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The Big Idea
Since I was a small child I have had the Lord’s Prayer Memorized. I say it daily with my family and little girls now.
But something I have realized is that the core form of memorization I have been taught to use is rote memory. I can say word after word but am not able to access things by petition or recall only smaller pieces.
Over the course of this project I have added an additional “layer” to my memorization. It is the first time that I have used the peg system for memorization. It has opened up a very different dimension of ability to interact with the words of the Lord’s Prayer in my mind in new ways that were not accessible before. Below is a general descriptions of it:
Definition
The Peg System: Number-Word Associations for Ordered Recall
The peg system is a mnemonic technique that hinges on the creation of mental associations. This is accomplished by utilizing a pre-memorized list of words, known as “pegs,” linked to numbers (rather than spatial locations as used in other memorization techniques). A common approach involves selecting peg words that rhyme with the corresponding numbers, such as “one-bun,” “two-shoe,” and “three-tree,” which facilitates the initial learning of the peg list. To memorize a new sequence of items, each item is then vividly associated with its corresponding peg word through the formation of mental imagery. For instance, if “one” is associated with “bun” and the first item to remember is “milk,” one might visualize a carton of milk balanced precariously on a bun.
Similar notes: Memorizing the Psalms Memorizing the Ten Commandments Memory, the Things We Keep with Us Why Learn
This has been an interesting experiment. Since I already had the prayer memorized by rote adding another “layer” was relatively easy. In trying to compose the peg list I found it easier to simple use the opening phrase of each petition as the peg rather than a singular word. It also makes is so that if I want to say the rest of a petition or jump in or out of the prayer it all flows smoothly together.
Peg List
i (intro) - Our Father 1- Hallowed be 2 - Thy Kingdom 3 - Thy Will 4 - Give Us 5 - And Forgive us 6 - And Lead us 7 - But Deliver us c (conclusion)- For Thine
Observations and Result
It took me about twenty minutes to initially memorize the list and quiz myself. I have also started to pray each petition individually in the mornings or whenever I stop to take time to pray adding additional things that come to mind in line with the petition. I have also used it as a way to structure meditation on what we ask of God and how.
I have been able to see a number of different abilities in my handling of the Lord’s prayer with the addition of this form of memorization.
- The fourth petition is now stuck in my head as a kind of hinge within the prayer. It is the center of the seven and it is the first of the petitions that ask God for what we need.
- I can quiz myself on petition numbers and what they correlate to. Drawing random numbers was a good way to practice this rather than only remembering them in order. Before if someone said “In the 4th petition of the Lord’s Prayer.” I would have had to pause and look it up. But now it clicks instantly (or with a little counting if it escapes me) that they are talking about “Give us this day…”
- I can see bigger divisions in the structure of the prayer. For example it never really occurred to me that the first three petitions are focused towards God before the rest turn to asking for ourselves.
- It is easier to think about the verbs of each petition and how they relate with each other. For example 4 to 7 have a beautiful progression: Give us, Forgive us, Lead us, Deliver us. They really do contain all of the prayers in Scripture like Luther and Bonhoeffer have observed.1
- I can pray individual petitions or smaller sections with more focus. Even using them as a spring board for private prayers or concerns.
Footnotes
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Psalms: The Prayer Book of the Bible by Dietrich Bonhoeffer ↩