[Sundaycommunity] FW: Will they listen to KAIROS II

[sylvia skrepichuk]

This is not the actual document but about the document that was released yesterday at the Global Kairos Palestine Conference,  the one I was to attend.
Peace
Sylvia



Sent from my Galaxy



Subject: Will they listen to KAIROS II

Kairos Palestine II
A Moment of Truth After Genocide
The Rev. Dr. Munther Isaac

Introduction
In December 2009, Palestinian Christians issued the first Kairos Palestine document, A Word of Faith, Hope, and Love from the Heart of Palestinian Suffering. It was a cry from a people living under occupation and apartheid — a call for justice rooted in faith, hope and love. Sixteen years later, in 2025, we stand in a radically different landscape. Kairos II itself states plainly that “we live now in a time of genocide, ethnic cleansing and forced displacement unfolding before the eyes of the world” (§2). This alone marks a fundamental shift.
Yet even as we identify new elements in Kairos II, we are not departing from the foundations laid in 2009. We are building upon them. We remain indebted to the wisdom and prophetic courage of the original authors. Many of them were involved again in writing Kairos II; their theological vision still guides us.
Kairos II emerges “from the heart of the assault on Gaza” (§1.1), from mass displacement, starvation, the destruction of every sector of life, and the burial of families under rubble. It speaks as “a cry of hope in a time of genocide,” renewing faith, hope, and love in the darkest moment.

1. A New Context: Faith After Genocide, Church After Gaza
Kairos II describes Gaza as having endured “hundreds of thousands of martyrs and wounded, and nearly two million displaced” (§1.1). We write with unflinching clarity: “The Nakba of our people is our daily reality” (§1.3) – it is not a past event.
This is the context from which Kairos II speaks.
It acknowledges realities that were only partially visible in 2009, but which are now undeniable:
• The consolidation of “an organized and sophisticated regime of apartheid” (§1.3).
• The exposure of “the hypocrisy of the Western world” (§1.4).
• The shock that “many churches…adopted the colonizer’s narrative or remain silent in the face of genocide” (§1.5).
• The Christian presence now facing “a real danger…of ethnic cleansing and extinction” (§1.17).
And perhaps most painfully: the weaponization of theology. Kairos II names Christian complicity, describing churches that “judge one side and excuse the other — or simply remain silent” (§1.5). Not only must we think about theology after Gaza; we must think about being the church after Gaza.
This document is written, as it says, from “within the genocidal war itself,” not in retrospect. It is a cry born of catastrophe.
2. A New Clarity: Naming Reality Without Euphemism
Kairos I named the Israeli occupation as a sin against God and humanity. Kairos II speaks with theological clarity. It names:
• “Genocide” (throughout)
• “Ethnic cleansing” (§1.3)
• “Settler colonialism” (§1.22)
• “Apartheid” (§1.3, §1.22)
• “Jewish supremacy…codified in the Nation-State Law” (§1.3, §4.2)
• “Environmental genocide” (§2.6)
• “Christian Zionism as a theology of racism, colonialism and ethnic supremacy” (§3.7)
• “The misuse of antisemitism to silence the Palestinian voice of truth” (§3.4)
Kairos II explicitly rejects euphemism. It does not speak of a “conflict.” It states:
“We reject the very concept of conflict. The reality on the ground is colonial, oppressive tyranny” (§1.22).
To call this a conflict is to participate in erasure. This language is not neutral; it is complicity.
Equally dangerous is the refusal to name settler colonialism — replaced with slogans of reconciliation or “dialogue.” Kairos II exposes such avoidance:
“Any denial of this reality is an evasion of manifest truth…that reinforces injustice” (§1.22).
Refusing to name genocide, apartheid, or colonialism is not theological caution; it is moral failure. Kairos II confronts this directly: We have the right therefore to ask: How can one speak of Christian fellowship or communion while denying, supporting, justifying or remaining silent before genocide — especially when such acts are committed in the name of God and Scripture? (§3.4)
3. A New Theological Confrontation: Unmasking Zionism and Christian Zionism
Kairos II is probably the most explicit theological rejection of Zionism an Christian Zionism ever produced by a Palestinian Christian body.
It identifies Zionism as:
“a continuation of European colonialism…built on racism and ethnic or religious superiority” (§3.3).
It names Christian Zionism as:
“a theological and moral corruption…[that calls for] a tribal, racist god of war and ethnic cleansing” (§3.7).
And it exposes the complicity of mainline churches:
“We are deeply shocked by the positions of many churches that adopted the colonizer’s narrative or remain silent in the face of genocide” (§1.5).
This includes the liberal and ecumenical circles that chastise Palestinians for using words like “apartheid” and “genocide.” Kairos II calls this what it is: complicity.
(Let us remember that it was a European Protestant bishop, not a Southern Baptist American, who recently had the audacity to call out a Palestinian bishop for using the word “genocide” in a sermon in Jerusalem)
It also draws a powerful distinction:
“Not every Jew is a Zionist and not every Zionist is a Jew” (§3.4).
Thus, Kairos II calls for building relationships with “prophetic Jewish voices” (§3.12) — those who oppose genocide and confront Zionism at great personal cost. We therefore call on the churches of the world to distinguish between dialogue with Jews and dialogue with Zionism — indeed, to boycott dialogue with Zionist voices that have supported and continue to support occupation, apartheid and the genocide of the Palestinian people. Instead, we call upon the churches to stand with and amplify prophetic Jewish voices that call for justice and truth (§3.12)
This is new: a reorientation of Christian-Jewish dialogue away from institutions that demand Palestinian silence.

4. A ReNewed Call for Creative Resistance:
Nonviolence, Love, and Global Solidarity
Kairos I affirmed creative nonviolent resistance, in the logic of love. Kairos II now makes it a central ethical imperative:
“We reaffirm the right of all colonized peoples to resist…We remain committed to creative resistance” (§2.4).
It names BDS as:
“effective forms of creative resistance…rooted in the logic of love and nonviolence” (§2.5).
It calls for, and calls the global church to join us in calling for:
• Sanctions and boycott until Israel complies with international law (§3.10)
• An arms embargo
• Prosecution of war criminals (§3.10)
• Reparations (§4.2)
And it expands resistance into a global coalition:
“We call upon all people of conscience…believers from every faith and persons of conviction” (§3.9).
Accordingly, we emphasize the same truth: creative resistance must be practiced in partnership with other faith traditions, secular justice movements, and global civil society. No community can resist empire alone.

5. A ReNewed Theology of Sumud:
Steadfastness as Spiritual Resistance
Kairos II elevates sumud into a theological category. It declares:
“To hold on to faith and hope is resistance. To pray is resistance…to safeguard the holy places is resistance” (§2.3).
This is a profound spiritual reconfiguration. Sumud is not romanticized suffering. It is a deliberate, embodied, faith-driven refusal to surrender to the reality of injustice as the norm, and ultimately disappear.
The document honors Palestinian women as “the unbending backbone” (§2.4), youth as “the treasure of hope” (§2.11), and the diaspora as an essential extension of the people (§2.13).
It affirms:
“We are woven into the fabric of this land. Its very soil knows us as its own” (§2.10).
Such language gives theological grounding to Palestinian presence itself.

6. A New Political Horizon: After Genocide, Justice
Kairos II insists that no political solution is legitimate unless it begins with truth:
“We have heard much talk of political solutions and peace while the reality on the ground says otherwise. To speak of a political solution today is futile unless we first undertake the serious work of acknowledging and rectifying past wrongs—beginning with recognition of the historic injustice done to Palestinians since the rise of the Zionist movement and the Balfour Declaration. Any genuine beginning must involve dismantling settler colonialism and the apartheid system built on Jewish supremacy as codified in Israel’s racist Nation-State Law. We also reject proposals for a weakened, conditional state lacking full sovereignty over its borders, waters, airspace and security. What is required is international action and protection, accountability for war criminals, and compensation for survivors of genocide, the Nakba and settler colonialism. Enduring solutions will not rest on the logic of force, but on the foundations of justice, equality and the right to self-determination.” (§4.2).
It rejects any state structure built on supremacy (§4.4) and calls for:
• Equality
• Full citizenship
• Pluralism
• The right of return
• Justice and reparations
• An end to all forms of extremism and racism
This is not naïve idealism. It is a sober articulation of what justice requires in a post-genocide future.
7. Renewed Global Call For The Christian Presence
Finally, the document makes an appeal with clarity and urgency: “We are not calling the church to admire our resilience from afar, or to theologize our suffering. We are calling you to act” (§2.9–2.11, paraphrased). The document is explicit: our calling is not to be symbols, but a living community that must be sustained.
What we ask of the global church is simple: help us stay. Help us remain. Help us keep a Christian presence in the land of Christ’s birth. As Kairos II states, the Christian presence is not merely demographic; it is “a national cause and priority,” for “we are woven into the fabric of this land… its soil knows us as its own” (§2.9–2.10). This is not about nostalgia; this is about survival.
Kairos II renews the call: “Come and See” (§3.13).
This is the invitation the document gives to the global church — to encounter the “living stones,” to witness our reality firsthand, and to stand with us in sustaining the Christian presence. The document calls Christians worldwide “to challenge the siege imposed on the Christians of the Holy Land, come and visit the living stones… and help strengthen the steadfastness of the Palestinians and the Christian Palestinians among them” (§3.13).
Therefore, we say:
Stand with the living stones.
Strengthen our institutions, our churches, our schools, our youth, scouts and our families.
Accompany us in the daily struggle to protect our communities from erasure.
And above all, help us rebuild Gaza — its homes, its houses of worship, its schools, its neighborhoods, and its Christian community. Kairos II pays special tribute to the Christians of Gaza, saying: “We especially commend the tremendous work of the churches of Gaza… the faithful have written heroic stories of steadfastness and witness” (§2.14). And it urges Christians worldwide “to preserve the Christian presence in Gaza…and advocate for the right of all who were displaced to return and rebuild” (§2.14).
Against all human logic, against political trends, and against the machinery of genocide, we insist that a Christian presence will remain in Gaza. With your solidarity, your presence, your advocacy, and your support, it can not only remain — it can live, rebuild, and bear witness.
This is not charity; this is discipleship.
This is not pity; this is partnership.
This is the shared responsibility of the global Body of Christ — a responsibility articulated and mandated by Kairos II itself.

Conclusion: Costly Solidarity, Costly Sumud, and a New Kairos Moment
And now we face the question:
If they did not listen to Kairos I, will they listen to Kairos II?
Our calling is not to guarantee outcomes. Our calling is faithful witness.
And we must say this clearly: we did not want to write Kairos II.
This is not a document we hoped to produce.
Its very existence is a painful reminder that we failed — not in faith, but in impact. The global church did not listen in 2009. The world did not act. The ecumenical movement did not rise to its calling. And the consequences have been devastating: things did not simply remain the same; they got worse — far worse than anything the authors of Kairos I could have imagined.
Writing Kairos II is therefore an act of lament. It is an acknowledgment of a wound that was ignored until it became a catastrophe. And yet, despite this, we still dare to speak. We still dare to believe. Some may say that making even stronger demands now, after such profound global failure, is foolish. But faithfulness sometimes looks like foolishness to the powers of the world. We write because this is who we are. Because it is our vocation. Because resilience — sumud — refuses to let despair have the final word. And because we have not stopped believing in God, in His goodness, in His justice, and yes — we have not stopped believing that the church can still make a difference.
Today, solidarity is more costly than ever. Israel denied entry to participants in the Kairos II launch. Some were interrogated or turned back. Some paid a personal price for daring to stand with us. We salute them. This is what costly discipleship looks like.
But costly solidarity is only one side of the truth.
Kairos II also calls for costly Palestinian sumud.
To stay is costly.
To rebuild is costly.
To raise children in hope is costly.
To cling to life in the face of death is costly.
Our people in Gaza have shown sumud beyond human measure. Our communities across Palestine carry the weight of survival every day. Kairos II is not a romanticization of suffering — it is a call to stay, to hope, to rebuild, to refuse erasure. It is about the call to carry the cross. Our sumud is our witness. Our hope is our resistance. Our staying is our proclamation of life.
Kairos II is thus a call to repentance, truth, and bold action. It is an invitation to build new alliances — including with prophetic Jewish partners — and to break with the theological frameworks that have sanctioned our oppression.
Above all, Kairos II declares that we are living in a moment of truth (§1.23) — a decisive, God-given Kairos that demands the global church choose whether it will stand with life or with empire.
We look toward the day when we shall live free in our land, together with all the inhabitants of the earth, in true peace and reconciliation — founded upon justice and equality for all God’s creation, where “mercy and truth meet, and righteousness and peace kiss each other.” (Psalm 85:10).
With this, and on behalf of the Kairos Group, we officially launched Kairos II. You are all witnesses to and participants in this historical kairos moment.


--
Note:   If you forward this email, please delete the forwarding history, which includes my email address. It is a courtesy to me and others who may not wish to have their email addresses sent all over the world. Erasing the history also helps prevent Spammers from mining addresses and prevents viruses from being propagated
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.integralshift.ca/pipermail/sundaycommunity-integralshift.ca/attachments/20251116/4391cdd2/attachment.htm>