O Come, O Come Emmanuel
And ransom captive Israel
that mourns in lonely exile here
until the Son of God appear.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.

This day began by singing this traditional Advent hymn. In the workshop I am in this week, there is opening worship designed to travel through the seasons of the church year. So on this rainy, almost summer morning, I found myself singing an Advent hymn. It was a wonderful surprise and set a tone for the day. From then on everything felt a little out of season, a little ‘off’, not a bad thing for a week dedicated to creativity.

The invitation to sing this Advent tune came with the spoken words ‘this is one we all know.’ Clearly, many around the circle did not know this hymn. I heard my own voice and the man next to me spit out the words. But I heard the majority of the other voices carrying the tune and doing that “watermelon” thing people do with their mouths when they do no really know the words but don’t want to let on. I realized then that knowing hymns by heart is probably a dying art. In fact memorization of any kind is probably something that is quickly falling by the wayside.

This realization led me to think of one of my friends who is also a minister. He talks about how he requires his confirmation class to memorize Psalm 23 and the Apostle’s Creed. He tells them this will be good when they find themselves in jail. “And make no mistake about it”, he says, “at some point of your life, you will be in jail.” I can just imagine those adolescent faces staring at him in total a disbelief spiced with a dose of fear. What does he know that they don’t?

Of course, my friend was speaking mostly metaphorically. At some time in nearly everyone’s life, we have the experience of feeling as if we are held captive by something. Fear. Despair. Failure. Success. Disappointment. So many ways in which the bars can create a cell out of which we feel we will never escape. In those moments, what are the phrases that can bring comfort or at least distraction? What have we committed to memory that will entertain us when we cannot flip a switch or press a button to ease the pain? Any Shakespeare in our brains? How about Thoreau or Whitman? At least one good line of Mary Oliver?

It is a good thing to consider the words we want to stay with us when others have flitted off or can’t be found no matter how hard we try. I think of the poems I would like to be able to pull out in the dark of night when all manner of shadows threaten. Or the songs I want to be able to continue to sing as I pass from this world into eternity. Perhaps then it is an equally good thing to begin to memorize these lines that will be companions. The poetry. The songs. The scripture. A little of each.

What are the words you would like to have in your personal memory library? Summer, at one point, was a time to read the books there was never time for during the school year. Maybe this is the summer for reviving the forgotten art of memorization.

Anyone know the words to ‘O Come, O Come, Emmanuel’?