It’s great to celebrate the heritage of the church. A few weeks ago, I attended the 100th anniversary of the dedication of Zion Lutheran Church in Walla Walla, NSW, where I had served as pastor in the 1990s. This was the congregation’s third church building.
Revisiting Walla Walla was also a celebration of our family’s heritage. We were part of their heritage and they ours for almost a decade of that 100 years. Our Children attended two schools of our LEVNT region: St Paul’s College, Walla Walla and St John’s, Jindera.
It wasn’t just the building’s heritage or our heritage that we celebrated. Before the service, worshippers were reminded of the heritage of faith that was passed down through the generations. So important was the Christian faith to the original families who arrived in covered wagons after a long trek from the Barossa Valley, that they had put their resources into building a ‘house of God’ for worship before they built houses for themselves. Current worshippers expressed their thanks for the way that their forebears had diligently passed the Christian faith down throughout the generations.
It should come as no surprise that the founders of St Paul’s College chose as their motto, ‘Nisi Dominus Frustra’ - “unless the Lord builds the house, its builders labour in vain” (Psalm 127:1).
Beneath all this rests a far greater heritage – the Word of God – as Nikolaj Grundtvig wrote in the hymn, ‘God's Word is Our Great Heritage’ (LH 266). This hymn is usually sung to the same tune as Martin Luther’s famous hymn, ‘A Mighty Fortress is Our God’.
God's word is our great heritage,
and shall be ours forever;
to spread its light from age to age
shall be our chief endeavour.
It guides on life's way,
in death is our stay.
Lord, while worlds endure,
may we retain it pure
throughout all generations.
This ‘great heritage’ surpasses that of buildings, history, and people. Peter reminds us, quoting Isaiah 40:8, ‘The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the Word of our God endures forever’ (1 Peter 1:24).
Our ‘chief endeavour’ remains to pass on this great heritage ‘from age to age’ as did the faithful folk of Walla Walla, and of many other places.
There is nothing besides the Word of God of which it can be said, ‘It guides on life's way, in death is our stay.’
What a blessing it is to hear the apostles and prophets confidently confess, as St Peter did in one of the readings in the anniversary service, ‘For it stands in Scripture…’ (1 Peter 2:6), and to know that we can have the same confidence whenever we read God’s Word.
And, as we give thanks for the great heritage that is God’s Word, may we pray with the hymnwriter, ‘Lord, while worlds endure, may we retain it pure throughout all generations.’
Lester Priebbenow
Bishop, Victoria Tasmania District
