I am on the launch team for Joel Clarkson’s new book Sensing God: Experiencing the Divine in Nature, Food, Music, and Beauty, which comes out today. Because of its food and feasting content, I thought I’d share a few of my favorite relevant quotes with you here. The entire book is absolutely beautiful, encouraging, and well worth reading so don’t stop here!
You can read my full review on Goodreads; there as here I will acknowledge that I received an audio, electronic, and physical copy of the book from NavPress books.
Finally, the realization came to me: This is what my heart had anticipated. This is what I was made for: community, and communion, for the joy of the feast. Each bite had reinstated me to the remembrance of those who loved me and to the goodwill of those gathered there, expressed to me in their shared fellowship. Each savoring of a new flavor returned me to that truth and grounded me in the comfort of that knowing. … This is because the feast is at the heart of the whole of God’s story, and at the very middle of it is the invitation into communion.
Joel Clarkson, Sensing God
We were given appetites, not to consume the world and forget it, but to taste its goodness and hunger to make it great.
Robert Farrar Capon, The Supper of the Lamb
All are welcome, not because they have earned the feast but because God has made them worthy through His overflowing, abundant love, a love which knows no scarcity or limit. At the very heart of the table is the feast of love God has prepared for us, the meal of Himself which He has given in full, holding back nothing.
Joel Clarkson, Sensing God
This is the spirit of the feast: that in Jesus, we are given an invitation into participation. No longer need we wait at a distance, trying to understand, grasping at some sense of assurance or knowledge. In Jesus, we are offered true food and true drink, sustenance that restores us, body and soul. Spread before us is a meal that nourishes our most manifest needs, piques our appetite for the good, the true, and the beautiful, and enlivens our desire for full communion.
Joel Clarkson, Sensing God
This spirit of the feast is the summation of the whole of this book: God has given Himself in a sumptuous banquet through Christ, allowing His limitless life to overflow into our world and reach out to us in every encounter of our senses. At the heart of this overflowing grace is the expression of gift, that all is given freely to us. God withholds nothing from us, and all we need do is receive. Every rhythm expressed in this book, every activity or posture or disposition, is laid out before us, gathered in a sumptuous and abundant meal, inviting us to come and dine. Each sense is an ingredient in the lavish meal of the divine life set before us, and together, all those elements make up the whole of the masterful meal to which we are invited.
Joel Clarkson, Sensing God