Words From Rob

I typed, printed, and folded the bulletins and newsletters for my late husband at 3 of the 4 of his church appointments.  And as I’ve said somewhere on this blog before, the longest running argument I had with my late husband was the fact that he just couldn’t get his newsletter article to me by the deadline.  He just could not seem to do it – no matter what. Sometimes, he would spend a lot of time writing it and editing it.  Sometimes he wouldn’t.  Sometimes he would ask for my help and we would work from his outline.  Sometimes he would write it and ask me not to change anything.  That just sort of depended on how much time he had that month. 

I came across this email the other day when I was looking for another email from that time period and thought I would share it with all of you.  Rob would email (usually from the church) the letters to me so I could proof and edit and so that I could copy and paste and not have to retype like in the olden days.

This is the letter my Rob wrote for the March 2011 newsletter.  Lent started on March 9^th that year so this is his “Lent” letter – exactly as he sent it to me – in which he is challenging the church members to spend at least 15 minutes a day for the season of Lent memorizing Scripture and why it's important.  

It would be the last season of Lent that he would spend on Earth. 

I know some of you will enjoy reading Rob’s words.

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Date:  Sun, Feb 27, 2011 at 5:48 PM

Subject:  I love you Janna. Here is my letter.

I'm sorry it wasn't ready on the 25th. I really like this and you can leave it the way it is.

Thank you for all the awesome work you do with the newsletter - especially all the help through the years with my articles....I love you.

Your Robert

NewsletterMarch2011

Key point: memorizing scripture is very important and a good discipline for us to practice this year during Lent.

     When was the last time you memorized passages from Scripture?  It might have been when you were in 6^th grade preparing for confirmation.  Or maybe earlier still, in Sunday school, when you learned John 3:16 and Psalm 23.  Can you remember when it was exactly?

    Many Christians unselfconsciously learn Scripture by heart. However, what was common several years ago has become less common today for we live in a time when memorization is not given much importance. Often memorization is summed up as “rote learning” void of conscious thought. Memorizing, we are told often, discourages creativity, critical thinking, and conceptual understanding.

    This really doesn’t make sense. After all, training to be a doctor or a lawyer entails memorization-a lot of it. We don’t foolishly assume that the creativity of actors or musicians is crushed by the formidable feats of memory that their art demands. And why is Indianapolis Colts’ quarterback, Peyton Manning, such a dazzlingly great quarterback? Of course he is a gifted athlete but there are many men who are gifted athletes. However, Manning spends countless hours in the film room, studying defenses, looking for patterns to memorize, so that…in the midst of the action, with a 300- pound- lineman who runs like a cheetah and hits like a truck bearing down on him-he will make the optimal decision in a split second. Manning’s greatest strength comes from the fruit of the work of his mind.

   What Manning does when he studies game films and what great actors do when they learn the lines of their roles is illustrative of what we all do from the time we are born- an ongoing work of memorizing AND forgetting, largely conducted without conscious intent or awareness.  “Whenever you read a book or have a conversation,” the prize winning science writer George Johnson reminds us, and I might add, whenever you cross the road, change a diaper, or bake a cake… “the experience causes physical changes in your brain.  In a matter of seconds, new circuits are formed, memories that can change forever the way you think about the world.” Learning is a lifelong process. As I learned recently, our brains are fully formed in size when we are 18 but we spend the rest of our lives learning and maturing. Much of what we learn is through memorization.

     The impact of MOST of what we memorize is not so dramatic as to change forever the way we think about the world but it can be- because it is real, and its consequences accumulate over time. Therefore, the choices we make about what to put in our mind are of lasting importance. “Memorization of Scripture,” Dallas Willard writes, “is one way of ‘taking charge’ of the contents of our conscious thoughts, and of the feelings, beliefs, actions and habits that accompany them.” Recently I came across a little known work entitled Scripture by Heart: Devotional Practices for Memorizing God’s Word . It is written by a Korean Pastor- Joshua Choonming Kang of Los Angeles, California. Pastor Kang emphasizes the importance of the Word of God becoming “part of us.”

    I have been working especially hard in the past few months in memorizing sections of scripture from Paul’s letters (in particular: 1 and 2 Corinthians, Ephesians, Philippians and Colossians) which I have found are extremely helpful in living successfully on a daily basis. I work daily on memorizing these scriptures, i.e. “hiding them in my heart.” Pastor Kang focuses on a highly disciplined daily way of memorizing Scriptures. He writes that in no more than 30 but no less than 15 minutes per day we can study scripture passages in context and through meditating on them and “ingesting” them into our spirits we can actually come to memorize them in a way that we can practically use them in our everyday lives. His point is that we need to meditate on God’s Word the way a cow chews its cud. The cow repeatedly brings its food back up to chew some more before it is “ingested” enough to be ready to be “digested” and become useful for the cow’s health. The Hebrew word for “meditating” on God’s Word in the Bible infers “chewing the cud” as the way we should read, study and learn God’s Word.

   The version of the Bible used to memorize God’s Word is the King James for Pastor Kang. Like me, he believes the King James is especially useful because of its poetical language which lends itself to easier memorization much as we memorize poems or lines from Shakespeare’s writings. Why, you may say, am I harping on memorizing scripture? Well, for one thing because Jesus did. Jesus read Scripture in the synagogue (Luke 4:16); prayed early in the morning (Mark 1:35); prayed on high places (Luke 22:39); and, as a teacher, expounded the Word he knew by heart. Pastor Kang says “when we commit ourselves to memorizing scripture we follow in Jesus’ footsteps. We cultivate his lifestyle. We gather our wits and concentrate.”

    Memorizing Scripture is not an end in itself.  We don’t do it to earn merit badges or points with God. However, Pastor Kang says that when we meditate DEEPLY on the Scriptures we begin to BEAR FRUIT directed by the Holy Spirit. The more we commit God’s Word to memory, the richer our BEING becomes. The melodious concert of His Word will continually echo within us.  Then we’ll encounter the conductor, our Lord Jesus, the Holy Spirit, who helps us remember the Scriptures, and the Father, who’ll receive glory through all of this.”

    For some people, Scripture memorization comes easily because their capacities for memorization is greater, But even if we are not particularly ‘good’ at it, the habit of memorizing Scripture is a good discipline for us as disciples. Through memorization God’s Words reside in our BODY, in our SOCIAL ENVIRONMENT, in the constant orientation of our will and in the depths of our soul. They become a power, a substance that sustains and directs us without our even thinking of them, and they emerge into conscious thought and action as needed. THIS IS WHAT JESUS SPOKE OF AS ABIDING, DWELLING IN HIM.”

      Therefore I challenge everyone to devote at least 15 minutes a day throughout the 40 days of Lent beginning with Ash Wednesday on March 9^th and ending on Easter Sunday. . I promise you it will not be time wasted. We are not just talking about memorizing phone numbers or answers to test questions or work- related facts. We are talking about eternal truths. God promises that His “Word does not return to Him void” i.e. – without accomplishing the purpose for which he intends [to bring fruit in your life and mine]. God promises to bless all those who meditate on His Words and hide them in our hearts. Begin your time by praying for God to bless you during this Lenten season. He will!