Finding "the Church of Christ"

If religion is like marriage, you make a commitment and you stick with it for life.  

If religion is like marriage, you discern a) if it is for you, and then if so, b) which one?

If religion is like marriage, then it is not a matter of "truth" but choice and preference.

If that's the case, then I have chosen that indeed, religion, and Christianity specifically, is a worldview I choose to live through.  I suppose one could make a case for an analogy with "an arranged marriage", since I was baptized at six weeks old into the Catholic church, and that's what I grew up with.  

So one way or another, I've made this commitment, especially at age 14 when I was confirmed into the Catholic church.  I remember thinking, "what else would I be?" But that was before religion became an autistic special interest of mine. Anyway, regardless how I got here, I'm Catholic now, and since I cannot wrap my head around the idea of discerning which of the Christian denominations is "the" correct one (because, I believe this is a false question).

At the present time, I believe the truth Jesus taught has been buried under tons of human innovations, even those that come down to us from ancient times.  Ancient liturgies are nonetheless liturgies that were created by human beings.  Jesus did not instruct us on any specific liturgy.  

He said to worship God "in spirit and in truth".  

He said to "repent, be baptized, pick up your cross, and follow" Him.

He said to "take and eat.... take and drink... do this in remembrance of me" when He instituted the Eucharist.

He taught us to address God as "Our Father" and gave us the Lord's Prayer as an example of how we ought to turn to God.

He told us to go to our inner room and close the door and pray in secret, so as not to boast.

He told us to fast without making it obvious that we are fasting.

He said He is the vine, His followers are the branches, and that we are to remain in Him in like manner.

He said He is the way, the truth, and the life.  

He said to love one another as He has loved us, and we do so by keeping His commandments.

He told His apostles to travel the world and preach the message He taught them.

Jesus's apostles were tasked with the minutiae of "how" to carry on the faith and teach the Gospel.  This is where the disagreements start.  People think they know best how to interpret Jesus's commission.  And so many of us have fallen prey to equating the teachings of the early followers of Jesus as one and the same as the actual teachings of Jesus.

Surely Jesus must have known this would happen, and yet he nonetheless didn't leave a written record of what or how to teach.  Either it doesn't matter which of the countless denominations we follow, so long as they are centered on the person of Jesus Christ, or this is like a real-life "parable" where Jesus teaches the crowds in parables but reserves the explanations only to those who seek Him out and ask about it.  If that's the case, then we have personal revelation back on the table as the second half of God's revelation to us, the first half being universal revelation of nature.  The in-between, the smallest bit is the group/third-party revelation that we have in the New Testament.

But even among those who preach and teach about Jesus, we still find pretty simple, vague admonitions:

James 1:27: "Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world." (This last part can definitely be discussed at length.)

Acts 10:35: "But in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him."

Ecclesiastes 12:13: "Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man."

Note the absence of instructions for church attendance, participation at Mass, one liturgy over another... basically all the details are left up to the individuals to discern on their own.  The believer must develop a relationship with Christ in order to gain those answers.  There are no rote answers that come down blanket style from "the church of Christ".  The church is not Christ.  The church is us, His body.

That doesn't mean the whole of the Gospel is just "Jesus and I".  We do have to do it in community.  We interact with other believers.  We share our talents.  We gather to "break bread" (table fellowship in the manner of Jesus) and to hear Scriptures.  To sing and pray together, and to help each other.  If these things are happening, then the Christian gathering is valid, licit, beneficial, and blessed.  To suggest otherwise is to split hairs and prioritize human traditions over the teachings and example of Jesus.