Kairos Palestine Advent/Christmas Alert 2018

The Christmas Alert from Kairos Palestine this year opens with a stirring message from Patriarch Michel Sabbah, who served as the Archbishop and Latin (Roman Catholic) Patriarch Emeritus of Jerusalem from 1987 to 2008. “Those who celebrate Christmas,” writes Patriarch Sabbah,

“know that God is love, not a god of armies and wars, nor a god who orders one people to oppress another, or a god that strips one people of their land and gives it to another people. Jesus walks today among the crowds of refugees; he walks with them and for them, teaching, healing, granting life, and directing the attention of the strong to stop killing and displacing people. New hope in Palestine and the Middle East cannot be realized by the gods of the earth but rather by the poor, those who resist evil while hungry for righteousness, justice, and freedom. New joy and hope for Palestine will be joy and hope for all the holy land, when all will be able to see the glory of God who, on Christmas Eve, appeared to the common people and went unseen by those in authority (Luke 2:9). By seeing the glory of God, we are able to love and build a holy land in the image of God where there is no oppressor or oppressed, no walls, no occupation, no darkness, but rather a great light and love that fills the hearts of all.

Download the wonderful Advent and Christmas Alert for this and other essays, reports, and reflections by Patriarch Michel Sabbagh, Kairos Palestine’s Hind Khoury, Palestinian Quaker Jean Zaru, and South African Kairos theologian John de Gruchy — each to treasure on the four Sundays of Advent.