All I can say for myself is that I find the stories about Jesus to be the most profound and captivating thing I have ever encountered. This is not to say I understand everything in the gospels or that there aren't things I find troubling or perplexing in them, even things about Jesus. But there are moments -- the teachings and actions of Jesus -- that defy my ability to describe how they affect me, in the vision they cast and inspire and provoke within me. Having searched far and wide, I've encountered nothing like Jesus. Nothing in the history of philosophy. Nothing in the other world religions, admirable and profound as they are. I experience Jesus as a singularity. Unprecedented. Unreplicated.
This man is, as the early Christians knew and remembered him, Emmanuel, God-with-us.
And I think they're right.
So I worship this man by following him.
And in following him, I step into the story that shaped him and his imagination. It is the Jewish story, the story of Israel, the narrative of which is recounted in the Old Testament.
So I hallow and hold sacred that tradition which has taught me to worship Jesus by following him.
Through that tradition (which we Christians call Church), through the worship and rituals of that community in which Jesus is hallowed and remembered and lifted up. And in worshipping and following Jesus the way I do I want to endure in this, to participate in the tradition that is devoted to this singular task. The Christian Church is the tradition that worships and follows Jesus. So that's exactly where I want to be.
It's sometimes rough to be there, but I know of no other place to go.
For here, in this community, there is Emmanuel, God-with-us.