Christmas Passages (in Song!) to Memorize:

"And it came to pass in those days that there went out a decree..."

I still remember the King James Version of the Christmas that my dad made us memorize as kids. We'd recite it together on Christmas day, and I can still remember the words decades later.

In my early days of memorizing the verses from the Seeds Family Worship songs, I reached out to them suggesting an album of Christmas verse songs. Turns out, it was already in the works (Seeds of Christmas)! I was happy to add that to my other Christmas music because they're verses straight from the Bible and not just songs about baby Jesus. 

Last year, I re-memorized the Luke 2 Christmas story with my boys, this time in the ESV.  This year, we'll be learning Mary's Magnificat/Song of Praise from Luke 1.  In the spirit of Christmas and music and Scripture memory, here are some great songs to learn if you want to memorize something related to Christmas this season:

Matthew 1:18-24 (NIV) - This is the account of the angel visiting Joseph.

Luke 1:46-55 (ESV) - Mary's Magnificat/Song of Praise - This is the one we'll be learning during the month of December.

    Here's Seeds Family Worship's version of the first half of the Magnificat. I absolutely LOVE this song and used it in a K-8 Christmas program when I was teaching music at a Christian school.

    

Luke 2:1-20 (ESV) - This is the traditional Christmas story. We used this song to memorize it last year. It took awhile to get the hang of it, but my boys still remember it a year later, even though we didn't really review at all during the year.

There are a bunch of videos for just verses 8-14 of Luke 2:

    Melodically Memorizing (ESV)

    Eric Graef (ESV)

    Seeds Family Worship (NIV84)

Isaiah 9:6 (NIV) - 

    Jump Start 3 (NIV) - upbeat

    Corner Room (ESV) - folksy

    Handel's Messiah (KJV) - this will be familiar to many

And then a few more obscure passages that you might not think of right away as Christmas passages: 

Luke 2:29-32 (ESV) - Song of Simeon - when Simeon sees Jesus brought into the temple at a young age

Micah 5:2-5a (NIV) - this is one of the OT prophecies pointing to Jesus

Happy memorizing!

How I Determine Mastery (with a Scripture Memory project)

I recently wrapped up memorizing the book of Romans! It's still a bit surreal that I actually completed it! As I've mentioned before, my main method for memorizing is through song. Over the course of 2021, I found/adapted/wrote songs for each verse in Romans (well, except for Romans 16:24, which doesn't exist in the ESV although Romans 16:25 does).  Along the way, I was reviewing the verses via BibleMemory.com, but it took me about a month to review the verses enough to be able to recite them with confidence.

Different people claim "mastery" in different ways. I have a friend who would consider a book "done" when he could recite it with 2 or fewer mistakes. Through my extended memory projects, I tend to declare mastery after I have completed these three things:

• "mastered" all the verses through the BibleMemory.com website/app. This is usually the first step, since I master the verses as I'm learning them. For smaller projects like Titus, I would review all the verses in one sitting (and I use the setting where I only type the first letter of each word and have to reach at least 90% accuracy). For Romans, though, I didn't try to type it all at once.
• written all the verses from memory. I'm not sure why I decided to start doing this years ago. I may have been inspired by the stories of Christians whose only Bible is a handwritten one. It does help to catch smaller mistakes like endings of words.  I go back with a different color pen to make corrections. I would've definitely gotten hand cramps if I tried to do it all in one sitting, but I kept track of the time it took, out of my own curiosity (and if you're curious, too, it took me 5 1/2 hours over the course of 7 days).   
• recited the verses to an audience. I don't necessarily allot myself a number of mistakes, and some recitations have been smoother than others. For my first book (Philippians), I recited the whole book during an elementary chapel service at the school where I taught. I cued up someone to follow along to help prompt me if I needed it. I did this for my next three projects. Titus was the first book I memorized while not teaching at a Christian school. It was also at the height of the pandemic, so I recited it on Facebook Live. And then I recited Romans in entirety to my mom in my final days of practicing, to the backyard West Virginia wildlife on a short family getaway, and then to whomever tuned in on YouTube Live. 

Thus, I consider Romans "done."  These three steps are not required for anyone else, of course, but it's just my test for myself to determine if I've achieved mastery. I will continue to review Romans on BibleMemory.com, but I need a better system for reviewing the book in regular intervals. I don't want to lose it! 

One day at a time...

Sometimes intentionally

    and sometimes unintentionally

I leave things in my winter coat pockets

    for me to discover half a year later

Last week, on a day cold enough 

     that I needed my winter coat,

I was walking laps around the playground

"talking to myself" (as my boys thought)

    and reviewing the book of Romans,

    a chapter at a time.

My hands reached into my pockets

    some Dove chocolates (still good?),

    a band-aid wrapper,

    pieces of an ink pen my son had taken apart,

    and an index card that I curiously pulled out to inspect.

On it was written:

"Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus,

    called to be an apostle..."

It was the first seven verses of Romans

    from back in January when I was just embarking 

    on this adventure of memorizing the whole book.

Back when I didn't know what I was getting myself into

Back when I was stuck on the first few verses

   and wondered how I could ever do the whole thing

Back when it all felt so overwhelming

But day by day,

    verse by verse,

    chapter by chapter,

I kept at it.

Some days more victorious than others

Some days more overwhelming than others

And here I am

    a year later

ready to recite the whole book 

    to a live online audience

I think of those small, regular decisions...

...to write another song

...to review the previous chapter

...to write out my verse

...to recite to my sons

...to listen to the audio and try to fill in some words

...to find an existing song I could use

...to walk laps around the playground "talking to myself"

All those added up to where I find myself today

On the contrary, 

I think of all my New Years' desires to be closer to Jesus

    that were met with small, regular decisions

        not to pursue Him

            in the daily,

            in the ordinary,

            in the seemingly inconsequential

    that resulted in a December looking back

        without much growth

    and no real traction for moving forward

This was the year-after-year script of my 20s

I'm convinced that the dramatic 

    is built up over time

        with small choices,

        and simple habits,

    one verse at a time,

    one day at a time,

always intentionally.

On the radio!

It's been awhile since I've penned my thoughts on the ol' blog. I had posted this on Facebook back on September 19th but thought I'd include the link here, too:

Ripples...

A couple months ago at my 15 year college reunion, I had two minutes to share about my life post-college. Scripture memory was part of my blurb, which led to a fun little radio opportunity with an Asbury classmate last week. Many of you already know my Scripture memory story, but here it is in official radio form!

Afterwards, I was thinking about the ripples that the Holy Spirit produces in/through us when we open our mouths. For me to get involved in Scripture memory as an adult, it took one Facebook post from a high school friend about joining her for a Scripture memory challenge that year. This radio opportunity happened because of a 15-second mention of my passion for Scripture memory. And now the Holy Spirit can continue to ripple out for some unknown-to-me-but-not-to-the-Father Christian in Leitchfield, Kentucky, who tuned in on that particular day and is encouraged to take a step forward in her Scripture memory journey. Speak up! Share your story! Invite! Challenge! Together, we can change the culture and make Scripture memory not just a priority for kids but for adults as well.

Voice in The Kingdom

https://www.box2radio.com/.../mary-thomas-singing-and.../ Home school mom and singing memorized Scripture specialist Mary Lundquist Thomas shared with us her heart on the memorization of Scripture and why she chose song to help her get it settled in her heart. We learned about her testimony and how her journey in Christ led to a love for The Word and a legacy for others to do the same. Mary pointed out how as we get The Word settled in our heart, the Holy Spirit gains access to that to bring it to your remembrance for a closer walk with Him. You can follow her journey here https://sharethemaryadventure.blogspot.com/

Voice in The Kingdom airs weekdays 7 - 9am (ct) on the Box 2 Radio Network. You’ll get news, local area weather, #Biblical teaching, interviews with folks doing #Kingdom work, special political interview segments and more! WBFI 91.5 FM - McDaniels / Leitchfield / Central City. WBFK 91.1 FM - Hiseville / Glasgow, via livestream http://wbfifm.primcast.com:4578/;stream.mp3 or download the Box Two Radio app. box2radio.com