Invitations to Abundance - by Alicia J Akins (Paperback)

About the Book

From Genesis through Revelation, redemptive history is captured through feasts. Invitations to Abundance brings alive the feasts of scripture--from the well-known to the less familiar--and reveals how relevant they are in our modern world.

Book Synopsis

What do the feasts of the Bible reveal about our place in today's tired world?
In short, everything.
From Genesis through Revelation, redemptive history is captured through feasts. Through them, God calls his people to commemorate mercy, delight in grace, and commune with him and with each other. In the process, he proves he doesn't ration his rich, soul-satisfying love toward us but instead lets it overflow.

Invitations to Abundance brings to life the festivities described in the Bible and illuminates how relevant they remain in a modern world defined by isolation and disillusionment. When your heart needs encouragement, these wondrous celebrations remind you why, where, and how you can find security, unity, and hope.

Each chapter seats us at a unique feast from Scripture--from the well known to the less familiar--and considers how you can respond worshipfully as a partaker of these celebrations. Invitations to Abundance shows you how to reciprocate God's initiating kindness and what it means to live knowing God's table is spread before you.

Review Quotes

"The hardships of life in this world have the ability to distort our view of God into 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 welcomes us to the feast. Come, eat, and be filled."
--Rev. Dr. Irwyn L. Ince, Jr., author of The Beautiful Community

"Alicia Akins' book is a beautiful work of practical theology--a delicious, filling 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."
--Jen Pollock Michel, award-winning author of Surprised by Paradox and A Habit Called Faith

"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."
--Scott Sauls, senior pastor of Christ Presbyterian Church and author of A Gentle Answer and Beautiful People Don't Just Happen

"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 parables 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."
--Kendall Vanderslice, author of We Will Feast: Rethinking Dinner, Worship, and the Community of God

"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 all our 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."
--Douglas Kaine McKelvey, author of Every Moment Holy

"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 hospitality 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."
--Michelle Van Loon, author of Moments and Days: How Our Holy Celebrations Shape Our Faith

"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."
--Courtney Ellis, author of Uncluttered and Happy Now

"Who doesn't love a great meal--the best of ingredients, prepared by an excellent cook, and presented in a way that awakens our appetite? That's what Invitations 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 insightful writer who presents the truths of Scripture and the beauty of Christ in a way that makes us hungry for more of him."
--Nancy Guthrie, author and Bible teacher

About the Author

Alicia Akins is a writer and recovering expat based in DC. After living and working in Asia for five years, she considers it a second home. She is a Masters of Arts in Biblical Studies student at Reformed Theological Seminary, Washington and serves as a deaconess in her church, Grace DC Downtown. You can find more of her writing at FeetCryMercy.com​ and follow her on twitter ​@feetcrymercy.