When I was a child in Sunday School, each week we were given A “memory verse,” A short verse of scripture that we were to memorize to help us remember what the Sunday School lesson for the day was all about. Sometimes when the roll was called, we were asked to respond with one of our memory verses. It was considered poor form to use the same one that others had called out so we all had a few stored up in our memories that we could whip out when called upon. “Jesus wept,” (John 11:35) was a favorite because it was short and easy to remember. John 3:16: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him, should not perish, but have everlasting life,” was popular because everyone knew that verse. “Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands,” and “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want,” were sure to be heard because we all had to memorize the 100th psalm and the 23rd psalm at some point in our Christian formation.

One verse I particularly liked was taken from this week’s epistle lesson, ‘Be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving each other.” [All scripture citations are from the KJV] I’m not sure why that verse appealed to me. It wasn’t too short, but it did have a nice rhythm making it easy to remember. I suppose I knew that was how grown-ups wanted children to behave so perhaps I wanted to win points with the teacher. Maybe that was how I wanted children to treat me, or maybe even then I knew in my heart it was an area where I needed to grow. I don’t remember. For sure, I know I didn’t learn the verse in context. I didn’t pay attention to all the negative behavior I’d have to give up in order to live into that scripture. Nor did I realize the consequences of what followed, of being an imitator of God, of giving myself up as “a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”

No matter how often we read the Word of God, there’s always more for us to hear, to assimilate into our hearts and lives. Memory verses are only the tip of the iceberg, to whet our appetite for discovering what God has to say to us today, to lead us into a deeper relationship with the Divine.