Choose Love. Choose Life.

The reading today was about our love for God. You may wonder, what am I doing today talking about a contract with God near Valentine’s Day. The key is that our half of the contract goes beyond following rules.

In Deuteronomy 30, the author describes how God’s contract with God’s people was set up. The alternatives were stark. Choose life and prosperity or death and adversity. To receive life and prosperity one had to be “loving the Lord your God, walking in his ways, and observing his commandments, decrees, and ordinances.” The alternative was that “if your heart turns away and you do not hear but are led astray to bow down to other gods and serve them,” then you shall die. The promised life includes long years and many descendants. We are meant to follow God’s commands. Commands that seem particularly relevant today are “You shall treat the foreigner in your land as the native born, love them as yourself” (Leviticus 19:34) and “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Leviticus 19:18).

Let’s look at the part about us loving God. It’s not enough to be following God’s commands, but we need to love God which means trust, loyalty, and shared values. If God is the Creator, then loving God means loving God’s creation. If God is the Mother and Father of us all, then loving God means loving all of God’s children. If God is love then loving God means loving all that God loves.

Life seems to be the biggest benefit on our side of the contract. However choosing the way of life seems to have expanded over time beyond just commandments and ordinances. Living in God’s ways can bring its own rewards. Moreover, choosing life may be more about offering life to those around us and living into a life of abundance than getting to be old and having many descendants.

Most of the time our choices don’t seem as stark as life or death. When I was growing up, people agreed to a selfless form of love referred to as agape or charity. People would argue about HOW to accomplish our goals not that they were the wrong goals.

Would we take care of the poor through donations, charities, and private foundations or would we care for the poor with taxes, government programs, laws, and benefits? In my world, whether we should care for the poor was not a serious question. When it came to healing the sick who were without means the options were similar. Should we heal the sick with religious hospitals and private nonprofits or should we heal the sick with government funded hospitals or government funded care? There were opposing positions to be had, but there seemed to be a general consensus. Choices these days seem to be shifting to a more significant divide.

I set before you life and death. Choose life. We are being told that not everyone deserves health care. If people can’t afford insurance they shouldn’t get health care. Subsidies that kept premiums affordable were allowed to expire. This is not choosing life.

Immigration detainees lost health care. We were told that the foreigners in our land did not deserve it. Heather Cox Richardson explains, “On January 20, Judd Legum of Popular Information reported that ICE stopped paying third-party providers for medical care for detainees on October 3, 2025, and that it would not start even to process claims again until at least April 30, 2026.” The VA provided health care to detainees from 2002 to 2023 which helped fill in the gaps.

After pressure from a right wing nonprofit who saw this as stealing from veterans, “On October 3…the VA ‘abruptly and instantly terminated’ its agreement with ICE,’ leaving it with no way to provide prescribed medication or access off-site care.” [i]

People in ICE custody still struggle to get adequate care. This is not choosing life.

Still, there are people out there trying to provide health care for all. Locally, Sky Lakes and Klamath Open Door offer fees on a sliding scale so that no one is denied care. Klamath Open Door, Sky Lakes, and Klamath Basin Behavioral Health believe no one should be turned away by inability to pay. This is choosing life.

People who have long been working on a national health system for the US continue their long slow effort. They are undaunted by what those of us new to the struggle see as major setbacks. Even as the US pulls back on international aid, groups like Doctors Without Borders and Mercy Ships provide health care around the world. In the wake of the US pulling out of the World Health Organization (WHO), California is connecting with the WHO on a state level. They are choosing life and walking in God’s ways.

I set before you life and death. Choose life. Last week Leigh told you about two women, Tippy Amundson and Heather Zemian. They were apprehended by ICE and still felt the need to help out. One thing in particular stuck out to me. Amundson laid the ICE agent having the seizure down. She moved his gun without considering hurting him. She moved it from his hip to the front of his body so he could lay on his side in the recovery position. Further Amundson spoke with compassion. She said the gentle reassuring words that she knew he needed. “You’re going to be safe” and told him that she would stay with him till the ambulance came. [ii]

They chose life.

In September, 3 ICE officers in Chicago stopped on their way to a detention center when they saw a tractor trailer collide with a car causing a four car pile up. They rescued a man from a burning vehicle using their breaching kit[iii] to save a him rather than using it to take someone into custody. In that moment they chose life.

This is not to create a false equivalence between protesters and ICE. ICE uses force. ICE abducts. These ICE officers may have done awful things. But seeing them doing good offers the potential that they might do more good given the right circumstances. It’s important not to turn them into two dimensional villains. There is hope for them. Good must be encouraged.

Choosing life is not just a choice in the moment, it can take preparation too. Learning things like First Aid and CPR means that you are ready to help when needed. It can also mean being willing to risk yourself. Being grounded even when in danger can make the difference between acting and freezing. The preparation done by people going on marches and sitting at lunch counters that Leigh described last week goes a long ways. If you are prepared for yelling, taunting, and even people striking you allows you to hold fast to the way of peace. Holding onto values means that even when you are tempted to turn towards hatred and death you can still choose life.

I set before you love and hate. Choose love. Alex Pretti protected ICE agents by directing traffic around them even as he recorded their actions. Pretti stepped in when ICE agents pepper sprayed and pushed a woman to the ground. “Are you OK?” he asked. Pretti moved to protect her. Multiple agents then threw Pretti to the ground and pepper sprayed him. One was hitting Pretti and they pulled Pretti’s gun out. Pretti was then shot by an ICE agent 10 times in five seconds. [iv]

Who chose love that day?

I set before you love and life, hatred and death. Choose love and life. Politicians tell us not everyone deserves to eat. SNAP, formerly known as food stamps, is facing cuts through the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. The cuts come both as direct cuts and more hoops to jump through. To take away food from the mouths of people that need it is to no longer see them as human. Believing stories of welfare queens and people barely scraping by eating caviar is to choose the way of lies and to abandon the way of truth. Your hatred may burn away your guilt but it cannot change the truth.

Local grocery stores are doing gleaning. They take products on the edge of expiration and give them to food banks. Diverting meats and produce from the trash is relatively inexpensive but it makes a big difference. Local food pantries like our Interfaith Food Pantry distribute food primarily contributing space and volunteers. Groups like the Roundhouse Foundation support Oregon pantries like ours allowing us to purchase more food to support our growing client numbers. National level groups like Feeding America both provide grants and lobby for food and funds to be sent into the food bank system. Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL) helps lobby the federal government on a variety of issues including SNAP. Groups like Oxfam and World Central Kitchen feed people around the world. Which ones of these chose love?

When we are being attacked or seeing others attacked it is easy to lean into anger and even rage. Your feelings are valid and you can choose how they affect your actions. Over time holding anger too tightly can become hate. The other becomes less than human to us. This is not the way of love. This is not the way of peace. Renee Good’s final words to the man who shot her were “I’m not mad at you.”

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. reminded us that “Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that”(Sermon at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church). Our love for our enemies can transform the relationship. We need to hold onto hope to help the other move beyond fear and defensive anger to see us as human again.

We are called to put down the sword as Peter was when he began to resist Christ’s arrest by cutting off an ear (John 18:10-11). How can we win without guns? You may remember from a previous sermon that scientific research by Erica Chenoweth supports the understanding that nonviolent movements are more successful in effecting change than the violent ones. [v]

The way of life may surprise you with success when you only saw despair. As Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that.” (Sermon at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church).

US Olympic athletes who are in the sort of position to be told to shut up and smile are speaking out. Amber Glenn, a figure skater, uses her platform as an Olympian to stand up for LGBTQ rights. Olympian Alex Ferreira says, “The Olympics represent peace, so let’s not only bring world peace but domestic peace within our country.” Svea Irving from Winter Park, Colorado says “I just continue to represent my values [which are] compassion and love and respect for others.” Snowboard star Chloe Kim, whose parents emigrated to the U.S. from South Korea said “in moments like these it is important for us to unite and stand up for one another.” Kim said, “We need to lead with love and compassion, and I would love to see some more of that.” [vi]

Erica Chenoweth lists a shift in the loyalty of security forces as a key to success for movements for change. If the security forces can move out of survival mode and see those around them as human, then transformation can take place. This may be ICE, the FBI, the military or all of the above.

A disputed video from 11 days before Alex Pretti died, showed he was yelling at an ICE agent and kicked the rear of an ICE vehicle so hard he smashed the taillight. [vii]

His anger is understandable but in that moment, he was building no bridges. In Chenoweth’s words he was not causing a shift in loyalty.

We cannot always persuade the other, but it is up to us to try. He did not advance the movement. Neither was he demanding justice. He was not even tactically disabling a vehicle. Protest yes, but protest with honor and purpose. Do not turn to anger and destruction for their own sake. He did not choose love.

When we cannot prick the consciences of our enemies, we still may reach those who are apathetic or merely silent in our society. Inspiring love can move those on the sidelines into action. Love can grow the movement. Another key factor that Chenoweth lists for success of a nonviolent movement is a diversity of people. To reach a tipping point where things will changeaa people from all walks of life need to be involved. The more people feel included and on the inside the better.

Jesus said, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” (Matthew 5:43-44). Even when love for our enemies does not transform them it continues to transform us. Praying for them helps raise us to be our best selves in the most difficult circumstances. We surely will be challenged and tempted. No greater love is there than this: to lay down one’s life for another (John 15:13). This love is so much more selfless for a stranger than a friend.

It is tempting to turn to despair and honestly believe God has abandoned us when adversity is not your choice. In Romans 8, Paul reminds us that “neither death, nor life…will be able to separate us from the love of God.” (Romans 8:38-39) We may feel as Paul quotes in that chapter, “For your sake we are being killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep to be slaughtered” (Romans 8:36). Yet Paul still promises that we will be victorious (8:37). With God loving us, how can we ever fully and finally be defeated.

I set before you light and darkness. Choose light. Even as you despise the enemy it is easy to covet their tactics. Many argue that we should meet violence with violence. Paul warned us of the temptation to turn to the ways of evil: “Do not be overcome by evil; overcome evil with good.” -Romans 12:21 Chenoweth’s research reveals “If campaigns allow their repression to throw the movement into total disarray or they use it as a pretext to militarize their campaign, then they’re essentially co-signing what the regime wants — for the resisters to play on its own playing field.” Do not abandon love and choose violence.

Yet, we know that our protests challenging those in power may lead to our imprisonment or some, like Jesus, will face death. In Romans 8, Paul says neither rulers nor powers could separate us from God’s love. Love is not defeated by violence. Violence reveals the strength and depth of love on the other side. We are not eager for death, but we seek to let go of fear.

Death is not victory for the powers of the world though they may believe it. The Gospel of John tells us “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not understand it.” (John 1:5) Our light may feel small and insignificant when faced with the depth of evil and darkness in the world, but, as we are reminded by Francis of Assisi, “All the darkness in the world cannot extinguish the light of a single candle.” (The Little Flowers of St. Francis of Assisi).

When you lobby for housing legislation, funding for SNAP, and health care for all you are choosing love. When you donate your time and resources whether through sharing buildings, gleaning at the grocery store where you work, or volunteering at the food pantry you choose to shine your light despite the darkness. Helping even one person makes a difference. There’s no such thing as just words. When you speak out for love, compassion and peace you step into love and shine your light. When you provide health care or mental health care you are choosing life and love likewise when you work to get access for all.

Choose the way of life. Seek life not only for yourself but for others. Choose love. God’s love is always there for us. Love never ends. Choose light. Darkness will not get what you need and you will lose yourself in the process.

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