We celebrate Easter at home. Why? Next to Christmas, Easter is the busiest day of the year for churches. The seating is maxed out, parking is a nightmare, and the message is pretty much the same every year.
In a nutshell, it’s the day non-church goers go to church and the day church goers don’t go to church (at least some of us anyway).
I was raised going to church on Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Wednesday nights. Without fail, unless church was canceled for some odd reason, we were in our seats to hear the message. I remember even then getting to church early on Easter so we could find a place to park.
As I got older, moved out, and started go to church on my own, I started realizing that Easter Sunday
just did not make sense, at least not in my book, when it came to attending church. I did not like the crowds. I did not like being in the long lines waiting to get into the parking lot and out of the parking lot. I did not like the pompous attitude that came with “I am at church because it is Easter Sunday and I am dressed to the nines for it.”
Granted, not every church has these issues. Small churches are probably least likely to experience Easter Sunday madness. However, I always seemed to attend large churches, and you just can’t escape Easter Sunday madness at them.
These days I am content to stay home and let everyone else fight their way into and out of church buildings on Easter Sunday. I am content to avoid the insane traffic on the freeways and city streets that comes from too many people trying to do “the right thing” on Easter Sunday.
I watch an Easter service on-line now, thanks to on-line churches. Yea! They even show the music. You get the full experience of remembering and celebrating Christ’s death and resurrection in the peace and calm of your own home.
Easter will always be important to me because of the reason for the day. I just don’t believe I have to go to a physical building to celebrate it. People are God’s church not a building. On Easter that means I can join other believers in watching a streaming message from the comforts of my home. I can also choose to celebrate it on my own, quietly, with my husband.
Christ did an amazing act for us by dying on that cross and rising from death, but I don’t have to go to church on Easter Sunday for Him to know I am thankful and grateful for His grace and forgiveness.
So, we don’t go to church on Easter Sunday. We celebrate at home.
