A recent issue of the Star Tribune reported on a Bible memorization competition that was to take place in the the Twin Cities over the weekend. I read the article with interest and a growing knot in my stomach. It reminded me so much of a time in my adolescence. At my grandmother’s church, not my home church, there was often a game played called “Bible Baseball.” This was one of those youth group events in which various ages of youth came together, led by dedicated, caring adults, in which massive amounts of food were served. It was a time to come together with friends and have fun as much as anything else. I am sure other games were played but my main memory is of Bible baseball.

Allow me to describe it. Home plate was the pulpit. Around the edges of the sanctuary, there were designated spaces dedicated to first, second and third bases. The pitcher, usually one of the adults, stood in the middle of the sanctuary and called out a Bible citation, like John 1:1. The pitcher ‘threw’ this to the batter who then might boldly say:”In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” Having answered correctly, the batter would proceed to first base. The game could also go the other way with the verse being thrown from the ‘pitcher’s mound’: ” So I prophesied as I had been commanded; and as I prophesied, suddenly there was a noise, a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to its bone.” A well-studied Bible student would yell out:”Ezekiel 37:7″ and make their run to the base.

Let me say right up front, this game scared the living daylights out of me. I was not, and still am not, filled with memorized Bible verses. It is not how I think or how I learn. And so this game usually did little to further my Biblical literacy but, perhaps, did much to improve my prayer life. I prayed for verses I might have a chance with like, for instance, Genesis 1:1 or Psalm 23:1. And if all that failed, I prayed for massive quantities of grace and healing from humiliation.

A story was often told in our family about my Aunt Mary. She was engaged in one of these games of Biblical memorization. The game had gone on for some time and she was on a roll, spitting out all the memorized verses she had crammed into her, now throbbing, brain. It must have been a single elimination of Biblical wizardry. The person in front of her stood at the ready with, as every one knows, the shortest verse in the Bible, John 11:35: “Jesus wept.” She had nothing left in her scriptural artillery, but determined not to go down in humiliating defeat, she answered: “He sure did.”

I don’t know who the winners were in the Bible Bee that happened over the weekend. From the article, they all seemed well prepared, having spent countless hours memorizing and discussing the verses with their families. There was both a written and spoken part to the competition. I imagined family dinners: “I am the Bread of Life.” “John 6:35!” ” For when I was hungry you gave me food.” “Matthew 25:35!” “It is the bread the Lord has given you to eat.” “Exodus 16:15!” And on it would go as chicken and mashed potatoes, bread and butter, and jugs of milk were passed to hungry, thankful people.

I pray it was a good and grace-filled experience for them all. I am thankful that there are those who have the ability, and the desire, to do this work. Though I am not one of them, I still long to stand at the pulpit with nothing but the scripture of memory in my hand and hear someone yell “Home Run!”