Trying to Explain Church

James wants to know why Church has to be so elaborate, why religious belief cannot be at least as vital with less ceremony.  It is a reasonable question and I was left having to rely on tradition as an explanation and community worship as our reason for being there.  I was satisfied with neither aspect of my explanation, and I was wondering later why I was there.  I think it is like so much of what I do.  It is looking for a link to a different time and hopefully a bridge that will link it to now.  It is hoping for the vitality I thought was there.  It is that tradition or continuity that brings me, sometimes reluctantly, to Church, though I wonder was it there even when I had thought it was, or wished it might be.  It is not yet just a habit.  Hopefully it will not become just that since that would not be reason enough to stay.