The Moment of Grace and Opportunity
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 […]
Thanksgiving was approaching and I was looking for a way to observe the holiday free of the sanitized, triumphalist narrative on which I was raised, the story that washes over America’s original sins of racism and genocide, the story that moves so horrifyingly and seamlessly from colonial conquest to ethnic cleansing and slavery. I reached for a […]
Steadfast Witness, Steadfast Hope We bring you four powerful reports of recent visits to Palestine. Now, more than ever, it is crucial that groups journey to Palestine and Israel to connect with the people on the ground struggling to preserve their families, communities and hope. When people return home, they are compelled to bear witness […]
John de Gruchy is a South African theologian and one of the authors of the South Africa Kairos “Challenge to the Church” of 1985. His weekly meditations are offered at Volmoed community, an intentional community and retreat center near Hermanus, South Africa. This meditation is from December 10, 2015: In those days a decree went […]
The month of October and the first days of November have brought heightened tension and increasing harassment against Palestinians within occupied East Jerusalem, the West Bank, Gaza and Israel. Neighborhoods have been shut down and checkpoints have proliferated. Non-violent protests (although not covered by Western news media) have taken place. The question raised among many […]
The village of Susiya is facing imminent destruction again. It has been demolished six times but its residents stay. They remain rooted in the rocky dry soil. They were expelled from their original village in ’48 and then again for an “archeological site” in ’86 and their caves destroyed in 2011. Each time their taboon ovens […]
I’m following up here on my recent post encouraging you and other Palestinian justice advocates to start planning for World Week for Peace in Palestine Israel. Set for Sept. 20-26, this year’s event carries the theme “God has broken down the dividing walls.” Plans are underway in multiple settings for public observances and worship services with […]
It’s been quite a ride! Our surprising, overwhelming and longed-for victory at the United Church of Christ General Synod sent many of us into orbit and I, for one, am just now returning to earth. For the record, 80% of the votes cast as Yes or No were affirmative. (If one counts abstentions, the Yes […]
Kairos USA warmly welcomes Hind Khoury as the new Secretary General of Kairos Palestine. Khoury brings to the global Kairos movement a wealth of experience. She has served with the United Nations in economic and human development, as Minister of Jerusalem Affairs for the Palestinian National Authority, and as the Palestinian ambassador to France from […]
The greater Seattle area boasts a wealth of seasoned activists in various efforts on behalf of justice in Palestine Israel. Some of these are church-related or faith-based, others are rooted in community or academic settings. Yet often these long-committed and highly-motivated advocates don’t connect with each other. They’re unaware of what the other groups are promoting […]
