Did you know the word “Amen” is never used in the Bible to finish a prayer? Or a song? Not once.
The posture of prayer in biblical times was not usually what we tend toward today. People likely prayed with their eyes open, hands extended. From a strictly practical perspective, no one needed a “code word” to know when the prayer was finished. Hands would drop, eyes would notice, almost like a conversation.
Which is not to say that “amen” is not found in the Bible. It most certainly is. Sometimes it is used to seal a covenant and then it means something like, “I promise.” Other times, it is used to confirm or agree with something someone says — a way of affirming the good things being said about how God works, like a fist-pumping “yes!”
To me, the most powerful use of “amen” is when the word describes God himself. Ours is the “God of Amen” — the one who speaks and things happen. The eternal YES. The God of So Be It. This calls forth the deeper meaning of “amen” as the Greek equivalent translates literally as “so be it.” And that word derives from the Hebrew, meaning “to build up or support.”
Which brings us to our own moments of worship and into the very presence of God. This is our call, to become the very Body of Christ, lifting one another up as we lift up Christ and proclaim (So be it!) his truth. When we worship together and lift voices and hands, we build up the Body and become an embodiment — a living prayer — of the “amen chorus.”
In other words, we become the human “yes” to God’s divine “yes.”
Your “yes” matters. Your worship matters. You are the Amen.
