Heritage Day and the Christian: A South African Reflection for 24 September

On 24 September every year, South Africans do something remarkable. We light fires. We stand around them with people we love. We cook meat. We drink something cold. We call it a braai, but it is actually a national ritual of remembering who we are.

What Heritage Day Actually Is

Heritage Day became a national public holiday in 1996, when the new South African government chose to mark the day not with the triumph of one group but with the recognition of all the cultures that make up the country.

What the Bible Says About Heritage

Genesis 12:1-3 — The Call to Leave and the Call to Bless

God's call to Abram is one of the foundational calls in the Bible. The call is to leave. The call is also to become a blessing: "all peoples on earth will be blessed through you."

Deuteronomy 26:1-11 — Bringing the First Fruits

The Israelites are told to bring the first fruits of the harvest to the priest. They are also told to recite their story: "My father was a wandering Aramean, and he went down into Egypt with a few people and lived there and became a great nation."

Acts 17:26 — From One, Many

God "made from one man every nation of men to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their habitation." Every nation has a place.

Revelation 7:9-10 — The Vision of the Multitude

The end of the Bible includes a vision of a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people, and language, standing before the throne.

What This Means for a Bible Study in Johannesburg

A Heritage Day Bible Study on Heritage

Pick passages that speak to heritage. Share your own family's heritage with the room. Pray for South Africa.

A Heritage Day Shared Meal

Everyone brings a dish from their heritage. The Zulu member brings amasi. The Afrikaans member brings koesisters. The room eats the food of each other's cultures.

A Heritage Day Service Project

Do a service project in a part of Johannesburg you do not usually visit.

A Heritage Day Reading List

No Future Without Forgiveness by Desmond Tutu. Long Walk to Freedom by Nelson Mandela. Born a Crime by Trevor Noah. The Heart of Redness by Zakes Mda. Disgrace by J.M. Coetzee. The Bible.

A Heritage Day Prayer for South Africa

God of Abraham and Sarah, God of Moses and Miriam, God of David and Ruth, God of Jesus and Mary Magdalene — we thank you for the country you have given us. We confess the ways we have failed each other. On this Heritage Day, give us the courage to remember. The courage to share. The courage to listen. The courage to sit at the same table with people whose stories we do not know. Make us a country that is not afraid of its past. Make us a country that is not ashamed of its future.

The Braai That Is Also a Prayer

This Heritage Day, light a fire. Cook something from your heritage. Invite someone whose heritage is different from yours. Eat together. Talk about where you come from. Pray for the country. It is one of the most South African things a Christian can do.

Johannesburg Bible Study Church meets every Wednesday at 7:30pm for an online Bible study and runs a Heritage Day shared meal every September. Call +27 77 487 1295 or +27 67 442 4461 to find out more.