Daily Worship

A - Amen

James Cathcart July 03, 2023 2 1
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Psalm 107: 1-3 (NRSVA)

1 O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
    for his steadfast love endures for ever.
2 Let the redeemed of the Lord say so,
    those he redeemed from trouble
3 and gathered in from the lands,
    from the east and from the west,
    from the north and from the south.

Our A-Z begins — somewhat ironically — with Amen! Often the last word of our prayers and blessings, ‘Amen’ is one of those words you can say a lot without really thinking about too much. We say Amen at the end and then we’re on to something else — maybe we say it and then we’re getting out of bed, or turning the key, shuffling out of a pew, stepping into an exam hall, tucking into dinner, putting our glasses on the nightstand, about to press send…

When we say Amen we are essentially saying ‘it is so’ like the redeemed of the Lord in todays’s psalm. When we say Amen we are emphasising that we mean what we have just said or are in sympathy with what we just heard.

In a way, it’s a bit like adding ‘I mean it’, or ‘I’m not joking’, or ‘100 percent!’ after saying something to a friend. And just like these comments ‘Amen’ is more of an affirmation than it is a conclusion. Amen is not so much a full stop and more like a comma in our ongoing conversation with God.

Yesterday I talked about our innate human desire for recognition and I think today’s word speaks of our innate human desire to acknowledge things. The instinct to depict the hunt in red ochre on a cave wall and to post a picture of our lunch on social media come from the same place — a desire to acknowledge that something has happened. Things don’t ‘go without saying’, that’s why we have language. We humans like to respond, to join in, to leave a mark, to shout out an encouragement, to show others that we’re present and we’re part of it too.

In a sense when we say Amen we are speaking deep from our humanity and we’re saying “I’m here.” Or perhaps, “I’m here and this happened.” or “I’m here and I agree.”

 

PRAYER:

 

Dear God,

You transcend language

speaking into our desire to be recognised and acknowledged.

We are grateful that we get to participate,

to chime in

to add our voices,

Amen,

Amen,

Amen.