God's Word is Our Great Heritage, ELW 509 & LBW 239
God's word is our great heritage
and shall be ours forever;
to spread its light from age to age
shall be our chief endeavor.
Through life it guides our way;
in death it is our stay.
Lord, grant while time shall last
your church may hold it fast
throughout all generations.
Devotion
Some of the Bible verses I know best are ones I have learned in song. Catchy melodies for Joshua 1:9, 1 John 4:19, and Gal. 5:22-23 have been burned into my brain and now I have taught those songs to my children, as I hope someday they will do to their children.
Hymnwriter, Nikolai Grundtvig, understood the power music has at transmitting an important message. In this hymn, he celebrates the gift of scripture and entreats God to stir in our hearts a life-long love of this great treasure. (The fact that the hymn is sung to “Ein Feste Burg,” the tune of “A Mighty Fortress,” makes it that much easier for Lutherans to remember it!)
The ELCA’s Book of Faith initiative gets right at the heart of Grundtvig’s message. It is as we open the scripture and begin the conversation that we discover those verses that speak most meaningfully to us. And if a catchy tune can help us commit them to memory, all the better.
Prayer
May your words be ever on my lips, O God, and your song in my heart. Amen.