International Gathering: Join us in the 'land of saints and scholars' - 24 May 2013

The call has gone out and friends and family of 24-7 Prayer have begin pencilling in their diaries, booking flights and planning for a great weekend of teaching, fellowship and encountering God at this year's International Gathering in Dublin, Ireland.

The question is: why Dublin?

24-7 Gatherings have taken place in Frankfurt, London, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Seville, Southampton and Edinburgh but this year Dublin has got the call up. 

Ireland has a rich Christian heritage of prayer, mission and justice that beats with the heart of the 24-7 Prayer movement and we are really excited to be gathering from the four corners of the world in 'the land of saints and scholars'.

There are so many exciting examples of Celtic Christianity to talk about, but we thought we would tell you about three of our favourites:

St. Patrick

You can't discuss Irish Christian tradition without starting with St. Patrick. Patrick is the patron saint of Ireland and is largely responsible for bringing Christianity to Ireland. No one is quite sure where Patrick was born, but at 16 he was captured and taken to Ireland as a slave. After six years imprisonment, he escaped back to his family in Gaul (France). 

But, with a heart of mission for the country he had lived as a slave, he later set out to bring the good news of Jesus to Ireland. Legend has it that St. Patrick carried such a presence of God that he drove all the snakes from the island. One thing is clear, Patrick forever changed the spiritual climate of Ireland - which would later go on to change the spiritual climate of the entire world. 

An extract of one of St. Patrick's most famous prayers, inscribed on his breastplate:

Christ with me,
Christ before me,
Christ behind me,
Christ in me,
Christ beneath me,
Christ above me,
Christ on my right,
Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down,
Christ when I sit down,
Christ when I arise,

Find out more about St. Patrick by reading this post written by 24-7 Prayer Ireland's Alain Emerson.

Clomacnoise

Just outside of Dublin sits the site of the Clomacnoise monastery. Founded in AD 548 by Ciaran the monastery sat in the most important crossroads of the country, the intersection between the north-south River Shannon and the east-west Highway of Kings.

Clomacnoise grew to become an unrivalled bastion of Irish religion, literature and art. Monks from all over Europe came to study and pray at Clomacnoise, this eventually led to the monastery praying for the best part of thousand years and sending out missionaries all over the world!

For this reason Clomacnoise stands as a relic of the power of prayer and mission so after the International Gathering Tash Creaney from 24-7 Prayer Ireland is organising a pilgrimage to go and spend some time looking around the ruins of Clomacnoise. If you are keen to be apart of this then email [email protected] to register your interest. 

Book of Kells

In the heart of Dublin sits the world-famous Trinity College, the Library of Trinity College hosts an impressive 4.5 million printed volumes (with roughly 100,000 more added each year) and in the heart of the Library sits their most famous book 'The Book of Kells'. 

The Book of Kells is widely considered Ireland's finest national treasure, it is a beautifully illustrated book containing the four gospels. The Book of Kells was comprised by hundreds of Celtic Monks and is famous for the extravagance and complexity of the illustrations it contains. The Library welcomes hundreds of thousands of visitors each year who come to admire 'The Book of Kells'. 

During the gathering there will be an opportunity for a small number of people to join a free tour of The Book of Kells.

Trinity College Hall is playing host to an after-hours banquet of the saturday night, this will include music from Trevor Borden and others. 

Extract from the Book of Kells

The International Gathering is happening on the 17th-20th October and different meetings and seminars will be happening in various locations across the city. Tickets are available from the 24-7 Shop and are allocated on a first come first served basis, full details can be found on the Dublin 13 page. We hope to see you in Dublin!

All images are used by permission in accordance with commons copyright license terms:
Feature image is a derivative of the image 'Ireland.SOLD' by janet farthing .
Image of 'Our Lady's Island Church of the Assumption: East Aisle Window, Saint Patrick'  by Andreas Franz Borchert
Image of 'Trinity College' by psyberartist
Image of 'Book Of Kells Text Folio200r' by manuscript_nerd