The Kairos Document 30 years

Another anniversary! This time the 30st Anniversary of the South African Kairos document. As far as I know, the first document of this sort.

Kairos (καιρός) is a Greek word which means the opportune time. Greek has another word for time, kronos (κρόνος), which is the ordinary clock time.

One of my colleagues in the Church of Sweden, Rev. Anna-Karin Hammar, takes part in the celebrations. 

Anna-Karin to the left (and I think I recognise Sarojini Nadar, a colleague
from UKZN, to the right.

Two other persons I know are Chali Kasonde and Nonhlanhla Mnisi. They are students at the University of KwaZulu-Natal and I know them as dedicated and bright students.

It would have been wonderful to be part of this occasion. But my place is right now in Sweden. That is my Kairos.

Still I want to quote one of the persons who are present at the Kairos Anniversary in South Africa, Prof John de Gruchy. He writes on a blog called kairossouthernafrica:

As we take note of what is happening around the world as well as in our own country, we would be foolishly blind if we did not recognise the global and national crises facing us.  The world has become a much more dangerous place than we ever imagined when we entered this new millennium.  So we should listen to the prophets.  They are not prophets of doom but prophets of justice and hope.  This is God’s time, they declare, a time to grasp the opportunity to change.  So let us not be among those who, as Isaiah said, “look but do not see, or listen but do not hear.”  Rather let us following the counsel of the prophet Micah and the Kairos Document “ do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with God.”

Since the 1985 Kairos Document in South Africa similar documents have been published in Palestine and Swaziland, just to mention two.

A network for academics working with the Kairos concept is called Grasping Kairos. I am one of them.

The most important thing, however, is to listen to God and find the Kairos document in one’s own context.

What is your Kairos?

Chali Kasonde with the Mayor of Johannesburg, Mpho Parks Tau,
at Regina Mundi Catholic Church in Soweto.

Nonhlanhla and Chali.

A cry for help from Swaziland

This morning I received an e-mail from one of the church leaders in Swaziland.

Morning to you … just to inform you that we [have] slept safely.  Even today we will try to be in doors not in our houses so that tomorrow we will hand ourselves.

Possible charge will be the terrorism that has a fine of 15 years or 50 000 or both. Then if they charge us with a public order then it will differ but not that much difference.

When Peter and [Saul] were in [prison] the congregation continued to [pray] with them, that is our plea from [the] situation we are facing.

The situation for our Christian sisters and brothers in Swaziland is serious. I urge you who read this text to engage yourself in any possible way. If you have a media contact – please make use of it now. If you have other useful contacts – explore them. In everything – pray with and for the Church leaders in Swaziland.

This has happened. On Wednesday 11 March, Christians in Swaziland launched ‘the Swazi Kairos Document’. The link comes here. I am not going to say much about it. According to the document the ...

Swaziland KAIROS document is a Christian, biblical and theological reflection on the socio-political and economic crisis presently obtaining in the Kingdom of Swaziland.

Swaziland is an absolute monarchy. There is no need to say anything more.