and understanding

The Call of the Wild Goose

“You can’t restrain a wild gooseand bend it to your will. They’reraucous and loud. Unlike thesweet and calming cooing of adove, a goose’s honk is strong,challenging, strident andunnerving – and just a bit scary.

The Image of the Wild Goose

In much the same way the Spirit of God can be,demanding, unnerving and unsettling. Christians

have been called to impress on the world theneed for justice, inclusion, and hope

Factors of Justice in the Celtic Tradition

Respect of nature,

community, & Individuality

Balance and Equity of persons

Fairness and Equality of resources

Truth and Reconciliation

Discussion

Iona Community

The goal of justice is reconciliation. It is anopportunity for engagement, forgiveness andcommunity

In society areas that need our attention– Economic Justice– Political Justice– All forms of Discrimination and Inequalities

Hope to Action • We believe: that the Gospel commands us to seek peace founded on

justice and that costly reconciliation is at the heart of the Gospel;

• that God has given us partnership as stewards of creation and that we have a responsibility to live in a right relationship with the whole of God's creation;

• that everyone should have the quality and dignity of a full life that requires adequate physical, social and political opportunity, without the oppression of poverty, injustice and fear;

• that social and political action leading to justice for all people and encouraged by prayer and discussion, is a vital work of the Church at all levels;

Practical Application

TASKBreak the Chain of Injustice

Throughout the next two weeks, break the chains ofinjustice by addressing the various links you createdearlier in the class. Each time you act, educate,expressed, or eradicate remove the link from the chainuntil it disappears.

Closing Prayer (Breast Plate of St. Patrick)

I arise today Through God’s strength to pilot me: God’s might to uphold me, God’s wisdom to guide me, God’s eye to look before me, God’s ear to hear me, God’s word to speak for me, God’s hand to guard me, God’s way to lie before me, God’s shield to protect me, God’s host to save me From snares of devils, From temptations of vices, From everyone who shall wish me ill, Afar and anear, Alone and in multitude.