Worshipful

What does it look and feel like to be worshipful? Can we find a way to worship in such a robust, thoughtful way that when we aren't in worship, the worship might linger and invigorate us?
Is it possible to live in the world--doing the dishes, listening to music, being stuck in traffic, enmeshed in a thicket of meetings at work--with a serene, abiding sense of God's presence despite all the racket, that we might do whatever we do for God, and sense God's presence?
And maybe more importantly: could all we do between Sundays--grocery shopping, paying bills, listening to music, taking a walk, visiting aging parents--actually enrich and inform what we do on Sunday morning, making worship itself more vigorous, profound, just plain real, and memorable, and thus heightening the likelihood that the worship will linger through the rest of the week?
This book is about living a worshipful life: understanding why we do what we do in Sunday morning worship, and then re-enacting those moods and actions all week long.


""I love this book! It has made me think differently about what I do in church on Sunday morning, and about how Sunday morning reaches toward and might reshape the things I do on Tuesday or Saturday. Part of what this book shows me is that whether I find worship 'meaningful' doesn't really matter; worship is for God, not for me. At the same time, James Howell does help me find worship more meaningful; he helps me notice some of the ways worship shimmers.""
--Lauren Winner, author of Mudhouse Sabbath and Wearing God; Associate Professor, Duke Divinity School

""As are all of Howell's books, Worshipful is illuminating and luminous. James offers us wonderfully illuminating insights that connect our worship in church to our work in the world. No Christian will sing, pray, listen to scripture, partake of the sacraments, or witness in the world the same after reading Worshipful.""
--Will Willimon, Professor of the Practice of Christian Ministry; United Methodist Bishop, retired; author of I'm Not from Here 

""Howell does much more than explain; he shows, unfolds, and reveals the way worship changes us, the world around us, and then introduces us to the world we cannot see. If worshippers start talking about this stuff, other people may actually want to join them in the countercultural act of worshipping something other than ourselves."" 
--Lillian Daniel, author of Tired of Apologizing for a Church I Don't Belong To; Senior Pastor, 1st Congregational Church, Dubuque, Iowa 

""Howell has written the best book about worship I have ever read! I did not want to put it down. His rich descriptions of, and his deep and penetrating questions about, what we do as we gather for worship lead the reader to experience worship in the midst of reading. This is a deeply satisfying book.""
--Adam Hamilton, Pastor; Author of Creed: What Christians Believe and Why



James C. Howell (BA, MDiv, PhD) is Senior Pastor of Myers Park United Methodist Church in Charlotte, and adjunct professor of preaching at Duke Divinity School. He is the author of fifteen books and is a popular speaker and blogger.