Hamlet, Act III, Scene I offers us the famous line: “To be or not to be, that is the question…” Moses tells us in today’s first reading  from Deuteronomy, that the right question is a lot more important than mere existence. God’s admonition to us is that we are to always choose life. The right question is whether we understand what it means to chose life and will we do it?

What does it mean to choose life? Deuteronomy’s answer concerns religious practices such as obedience to God’s torah (teachings) and loyal worship of God.  It is the way in which Moses is describing the covenant relationship between God and God’s people.  In Dt 30:16 we read: “loving him, and walking in his ways, and keeping his commandments, statutes and decrees.”  In verse 20, the admonition is present with a different triplet: “loving the LORD, your God, heeding his voice, and holding fast to him.”  These both are concise and a beautiful understanding of what it means to choose life.

First, choosing life involves loving God. Deuteronomy presents such love as more than emotion and sentiment. We are reminded that we are to love God with our whole heart, mind, soul, and being.  Beyond emotion and intellect, such love involves more – a holistic commitment to living a life that reflects that love into the world.

Second, choosing life involves walking in the ways of God and listening to the voice of God – in other words, discipleship. It is the same admonition that is well placed and given at the beginning of all the Psalms. Psalm 1 uses this same image of walking to conjure up notions of following and listening: “Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the way of sinners, nor sit in company with scoffers.”  We are to be ever mindful of the voice to which we listen. The one who listens to the Lord: “He is like a tree planted near streams of water, that yields its fruit in season; Its leaves never wither; whatever he does prospers.” (Ps 1:3) The one who listens to the Lord experiences the fullness of life.

Third, having committed to God’s love and listening to his voice, choosing life involves keeping God’s commands and clinging to God. This admonition reminds us that we are also expected to act in appropriate ways toward each other and God. This is the way to remain faithful, to mark religious identity, and to respond to God’s initiative.

This is the way to life, not death. So, choose life!