Liturgy and Life

Covenant Seminary Prof, Jack Collins rightly conveys from Genesis:

"God made a good world as the arena for man to live out his relationship with his Maker. Though mankind has fallen, the goodness of the creation remains the arena for man's life--but now it is the arena for redemption. The ordinary activities of life, such as eating, working, procreating, and breathing are good. Any pain that man finds in these stems not from from badness of the activities but from the sinfulness of man. Physical ordinances are a fitting means for God to work out his purposes for his people: he ordains sacrifices, beautiful garments for his priests, and an elaborate shrine for corporate worship, with 'smells and bells' in the liturgy. The people use their bodies, bowing, kneeling, prostrating themselves, raising hands, and so forth, in their act of worship."

"Indeed, the three main festivals of the liturgical calendar are connected with the agricultural calendar: Passover with the barley harvest, Pentecost with the wheat harvest and the first fruits, and Tabernacles (or Booths) with the autumn fruit harvest. It is no contradiction, however, that they are also connected with events in redemptive history: Passover with the Exodus from Egypt, Tabernacles with the wandering in the wilderness, and--later; anyhow--Pentecost with the giving of the law at Sinai. The God who created is the same God who redeemed Israel and made a covenant with her; and faithful adherence to the covenant enables God's people to enjoy the creation."

From his book, Genesis 1-4: A Linguistic, Literary and Theological Commentary, p. 244

G. Mark Sumpter