Worship is the arena in which God recalibrates our hearts, reforms our desires, and rehabituates our loves. Worship isn’t just something we do; it is where God does something to us. Worship is the heart of discipleship because it is the gymnasium in which God retrains our hearts. James Smith

The church’s worship is a uniquely intense site of the Spirit’s transformative presence. James Smith

Yes, Christian formation is a life-encompassing, Monday through Saturday, week in and week out project; but it radiates from, and is nourished by, the worship life of the congregation gathered around Word and Table. James Smith

Too often we look for the Spirit in the extraordinary when God has promised to be present in the ordinary. James Smith

In Christ we are given a heavenly passport; in his body we learn how to live like “locals” of his kingdom. James Smith

Christian worship is the feast where we acquire new hungers—for God and for what God desires—and are then sent into his creation to act accordingly. James Smith

Pastors need to be ethnographers of the everyday, helping parishioners see their own environment as one that is formative, and all too often deformative. James Smith

The point of apocalyptic literature is not prediction but unmasking—unveiling the realities around us for what they really are. While the Roman Empire pretends to be a gift to civilisation and the zenith of human accomplishment, John’s apocalyptic perspective from a heavenly angle shows us the reality: Rome is a monster. James Smith

To be human is to be a liturgical animal, a creature whose loves are shaped by our worship. And worship isn’t optional. James Smith

We become what we worship because what we worship is what we love. As we’ve seen, it’s not a question of whether you worship but what you worship—which is why John Calvin refers to the human heart as an “idol factory.” James Smith