I occasionally have someone from the congregation ask me about how I go about memorizing Scripture, poems, and quotes. The answer is probably a bit disappointing, because I do not have any tricks up my sleeve that I can share that will make anyone great at memorizing in three easy steps.
I set a great many things to memory. We all do. What I try to do is only memorize the things that are important to me. Things I want in my head. Now I’m a pastor, so I should have a Scripture verse for that idea, right? Well, actually I do. It comes from the apostle Paul in Philippians chapter 4: Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Here is a more mundane source for my reasoning. Years ago, Albert Einstein was asked to perform a simple mathematical calibration in his head in front of many viewers - I think it was something like, “do you know the square root of 122?” or something to that effect. Einstein’s answer was interesting. He quickly said, “No.” When asked why such a mathematical genius did not know the solution, he answered, “I never put anything into my memory that I can easily find the answer to by simply looking it up.”
So, the way I memorize is: First, I find something I really want to have in my head; something that is good, or pure, or commendable. Second, I keep repeating it until it is memorized. Finally, I go back occasionally and repeat it some more until it is firmly locked in my brain. I know what you are thinking: That’s it? Yep, pretty simple really. I just keep going over it until I’ve got it. My mind is not special by any means. I was a good student in college and graduate school and seminary because I applied myself, not because I was born with an exceptional aptitude. I know things because I work at knowing them. Anyone without serious learning challenges can memorize things, even long poems or entire chapters of the Bible. When we were preaching through the book of Ephesians, I memorized the entire book, simply by setting each passage we were focusing on each week to memory. It was relatively easy to do, since I was memorizing in small chunks. What has proven to be more difficult is keeping it in my memory. That takes time, since the way I test my memory is to recite what I have in my noggin over and over. Ephesians is a fairly long book for that, and therefore, some of those passages have faded a bit for me.
So, do you want to be a person who memorizes important Scripture verses, or quotes, or poems, or just about anything else? Get to work at it. Read it, re-read it, recite it, read it again, and on and on until you have it. I have found it to be very helpful in my life and ministry, and, quite frankly, it brings me joy.
Here’s what I am currently setting to memory. It is known as the “Rule of Faith,” set down in the early church and repeated by the church Father Irenaeus circa A.D. 175. It was the basic teaching of the church, loosely based on a statement in Paul’s letter to the church in Galatia. So I’m memorizing both. Here’s how they go: May I never boast of anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. For neither circumcision nor uncircumcision is anything; what counts is a new creation. As for those who will follow this rule – peace be upon them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God (Gal. 6:14-16).
And the church’s “Rule of Faith” that was born from this passage goes like this: …This faith: in one God, the Father Almighty, who made the heaven and the earth and the seas and all the things that are in them; and in one Christ Jesus, the Son of God, who was made flesh for our salvation; and in the Holy Spirit, who made known through the prophets the plan of salvation, and the coming, and the birth from a virgin, and the passion, and the resurrection from the dead, and the bodily ascension into heaven of the beloved Christ Jesus, our Lord, and his future appearing from heaven in the glory of the Father to sum up all things and to raise anew all flesh of the whole human race…
Now, the Rule of Faith and Galatians 6:14-16 may not be important enough to you to spend time setting them to memory, but there are many other Scriptures or ideas that are. Work on those. It is a great practice to begin and continue, and it serves not only to remind you of the most important things, but it keeps the cogs in your head moving, which is always a positive concept.
Grace and peace,
Pastor Jym