He descended into hell…. I always wondered why the early Church felt that was an important thing to mention in the Apostles’ Creed. In short, emphasizing Christ’s journey into hell conveyed that there was no place, including the deepest recesses of hell, where the presence of Christ could not be found. As the body of Christ, we also must be willing to follow Christ’s lead and to travel into dark, gloomy and despairing realities, the living hells where people still continue to suffer and languish, and to find the ways to destroy that hell.

By lifting up the issues of AIDS, land mines, homelessness, the death penalty, the 3 Strikes law and the prison system during our recent Advent season, I probably deserved the title "Pastor Scrooge". I believe, however, that the body of Christ known as the Church has powerful alternatives, healing words, and forgiving options to offer this despairing world. Personally, the Christmas experience is powerless if it ignores the pain of the world. Luther spoke to this by drawing parallels between the wood of the manger and the wood of the cross; they simply cannot be separated. There can be no glory without the suffering, no resurrection without the cross. It is simply too easy to be lulled into the romanticism of Christmas and to completely miss the import of this birth while we’ve busied ourselves with the dizzying commercialism of Feel Good America. Images of horse drawn sleighs on snow covered lanes amidst Christmas lullabies are soothing, but they truly miss the revelatory moment, the hidden opportunities, the realization of God’s presence.

With the sanctity of life that we realize in the birth of Christ, many Christians hold that no one, including the State, has the right to take human life. We struggle with the inherent contradiction of violence being used to stop violence. Particularly, in the case of people who are mentally retarded, the death penalty cannot be said to deter or prevent crime; it is unfairly applied, judicial mistakes are more likely, and it violates international standards of justice. ["National consensus" was attributed for the recent reversal by the U.S. Supreme Court on this issue.] Our own state’s Three Strikes, You’re Out law currently being reviewed by the Supreme Court as cruel and unusual punishment has had a devastating impact on many families and flies in the face of grace, of repentance, of rehabilitation and healing…. I believe that the arms of Christ embrace all, reaching beyond the bars of all prisons.

As pastor, my task is to remain faithful to Scripture by lifting those areas of our world where we as a congregation and as individuals feel Christ calling us to minister. Where do our consciences lead us to take our stand because we can do no other? I assure you that I am not looking to "pick fights" with folks who hold differing opinions on issues of social debate. (If I want to a good fight, I’ll just call my mother.) I work in the church because this is where I find positive people of conviction, people of faith who believe that God can make a difference, in fact, that God makes all the difference. I work in the church because this is where dialogue and debate on important social issues goes on in a context of respect and genuine seeking of the truth. If we did not believe that God had the power to make peace, effect healing and reconciliation, or free us from our imprisonments, then apathy and indifference would be appropriate. But as people of faith we can walk into the hells of our day and know that Christ is already there waiting to help us destroy that hell, as the liturgy says, "to crush hell underfoot".

HIGHLIGHTS of the ELCA Bishop Mark Hanson’s visit to California Lutheran University on Dec 4, 2002:

• Bishop Hanson shared an inspiring image of the ecumenical efforts and dialogues of our ELCA Lutheran Church serving as the "ligament of the body of Christ", helping to attach muscle to bone, better enabling the functioning of the global church, the body of Christ. The current dialogues with five different church bodies evidence our strong commitment to ecumenism in our short 15-year history.
• Mention was made of the report by the Non-Profit Times which has found that Lutheran Services of America is ranked #1 in terms of most efficient provision of social services in the nation with $.92 of every dollar going into program with only $.08 toward administrative costs.
• 76% of Lutherans in local congregations have no idea their congregation is part of a larger church body; regional, national or international.