Last spring, even as the Congregational Church of Fullerton worked with two other churches to create a resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, members prayed that our work ultimately would be irrelevant. Please, we entreated; let those in power find a path to a just and lasting peace before we complete our process.

And yet, six months later, the killing goes on. Four months after our resolution was adopted during a June gathering representing 130+ congregations and over 11,000 members of the United Church of Christ, more than 40,000 Palestinians and humanitarian workers are dead, nearly 100,000 are wounded, and countless others are without food security, shelter, and medical care.

With the attacks escalating and more people dying each day in Israel, Gaza, and Lebanon, our congregations in the Southern California Nevada Conference of the United Church of Christ are compelled to renew our call for an immediate end to the devastating violence in Gaza and throughout the region.

As the solemn anniversary of October 7 heightens reflection, we continue to lament the Hamas attacks against civilians as we also urgently call for Israeli forces to cease their attacks against the people of Gaza. We plea for the release of Israeli hostages as we do the release of the more than 3,000 Palestinians unjustly held in Israeli administrative detention.

We stand with all those affected by the violence in the Holy Land, including our Christian, Muslim, Jewish, and Arab siblings. Living into our scriptural call to do justice and seek peace, we call upon all people of faith to join us in recognizing the rights of both Israelis and Palestinians to dignity, safety, and self-determination.

In that spirit, on October 6 – World Communion Sunday – many of our local churches united to lament the loss of life in Gaza, pray for a permanent ceasefire, and recognize our own complicity in this ongoing conflict.

We also know it’s up to us to create the political will for actions we want our elected officials to take. So on Tuesday, October 8, scores of our Southern California and Nevada United Church of Christ members committed to phoning and sending postcards to the White House and our congressional representatives, imploring them to end our nation’s unconditional support for Israel’s war on Gaza.

We call for the resumption of funding and unlimited access for all humanitarian relief organizations, as well as for restoring the free flow of food, water, medical supplies, fuel, and other necessities of life to counter current levels of starvation and suffering. We call on our political leaders to cease funding for arms that cause death and injury and block aid.

In this moment of remembrance and recommitment, we summon the original motivation for our resolution – the obligation to issue public witness to the atrocities in Gaza that are contrary to Christian values and international law.

We will be asked by the next generation that survives this genocide what we did to stop it. Following our own convictions, listening to the voices of Palestinians and interfaith allies, and discerning the movement of the Spirit, we reissue our call for an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza.

Sarah Averette-Phillips and Chrissy Siva are co-senior pastors at Live Oak United Church of Christ, a Brea-based congregation with deep roots in the Congregational Church of Fullerton and Brea Congregational United Church of Christ.

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