God is ‘against those who oppress the hired workers in their wages, the widow and the orphan’ (Malachi 3:5)

Expulsion from Eden by St. Isaac of Syria Skete (Boscobel, Wisconsin)

Before ‘the fall’, Genesis states that: “The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it” (Gen 2:15)

JUST ‘HOLY HARDWARE’*: * The ‘name in the trade’ - items to celebrate the Christian faith

Eight Desert Mothers: http://www.journeywithjesus.net/Essays/Desert_Mothers.jpg

http://www.coptic.net/pictures/Icon.StMosesTheBlack.gif

‘I never wanted work to be useful to me while causing loss to my brother, for I have this hope that what helps my brother will bring fruit to me…’

(From a collection of sayings of early Christians known as the ‘Desert Fathers and Mothers’) (Recorded 300AD)

The ‘golden rule’ and work …

‘If through necessity or fear of a worse evil the workman accept harder conditions because an employer or contractor will afford him no better, he is made the victim of force and injustice…’

(Pope Leo XIII, 1891)

‘I absolutely deny all slave-holding to be consistent with any degree of natural justice’

(John Wesley, Thoughts Upon Slavery - 1774)

‘How many are there in this Christian country, that toil, and labour, and sweat, and have it not at last, but struggle with weariness and hunger together?’(Wesley, Heaviness Through Manifold Temptations)

Christian leaders and work in history

JUST HOLY HARDWARE AND BEYOND

"When I was hungry you gave me something to eat, and when I was thirsty, you gave me something to drink. When I was a stranger you welcomed and when I was naked you gave me clothes to wear. When I was sick, you took care of me, and when I was in jail, you visited me.”

INSPIRATION – MATTHEW 25:31-46

“Remember, O Lord, those who bear fruit, and labour honourably in the holy service of Thy Church; and those who forget not the poor, the widows, the orphans, the strangers, and the needy; and all who have desired us to remember them in our prayers.”

St. James the Just

INSPIRATION THE DIVINE LITURGY OF ST JAMES

• Those who make clothes (and are not just in need of them) …

• Those who labour in the service of the church …

‘Together for Adoption’

HOW ARE THEY FARING TODAY?

STARTING CLOSE TO HOMETHOSE WHO MAKE CLOTHES – Cotton workers

Children as young as six are working 10-hour shifts in 40 degree heat for about 42 cents a day picking cotton for luxury cotton products.

Photograph:Robin Hammond, Guardian

Newspaper

STARTING CLOSE TO HOMETHOSE WHO MAKE CLOTHES – Home & Sweatshops

‘Clothing workers’ in Australia

Photo credit: FairWear

• There are ‘sweatshops’, here and overseas … people work for long hours with low pay (Indonesian apparel workers can earn 10 cents an hour) - in dangerous conditions.

•Homeworkers in Australia - estimates range from 25,000 to 330,000.

•Homeworkers paid $2.50 for a shirt.

•Some are paid between $2 and $3 an hour – work very long hours.

‘Sweatshop Workers’

Photo credit: Ethical Wears

‘THOSE WHO LABOUR IN THE SERVICE OF THE CHURCH’…

What do these items have in common …

…THEY ARE ITEMS ASSOCIATED WITH THE CHRISTIAN FAITH…

…SOMEONE MADE THEM…

WHO IS THAT ‘SOMEONE’?:CROSSES MADE IN CHINA TODAY…

‘JESUS have mercy on me, I’m dying of exhaustion’

- a Chinese teenager who had just finished yet another 19-hour shift producing the crucifixes below (in production phase) for sale in churches

(US National Labour Committee (NLC), Today Worker’s Bear the Cross)

‘Accommodation’ for the workers making the crosses (NLC)

WHAT CAN WE DO? MAKING A START..FAIR TRADE CHRISTIAN GOODS

‘If Christian communities are to be true to the spirit of the Gospel, they are obliged to engage in

commercial dealings in a manner consistent with a Christian understanding of the human person and

creation’ (A Fair Trade in Christian Goods)

Artisans working for Holy Land Handicrafts (World Fair Trade Organisation movement)

WHAT CAN WE DO? MAKING A START..FAIR TRADE CHRISTIAN GOODS

responsible corporate conductno child labour

no discriminationcare for creation (the environment), health and safetyno forced, compulsory labour and unjust contracts

freedom of associationappropriate hours of work

fair wagesrespect for working people.

CHRISTIAN SHOPPERS CAN SUPPORT ITEMSFAIRLY MADE… A CALLING CARD IN USE IN VICTORIA

Fairtrade cotton &Ethical Clothing Australia

If a garment is made with Fairtrade cotton in Australia it has to be made through the Ethical Clothing Australia scheme

e.g. Stop the Traffik shirts

Australian home and sweat shop workers can be paid under $5 per hour!

Qualitops workers, Deputy PM Gillard, TCFUA Secretary Michele O’Neil

St Leonard's &Ethical Clothing Australia

St Leonard’s began sourcing some of their uniform garments from the No Sweat Shop label in 2007.

Become a Fairtrade school or Faith Community

1. Use Fairtrade Certified products – tea and coffee

2. Promote fair trade!

Fair Trade Communities – Two Simple Goals

REGISTER AT: www.fairtrade.org.au

Fair Trade Associationwww.fairtrade.org.au

Fairtrade football counters child labour in Pakistan

http://www.etiko.com.au/

CONCLUDING PRAYERGod our Saviour shows the strength of his armHe scatters the proud in the thoughts of their heartsHe brings down the powerful from their thrones, lifts up

the lowly, fills the hungry with good things, while sending the rich away.

Let our souls magnify you, oh LordLet our spirits rejoice in God our SaviourLook with favour on us, lowly servants, so that we may

receive your blessingDo great things for us so we can speak your holy nameWith fear, we ask for your mercy.Let us find your new and everlasting Covenant written

in our hearts.May almighty God bless us, Father, the Son and

the Holy Spirit Amen

‘Icon of Madonna with prayer’

(Dormition Church at Kondopoga)

Photo credit: Wikimedia