Memorizing Scripture

My former pastor in Santa Barbara taught me to memorize Scripture, especially as part of my preaching of Scripture. On average I memorize the text of one out of every three sermons I preach. I've been doing this for three years now and this habit has proved immensely helpful for me and the congregation in "getting" the text. There's a striking power in the memorized Word, especially as the speaker is able to emote the text.So, I appreciated today's interview by JT with Max McLean. Here's an excerpt and what looks like a great book by Max:

Do you have any counsel for those whowant to grow in their ability to memorize Scripture and to retell itwith integrity and creativity?That’s an interesting question because my friend Warren Bird and I have written a book entitled, Unleashing the Word: Rediscovering the Public Reading of Scripture,that will be published by Zondervan this fall. It does not deal with mymajor theatrical productions but how churches can elevate the scripturereading to a central moment in the worship experience. Of courseintegrity and creativity are key elements of the process.As formemorizing scripture, it works best for me if memorization is abyproduct of meditation. Certainly it is an objective to memorize thetext. But the act of memorizing the text can be hollow if it is not aresult of deep meditation. When I actively interact and engage with atext there is a conversation going on between the words I’m looking aton a page and my heart and soul. Of course that is the primary way theHoly Spirit works in our lives. The result is that the text startsspeaking to me. As a result I find myself knowing the words of the textand how they fit together very well. The final act of memorizingbecomes much easier.Of course to keep it in your heart and headrequires that you revisit that text regularly or you might lose it.When I’m doing a presentation and I go "dry" or forget my place, Iusually stop and say to the audience something like, "You know when youhide God’s word in your heart, sometimes you can’t find it!" I usuallyget a pretty big laugh after that. They start to think, “Oh, he’s humanafter all.”