Who is Jesus?

I think I'll just start with a few pieces on our journey to Anglicanism, or at least make an attempt to explain why we're here, and not where we've been before. The website for the Episcopal Church provided me with a decent enough starting place with a brief survey entitled, "Who is Jesus Christ to you?"

So, here are their questions, and my responses:

Who is Jesus to you? How is Jesus important in your life? In today's world? For today's church?

Jesus is the incarnate Word, the fullness of God and of humanity. On a personal level, he is lord of my life, and I believe him to be savior to all. He is the bridegroom to the church's bride, the perfect lover for the perfect mess. In Christ there is hope of forgiveness, the promise of resurrection, and the fulfillment of humanity's longing for restoration with God and each other.

Has a certain text or artistic work (besides the Bible) shaped your understanding of Jesus?

Aslan the lion has always been a more vivid image of Christ to me than the Jesus of the gospels, though with time I have come to cherish those older portraits as well. Kazantzakis' Last Temptation and, disparately, Kevin Smith's Dogma have also added depth and nuance to my understanding of Jesus as the living Christ, though I remain unashamedly Chalcedon-compliant in my christology.

Has a certain experience shaped your understanding of Jesus?

Various mystical encounters through prayer and meditation, even from an early age, have grounded my understanding of who Jesus is, but an encounter with an illiterate, homeless Bible teacher last summer put flesh on the skeleton-Christ my imagination (and the Spirit) had erected in my mind.