...am I bad to not want to go to church on Easter?

[Debitt]

However, I must say this (at the risk of ruffling some feathers), I have no right to be disappointed if service was goofy, boring, cookie-cut, generally nothing special, whatever. I do not go to church to be entertained or to judge others. It's an act of worship.

I don't go to church to be entertained, or to look at other people and judge them - no one should be attending a service if that's they're main goal. I go to feel close to God and to worship, and on Easter Sunday, the church I go to turns into a madhouse. There are cars and people everywhere - the environment literally turns into somethin painfull close to an amusement park. It takes you half the service to find a seat, and I've missed the main part of worship when it's this crowded, and with people running about and attendants directing the flow of 'traffic', it becomes hard to worship or to pay attention to the message. I just feel like I'm better off having an extended quiet time instead of having to deal with that sort of situation, because it really does take a lot of your focus off the word, and having the same thing discussed every Easter doesn't help much either.

[ShiroiHikari]

Well, I think this is sort of a personal conviction thing. If you feel you should go, go. If you feel a quiet time at home or with family is better for you, then do that. I -personally- don't think you have to be in a church to worship God. But that's just me.

[alf4office]

._. ...my mother was guilt tripping me about this a few minutes ago - but in all honesty, I don't like going to church on Easter. Christmas is almost as bad. I mean, all of a sudden EVERYONE in town is going, just because it's Easter, and the church I go to puts on this big show - and it's the same thing every year. Is it bad that I feel like I don't get anything out of Easter services? Is it wrong to want to stay home and have a few minutes of quiet time instead?

I know Easter represents the most important thing that's ever happened in history - His resurrection....but can't I just celebrate it inside of my heart where it means so much more instead of getting taken to a cookie cutter church service?

Well, it depends. If you church really does do a very light, fluffy, cookie cutter sermon, than maybe some time reading your bible and praying would be better.

However. I know that many churchs put a lot of time into making a pretty rocking Easter service. Even though I've been a Christian for a while I still take a lot from the service.

I would suggest going to those special holiday services for 2 reasons. One, Sunday mornings in Church give you an incredible oppertunity to learn more about Christ. Two, while you may know everything about the Easter story, the person next to you may not. Since a lot of unbelievers come to Chruch on holidays, it gives you a great chance to chare the gospel with them.