“We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too.” President John F. Kennedy, “Moon Speech,” Rice Stadium, September 1962As we come to the end of the first month of this decade, I have begun to ponder a question. We all make New Year’s resolutions (well, not everyone, but many do) . . . or maybe “goals” is a better word. I shared mine in a blog entry earlier this month. But have you ever made a New Decade’s resolution? Neither have I.
As I continued to ponder this question, I quickly thought of the above quote by JFK. It’s pretty motivational, isn’t it? The “Moon Speech” got me to thinking that if—and that’s a big if—I were to make a resolution, or goal, for this decade, it would have to be something pretty big. It would have to be challenging, and it would have to be significant. It would be difficult to attain, yet produce lifelong benefits. More “mundane” resolutions like losing twenty pounds or remembering to floss every day wouldn’t cut it.
Over the past few years, I have been increasingly exposed to the idea and practice of memorizing Scripture. In 2009, I took a series of classes where I had to commit a total of six biblical passages to memory, each of which was eight to eleven verses long. In addition, I have done some reading on the topic. In particular, I read recently of a pastor advising other pastors to memorize entire books of the Bible. Is he kidding? Entire books? No way! Yet this seemingly outlandish advice got me to dwell on the subject of Scripture memorization even more.
All this led me to consider the myriad of good reasons for committing Scripture to memory. I will not elaborate on all of them here, as I think many of them are self-evident. Eventually, though, I noticed that my ponderings about Scripture memory were beginning to merge with this idea of a New Decade resolution. Suffice it to say that this confluence of events and ideas has led me to my goal for the new decade. Are you ready? . . .
By the end of this decade, my goal is to memorize the entire New Testament. For short, I will call my goal “NT 2020.”
Yes. I said the entire New Testament. That’s twenty-seven books, from Matthew to Revelation. Two hundred and sixty chapters. Just under 8,000 verses. That’s an average of about 800 memory verses per year.
Now, before you laugh too hard, let me say a few things.
First, I have ten years to complete it. I don’t have to do it all at once. Remember, we didn’t put a man on the moon in 1962 or 1963. We did it in July of 1969.
Second, I have a small head start, in that there are a lot of verses that I have already memorized, or that I am pretty familiar with. This is a result of my seminary study, and five years as a Bible Drill leader at church.
Third, I have a plan. I won’t bore you with all of the details, but I am starting by memorizing “anchor verses” throughout the New Testament, to include the first verse of every chapter, as well as other familiar verses (i.e. John 3:16, Romans 3:23, 1 John 1:9). These verses will be the “frame” upon which the overall memorization can be “built.”
Fourth, think for a moment of the things that you have memorized and perhaps don’t realize it. For instance, in my case, I bet I could recite to you, from memory, right now, the lyrics from at least 500 rock and roll songs from the 60s, 70s, and 80s. Heck, I know the lyrics to at least 150 Beatles songs right off the bat . . . “As I write this letter, send my love to you, remember that I’ll always, be in love with you . . .” (that’s from “P.S. I Love You,” it just came into my head). All I’m saying here is that the entire New Testament may seem like an insurmountable number of words to commit to memory, but in reality, I have probably memorized just as many words in another area of life without really thinking about it. When I view things from this angle, I am encouraged.
Fifth, what if I fail miserably and only get half way there? Well, in that case, I still will have memorized great stretches of the New Testament, which would still be extremely beneficial.
So, you are all cordially invited to my house on January 1, 2020 for “NT 2020,” where I will recite the New Testament for you. That is, until you cry, “Uncle.” Then we’ll just visit and eat a lot of good food together and have a good time. I haven’t decided yet whether or not I’ll leave a tip jar at the door, but I have time yet to work out the details.
What do you think? Am I totally off my rocker? Do you think there is any chance that I could really do this? It seems really, really hard. But then again, as JFK said, sometimes we don’t do things because they are easy, but because they are hard, and in my case, I see that the benefits to my personal spiritual life and teaching ministry would be immense.
This may surprise you, but I DON’T think it’s a good idea.
ReplyDeleteFirst and foremost, you have 4 languages to get under your belt in order to obtain your PHD. (not to mention a host of additional studies along the way). I’m afraid that diligent attention to intermediate memorization goals (which I am certain you will strive mightily to meet) will detract from your divinity studies
Further, I’ve never been a fan of “quantity”. I love your approach about using a “framework” to hang the rest of the memory project on. In fact, that is what I think your goal should be---to memorize that framework only. Ask yourself, “WHY am I doing this?”. I would assume the answer is to have a stored reference to use when meditating, answering questions, etc. But your brain would be no different than an Encyclopedia reference with so many verses in it. You would have to struggle to find the right section of scripture to use because there is so much there.
In other words, it wouldn’t really help you because it is simply TOO MUCH DATA.
Memorizing just a usable reference amount of scripture would be far more serviceable and manageable, I think.
Barbara agrees with you, dad. I guess this isn't a good time to announce that I would also like to memorize all 150 Psalms some day :)
ReplyDeleteI think you can do it. My brother can recite entire chapters of different books and he really did not actively try to memorize them. Broadway actors have to learn all kinds of lines and songs and they do it without much effort because the are passionate it about it. That said, it does not seem like something I could do. I really only know the words to a few songs and prayers. You gotta do something right.
ReplyDeleteMaybe you should start with the Psalms-- they seem uplifting to me. I once memorized my favorite quote (now on FB) from a book I read. Not sure I still could recite it but I think with only a little amount of work I could get it back.
ReplyDeleteI love your JFK passage. It neatly describes why I do things I "hate". I am going to memorize that one and pull it out of my hat sometime to impress people.
You gotta check out my pastor's blog. he had 2-- one is kept for the text of the sermons he gives, and the other is an expansion on that. On the latter, he tells about one of his lifetime goals about writing sonnets for each Sunday of the Revised Common Lectionary :
ReplyDeletehttp://www.sayitanotherway.blogspot.com/