LITURGY AND MEMORY

I don’t come from a church tradition that uses formal liturgy much in worship. And, as being sent to Sunday school was not part of my upbringing, I wasn’t taught to memorise Bible verses either. One of my great regrets is that, as a rather arrogant younger leader, I took a dim view of liturgy. While it’s true that any spiritual practice can become mechanical and meaningless over time, that’s also true of so-called ‘freer’ expressions of more informal worship. In latter years, I’ve realised the power of liturgy and indeed consigning Scripture to memory. Sometimes life can render us speechless, and we don’t talk to God because we don’t know how to begin. When we look closely at Jonah’s prayer, we see that he was quoting verses from the Psalms: Jonah 2:3 echoes Psalm 42:7; Jonah 2:7 reflects Psalm 18:4-6, and so on. There are eight quotes from the Psalms in Jonah’s prayer. Even though, as I’ve said, he probably misused the texts, it’s good that he was able to bring them to mind!

READ Jonah 2:3

Psalm 18:1-19

Committing Scripture to memory is a healthy habit, as we wash our minds in pure truth and can then recall it in times of struggle. In a world where we are bombarded with erroneous ideas, knowing the ‘straight edge’ of Scripture in a survival tool. And if liturgy isn’t part of our tradition, why don’t we take the opportunity to use it in our prayer times? As we do, let’s make sure that we use the words of others thoughtfully and wholeheartedly.

To ponder: ‘Any spiritual practice can become mechanical and meaningless.’ Have you found that to be true in your tradition?