the sprawling layout of the building is anchored by larger pavilions or sanctuaries akin to the vestibules of medieval cathedrals.17

When we stop worrying about smartphones just in terms of content (what we’re looking at) and start to consider the rituals that tether us to them throughout the day, we’ll notice that the very form of the practice comes loaded with an egocentric vision that makes me the center of the universe.

Little things repeated over time in community have a formative effect (why do you think US public schools begin each day with their own version of a creed, the Pledge of Allegiance?). As Winnie the Pooh once said, “Sometimes the smallest things take up the most room in your heart.”

Has all of your new knowledge and information and thinking liberated you from those habits? As anyone who has ever attended a meeting of Alcoholics Anonymous well knows, “Your best thinking got you here.”2

If God meets us as liturgical animals who are creatures of habit, he also meets us as imaginative animals who are moved and affected by the aesthetic.

As a sacrament, baptism is not a bottom-up expression of our faith but a top-down symbol of God’s gracious promises. He chose us before we could believe; he loves before we even know how.

For this reason, one of the most important decisions we can make regarding faith formation in our homes is the congregation to which we commit ourselves. Wise faith formation begins in the hub of the church’s gathered worship life. So one of the best decisions parents can make for their children’s faith journey is to immerse them in a congregation

Aristotle offers another important insight. He emphasizes that virtues are habits that take practice. Habits are acquired “dispositions” that get woven into our character. And the way we acquire such habits is through practice and repetition—through “rituals,” you might say.

historic Christian worship is rooted in the conviction that God is the primary actor or agent in the worship encounter. Worship works from the top down, you might say. In worship we don’t just come to show God our devotion and give him our praise; we are called to worship because in this encounter God (re)makes and molds us top-down.