What Does Love Look Like, Now?

Many thanks to Rev Janice Young, who stepped forward to offer a meditation on Luke 6: 17-36, the “Sermon on the Plain” this past Sunday. 

What does love look like in the Sermon on the Plain? Jesus is very clear. Love looks like this: “love your enemies, do good to those who hate you and when anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other side also.” ((Lk 6: 27-29)
 
This is really hard stuff! Some might say impossible stuff! Given our current political context, does that mean just giving up and giving in to the wealthy, powerful bullies in the world? Does that mean capitulating and becoming the 51st state?
“Absolutely Not! It means we get smarter about the tactics of love.” (Diana Butler Bass, Sunday Musings, Feb. 22, 2025)

Jesus teaches and demonstrates a way of nonviolent resistance to the powerful oppressors of the world. For a fuller understanding of Jesus’ teaching to ‘turn the other cheek’ I recommend this visual demonstration from Dr. Walter Wink (03 What Jesus Really Said?, min 5:25)
Love isn’t about giving in to the oppressor. It’s about cleverly calling them out for their actions. Love means refusing to hate and refusing to behave like the oppressor. Love means embracing the tactics of Jesus—the tactics of resistance and relentless love. Love means opening to the grace of God which transforms our enemies and ourselves, creating the possibility of friendship, moving us all closer to the kin-dom of God. 

What does love look like in our context at Southpoint? How are we called to express this radical way of Jesus? 

— Janice

Rev Janice Young

Did you miss it? You can listen here.
 

Sun Mar 30 Sunday Brunches — No Service at Sunnyside
Luke 15: 1-7

Anne Baxter Smith

Fri Apr 18 Good Friday
(Stay tuned for more info)

Sun Apr 20 Easter Sunday
Luke 24:1-12

Anne Baxter Smith

Sun Apr 27 All Out
More information to come

New to Southpoint?

At Southpoint, it all begins with God’s love. Just as a plant grows, it receives sunshine, so we grow as we receive God’s love. At Southpoint, we are growing in our capacity to love God, ourselves, one another, and Creation.

We seek to be a community of grace that is intentional yet organic, spacious yet authentic, grace-filled yet accountable. * We are fully welcoming. *

We encourage relationships rather than run programs, yet we recognize the importance of intentionality and structure as we nurture life together.

As a community, we seek to put our love in action. We value helping out on Sunday mornings, sharing food, and showing up in hard times. We keep our church life simple so folk have time to build relationships with family, friends, and neighbours. We encourage folk to serve in tangible ways within the wider community. We rent space rather than own a building, allowing us to do more with less, supporting missions at home and abroad.

Curious to know more?

These six slides express what motivates our ministry (best viewed on a monitor). Here’s the bio of our Pastor, Rev. Anne Baxter Smith.

If you’d like to really peek inside, sign up for our weekly Southpoint News (scroll to brown footer at bottom of page). The Southpoint News is a MailChimp distributed email—you can unsubscribe anytime and will not be added to our contacts list. Email us at office@southpoint.ca. Website: southpoint.ca.