Circling Back: Understanding Why We End A Prayer With "Amen"

While listening to a sermon this week I was reminded of how Congressman Emanuel Cleaver II (D-Missouri) ended a prayer on the opening day of the 117th Congress by saying "amen and a woman." Congressman Cleaver received a lot of well deserved ridicule for the statement from those who were quick to point out that the term amen has nothing to do with gender. 

"We’re just days into 2021, and already the race for the most inane politically correct statement of the year has a strong frontrunner." - USA Today 

As you would expect, the Congressman quickly tried to explain himself:

After an uproar, Cleaver, a former Methodist pastor, explained to the Kansas City Star that he intended the word to be “a lighthearted pun in recognition of the record number of women who will be representing the American people in Congress during this term as well as … the first female chaplain of the House of Representatives.” - Again USA Today

As a former pastor you would think that Cleaver would have understood that a prayer before Congress would not have been a a good time for a "lighthearted pun" moreover, understanding the importance of prayer as a communication between man and God.

I think it is important as Christian to understand exactly what the term amen actually means. We end every prayer by saying it, but I wonder just how many people have actually thought about it or could tell you it's meaning if prompted?

Amen is commonly used after a prayer, creed, or other formal statement. It is spoken to express solemn ratification or agreement. It is used adverbially to mean “certainly,” “it is so,” or “so it be.” Amen can be used in formal prayers within a prescribed script. - dictionary.com

For some historical context check out this article at New Advent:

The word Amen is one of a small number of Hebrew words which have been imported unchanged into the liturgy of the Church, propter sanctiorem as St. Augustine expresses it, in virtue of an exceptionally sacred example. "So frequent was this Hebrew in the mouth of Our Saviour", observes the Catechism of the Council of Trent, "that it pleased the Holy Ghost to have it perpetuated in the Church of God". In point of fact St. Matthew attributes it to Our Lord twenty-eight times, and St. John in its doubled form twenty-six times. As regards the etymology, Amen is a derivative from the Hebrew verb aman "to strengthen" or "Confirm".

I'm not going to post the whole thing so you can read it all here.

The great reverend Billy Graham explains the importance of prayer this way:

Prayer is our communication with God. We can have the assurance that He hears our prayers and knows our heart. According to 1 John 5:15, “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, He hears us.”

You can have assurance that if you call on Him, He will be with you. Psalm 145:18 states, ” The LORD is near to all who call on Him, to all who call on Him in truth.”

God also wants you to be in communion with Him continually. Throughout your day, find time to just talk to Him and include Him in all that you do. Thank Him for what He has provided and for the people in your life. Colossians 4:2 states, ” Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.”

We are also to pray for one another. James 5:16 says, ” Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.” - Source

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