In the introduction to the book Bell describes an art show that took place at his church with the theme of peace. One of the artists included a quote from Mohandes Gandhi the late, great Indian peacemaker. Most people appreciated the quote, but not all. Beneath it someone attached a piece of paper saying “Reality check: He’s in hell” — meaning Gandhi. Bell wondered how this person could be so sure. Did the note writer have official confirmation from God that Gandhi was in hell?

And Bell goes on to ask how a religion which is rooted and grounded in hope, the resurrection promise in Christ, can be interpreted as so hopeless for vast numbers of people both past and present. The Good News is that God loves you and me –hallelujah! But if you follow a certain line of reasoning God is also willing to consign billions of us to eternal torment. So hell is the crowded place – standing room only – and heaven has all kinds of vacancies.

The scandal I mentioned is that Bell would even raise questions about all of this. Before his book, Love Wins, was even published he was condemned, right, left and centre. He has been labelled as dangerous, a heretic, a spiritual wolf in shepherds clothing. Strangely, Bell still believes in sin, and hell and, of course, heaven.

Well, here we are on Easter morning and this is the day of days when we declare that Christ’s love wins. We don’t usually think of the love of Christ in terms of winning and losing. Yet on the Day of Resurrection we declare that the love of Christ is stronger than the darkness, stronger than fear, stronger than the grave.

Today we heard Matthew’s version of what happened on Easter morning, although almost always we listen to this story from John’s gospel where we read about Mary weeping outside the tomb and how she doesn’t recognize Jesus in the midst of her grief. Her eyes are opened only gradually to the Risen Christ, and then she is filled with joy.

In the verses just before the resurrection story in Matthew we are told that Jesus’ body was put in the tomb and the stone was rolled across the opening and actually sealed. If that wasn’t enough, a guard was set to protect those who might have notions of retrieving Jesus’ broken and lifeless body. This emphasis on the body of the dead Jesus being locked away is emphasized.

At the dawn of Easter morning three women two of them Mary’s, come to the tomb as the earth shakes around them. Then God’s messenger, the angel, says to the women “Do not be afraid . . . he is not here,” which may be easy for an angel to say but not so easy for any of us to hear. In the gospel the women are filled with a mixture of fear and joy, but joy wins and love wins because Jesus appears to them and tells them not to be afraid.

What an important affirmation this morning because there are times when it seems that the real message of our lives is that Sadness Wins. We are often weighed down by grief and disappointment which gradually but relentlessly pummels our spirits and robs us of joy. We lose the ones we love and even though we know that the end comes for us all we shed our tears of loss. We may experience illness which changes the way we look to the future. A member of our extended family received a tough diagnosis recently and even though we are hopeful that her illness is treatable it affects us all.

We are certainly confronted on a daily basis with the evidence that Hatred Wins. Whether it is news of the troubling murder of a young university student not that far from here, or the images of the wounded and dying in places such as Libya, the impression we could get is that this is a violent world where we

Of course it can seem that Fear Wins, including the fear which is often encouraged by religion. It is the fear of those not like us, and the fear that Christ’s love is not really for us, and that we can never really measure up.

These mantras of Sadness Wins, Hatred Wins, Fear Wins can create a “hell on earth” in which we are scarred by bitterness, or anxiety, or self-loathing. We’re all different, but I know from conversations that some of you are like me in that you occasionally waken in the night when all the demons which are manageable during the day loom large and sit on the end of the bed.

So it is important for us to hear the angel of Easter today, in whatever way we want to interpret this, and to hear the living and resurrected Christ. Both of them acknowledge our fears and invite us to move beyond them into the joy of new and abundant life. I must admit that I’m not all that inclined toward winning and losing when it comes to my Christian faith, but this is a time to affirm that there can be victory over death in all its forms.

A newcomer to our congregation asked me whether we ever repeat one of the ancient confessions of the church which we call the Apostles Creed, and my answer was “not often” because we use a statement of faith in more contemporary language which we call the New Creed. But the conversation got me thinking and when I reexamined the creed I was reminded that the oldest versions speak of Christ who overcomes death in both hell and heaven.

I believe in God the Father Almighty,

Maker of heaven and earth.

And in Jesus Christ his only Son our Lord;

who was conceived by the Holy Ghost,

born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate,

was crucified, dead, and buried;

he descended into hell;

the third day he rose again from the dead;

he ascended into heaven,

and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Almighty;

from thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.

Well, the language may be archaic but it is an affirmation of life. I do prefer our New Creed and these words:

We are called to be the Church...

to proclaim Jesus, crucified and risen,

our judge and our hope.

In life, in death, in life beyond death,

God is with us.

We are not alone.

Thanks be to God.

So, today we can affirm that the supposedly sealed tomb of sorrow and death could not hold Jesus back from life. We are grateful that the Risen Christ has been “to hell and back” for us and that hell has been vanquished. We can also proclaim that we are “heavenly,” made in the image of God and redeemed in Christ and that we can never be alone.

You may need to lay your burdens down as you share in communion today, or reaffirm your resurrection promise. Christ loves you and awaits you.

I am going to give the last word to Rob Bell today:

Whatever you have been told about the end –

the end of your life,

the end of time,

the end of the world –

Jesus passionately urges us to live like the end in here,

now,

today.

Love is what God is,

love is why Jesus came,

and love is why he continues to come

year after year to person after person...

May you experience this vast,

expansive, infinite, indestructible love

that has been yours all along.

May you discover that this love is as wide

as the sky and as small as the cracks in

your heart no one else knows about.

And may you know,

deep in your bones,

that love wins.

Hallelujah, Love Wins!