Love Crosses Lines

Focus Statement

To love like Jesus is to cross the very lines the world tells us to keep.

Point of Relation

Joan Baez didn’t just sing protest songs—she embodied them.

Born to a Mexican father and a white mother,

she grew up crossing cultural lines from the start.

As her voice rose to fame in the 60s, she refused to perform at segregated venues.

She linked arms with Dr. King in Selma.

She was arrested for resisting the draft.

And through it all, she kept singing: We Shall Overcome.

That wasn’t a performance—it was a prayer.

A line crossed in real time.

Baez didn’t love from a distance.

She showed up.

She stood beside the marginalized.

And she kept showing up—again and again—

even when the cost was high.

That’s what love looks like when it refuses to be tamed by fear or politics.

It crosses lines because it knows: God is already on the other side.

Things to Consider

Now, friends, I need not tell you that we live in a world full of lines—

political, racial, social, even spiritual.

But Jesus doesn’t say, “Love those on your side.”

He says, “Love your enemies.”

The real question isn’t who deserves our love.

It’s this: Where is love still afraid to go?

And will we follow it there?

What Scripture Says

“You have heard it said…”

That’s how Jesus begins—not with a fight, but with a flip.

Love your neighbor, hate your enemy?

That’s the line we’ve drawn for generations.

But Jesus draws a new one:

“Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.”

This isn’t idealism. It’s rebellion—the holy kind.

The kind that breaks the cycle of hate.

Paul puts it this way: “Do not repay anyone evil for evil…

If your enemy is hungry, feed them.”

This is dangerous love. Costly love.

The kind that refuses to mirror the violence of the world.

Jesus ends with a challenge:

“Be perfect, as your Father is perfect.”

In Hebrew, the word does not mean flawless—

rather, whole. Be WHOLE…as your Father in heaven is WHOLE.

Love that sees the full picture, and refuses to shut anyone out.

What This Means for You

Maybe you’ve drawn a line—

between yourself and someone else.

Maybe you’ve been the one shut out.

Jesus meets you there. Not to scold you...

but to invite you across.

To love like this won’t be easy.

But it will be holy. And it will change you.

What This Means for Us

Church, if we’re only loving those who love us back, we’re not following Jesus—

we’re just playing it safe.

Let’s be a people who cross lines. Who show up.

Who love first... even when it’s hard. Amen? Amen.

Written by Rev. Todd R. Lattig with the assistance of ChatGPT (OpenAI).