The Rev. Cliff Cutler, EPF-PJN, has released this statement on 3/6/26: “Kairos Palestine II: A Moment of Truth: Faith in a Time of Genocide” is the subject of a joint Episcopal-Lutheran Justice Network Webinar to be held on Tuesday, March 17, at 7 p.m. Eastern time. To register and receive the Zoom invitation, please email: David Grafton at dg******@*******************al.edu.
This second Kairos statement was released in November, 2025 at the 16th Annual Kairos Palestine Conference in Bethlehem. A Study Guide was developed by The Palestine Justice Network of the Presbyterian Church (USA), with United Methodists for Kairos Response (UMKR), and Friends of Sabeel North America (FOSNA). The March 17 Zoom session, lasting 90 minutes, will be hosted by the Episcopal Peace Fellowship - Palestine Justice Network and the US-Lutheran Palestine Israel Justice Network. Moderators are the Rev. Elizabeth G. Maxwell, Rector, Church of the Ascension, NYC (Episcopal); and the Rev. Mark B. Brown of the Admin Team of US-LPIJN (Lutheran). The Kairos Palestine II document speaks to “an age in which ‘might makes right’...This moment in human history demands a faith-based stance - one that speaks truth to power and tyranny without compromise or evasion.” - A Moment of Truth: Faith in a Time of Genocide – section 1, paragraph 23.
The Zoom learning session begins by hearing from two of the authors of Kairos Palestine II: Rafit Kassis, author, activist, and General Coordinator of Kairos Palestine, and the Rev. Dr. Munther Isaac, author, theologian, and pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Hope in Ramallah. Kassis tells why a second Kairos paper is necessary. The first had been written sixteen years ago in 2009. Then, there were wars in Gaza every few years but with negotiations in between. Violence was severe though the conflict was with limits, and a two-state solution was still imagined as viable. Now, one sees international law openly ignored, and genocidal war taking place without limits. Gaza has experienced near total destruction. Settler terrorism is rampant. Survival is at stake. A moral call from this catastrophe demanded a hearing. It is a document, Kassis says, “of moral urgency.”
Munther Isaac confides, “friends, let’s be honest.” This language of a two- sided conflict is a problem in most mainline churches. The Kairos II statement rejects the very concept of conflict, that there are two sides to the story. “The reality on the ground,” it says, “is rather tyranny and an oppressive regime of settler colonialism and apartheid.” Isaac opines, “If it’s a conflict, you can hide behind this language and pray for peace. But it’s not.” Name the genocide, he demands, concluding: “We renew our call for churches to stand in solidarity, to come and see... We call you to walk along side us. Come to Palestine, not as pilgrims, but as accompaniers. It’s time for costly solidarity.”
The second portion of the Webinar engages the Study Guide to Kairos II. Participants will be guided by the Reverend Melody Hession, assistant to the bishop for public policy in the Delaware-Maryland Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. She will invite three participants to be readers of a conversation from “Readers’ Theater” in the study guide. Readers will use short scripts portraying various understandings about Israel and the Palestinians to help the audience begin to comprehend this pivotal moment of Palestinian truth-telling. The conversation ends with a prompt to encourage dialogue.
While the first two portions of the webinar will be recorded, this final time of dialogue, questions, and comment will not. Stopping the recording will free participants to speak their minds and raise the questions that are on their hearts. Liz Maxwell will moderate this final section of the webinar focusing on discussion.
The Webinar brings us face to face with the urgent call of Palestinian Christians in this time of existential threat. Though justice networks of the Lutheran and Episcopal churches bring you this webinar, all are invited to join. We struggle similarly to know and to hear and to act on the Palestinian story of apartheid and genocide. Again, to register and receive the Zoom invitation, please email: David Grafton at dg******@*******************al.edu.
