The Story -

I, Peter Schlaybach, had the privilege to join a hymn writer’s collective hosted by Keith and Kristyn Getty (In Christ Alone, Christus Victor, etc). One of the prompts the Getty’s gave us was to write a song that addressed the brokenness of the world. Well, I started writing something, shelved it and forgot it ever existed!

A few years later when I was working with Jeremy Casella on Songs of Inheritance, we wanted to make it a full album and needed a few more songs. I was running out of songs that were ready, so started digging through all the files on my computer to see what I could find. I found a few lines of a song called “To a Broken World” which I had almost zero memory of ever having written. But I really liked it! I finished a third verse for it and then I dug through the voice memos on my phone to see if any old melody idea might fit. There was one where I was whistling a tune to myself at a construction site while tapping out a rhythm on the chop saw table. With a few adjustments, it seemed to fit the words perfectly.

Unexpectedly, this almost-forgotten song became the title track for the album. It’s theme really summarized everything that Songs of Inheritance covers. We are heirs to an inheritance of sin and death - our “treasure” through Adam. But through Jesus, we have an inheritance of holiness and life. Some day, the earthly inheritance of Adam will pass away, leaving us only with the glorious inheritance of Jesus. That is what we need to keep our eyes focused on.