I Know It By Heart

Do you know the Christmas Story? Sure, we all do. Do you know which Gospels tell what part of the story? Do you know that what most of us know as "THE" Christmas story is actually a harmonized story between a variety of sources? For example, did you know that the angel only appears to Mary in the Gospel of Luke? Did you know that the angel only appears to Joseph in the Gospel of Matthew? And yet, when we hear the story, especially in a children's Christmas play, we put both stories into the "one" story that we tell.

I've been thinking a bit about the harmonization of texts as I have focused on the texts that I have to preach on for the upcoming weekend. The assigned text is Luke 1:26-38, this is the part of the birth narrative where Mary learns from an angel that she is pregnant and then she sings the Magnificat (enter choir).

As I've thought about this and about the worship service that we are planning at Hope, I've thought about a dichotomy that seems to exist in two phrases that we seem to use interchangeably, those are "I have that memorized" and "I know it by heart". To make these phrases stand out just a little more, let's use a concrete example.

Most of us if asked will say that we have the words to "Jesus Loves Me" memorized. We know the tune, we know the words, so we can sing the song without any assistance from a piece of paper in front of us. Many of us will even say "I know that song by heart" again simply meaning, "I don't need a songbook in front of me, I can sing that song". And, I guess we can be right in both cases.

But, I will contend that to say "I know it by heart" actually is saying something more than "I have memorized it" Memorization is simply an act that we do. We memorize a lot of things from multiplication tables to addresses and phone numbers to people's names. But when we "know something by heart" I think we move into another level ... we actually find a large value in that item. So if someone asks me, "do you know the song 'Jesus Loves Me'?" and I reply, "Yes, I know it by heart" I believe what I am saying is, "I've thought about the words, these words are important to me, there is a deep meaning that resonates within me."

This brings me to a question ... have we simply memorized the Christmas Story or do we Know it by Heart? Do we simply recite details of the story that we've heard from a variety of sources? or Have we allowed the story of Christmas to penetrate our hearts and to resonate within us ... becoming a cornerstone of who we are?