Invitations to Abundance: How the Feasts of the Bible Nourish Us Today

“At the center of human community, there has always been a feast. Annual holidays, family gatherings, parties, and the Lord's Supper itself point not only to the fulfillment of our physical hunger, but of an even deeper hunger for God and each other which so often involves a shared table. Surveying the many feasts of Scripture, Alicia does a wonderful job connecting us to this sacred longing of ours. After reading this book, it will be difficult for you to think of any meal as insignificant again.”

“Who doesn't love a great meal the best of ingredients, prepared by an excel lent cook, and presented in a way that awakens our appetite? That's what Invi tations to Abundance is. It is rich food for heart, mind, and soul-filled with the best of ingredients, the Scripture, and prepared by a creative and insight ful writer who presents the truths of Scripture and the beauty of Christ in a way that makes us hungry for more of him.”

“Jesus' promise of abundant life has become for some a hope for more stuff, better health, or a shortcut to fame. Alicia Akins' beautiful, faithful writing offers readers powerful reorientation toward the kind of abundance to which Jesus refers as she traces the themes of feasting through Scripture. The hospi tality God offers his invitation to remember and experience for ourselves his gifts of deliverance, mercy, wisdom, and more-will reorient us toward true abundance as we find our places at his table.”

“This book is a banquet, a ten-course meal celebrating who God is, what God has done, and who God is calling us to be. Akins invites us to the table to rest in God's love, feast on God's goodness, and be refreshed by God's Spirit. A stunning, faithful, poetic debut.”

“In this much-needed reflection on the significance of feasting in scripture and in our shared lives together, Alicia J. Akins has spread for readers her own nurturing and savory feast of hope, healing, remembrance, celebration, expectation, and longing. Who among us does not ache to be present at that final wedding feast toward which all of history is flowing, in a day when allour losses are restored and sufferings redeemed? Alicia's thoughtful essays fan the flames of that same eternal ache, even while offering us a more rooted sense of our own place in the long history of redemption. I will continue to ponder the themes of this book for years to come.”

“In Invitations to Abundance, Alicia pulls together the many feasts introduced throughout Scripture, probing their depth to understand what they reveal about one another and the nature of God. From the Israelites' mandated feasts to the imagery of feasts in the wisdom literature and the life and par ables of Jesus, the book looks ahead to the culmination of all feasts in the promised feast to come: the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. This book is for all who love to taste and see God's goodness in the words of Scripture.”

“The hardships of life in this world have the ability distort our view of God into as a stingy, closed-fisted master. In Invitations to Abundance, Alicia Akins beautifully portrays for us God's actual delight in being a Lord who lavishly provides. Through the pages of the book and the rhythm of liturgy, she wel comes us to the feast. Come, eat, and be filled.”

“Alicia Akins' book is a beautiful work of practical theology-a delicious, fill ing meal. Weaving her way expertly through the feasts of the Bible, Akins helps us see God as humanity's consummate host. Then, discovering our place as guests at his table, we learn to give thanks, practice dependence, and persevere in suffering. This is the kind of book that both nourishes and leaves you hungry-to taste and see for yourself that the Lord is good.”

“Through her book, Invitations to Abundance, Alicia Akins invites us into a rhythm of remembering, delighting, and experiencing God through the practice of feasting in the Bible. She hosts us at the table, explaining the con text and reasons for the feasts and teaching us their meaning for our faith today. Each chapter ends with a liturgy-a needed pause and reflection, like a satisfied sigh at the end of a delicious meal. Receive God's invitation to come and eat through this book, and your soul will be fed.”