Amen!

I grew up going to a church that was pretty straight-laced when it came to services. We were quiet --oh so quiet --during prayer and the sermon; we even made sure coins were laid quietly in the felt-lined offering plate. Shhhhh. Our church was affiliated with a local camp meeting. Now that was a horse of a different color! During meetings there was heat, lots and lots of heat. They were held in summer in an outdoor pavilion or a large open-air tabernacle, so the high temps and humidity made for restless babies, restless children, and even restless adults. Baskets full of fans were made available, and the only other relief was when a deep voice from the waaaay back affirmed AMEN! to whatever the traveling pastor had just said. Somehow, that seemed to give everyone license to exhale and reposition themselves in their folding chair and correct the little ones playing just a little too zealously with the rubber flap on the front of their worn-out sneaker. Dress was casual as was the venue, so ladies in their sleeveless sundresses would sit with legs crossed and men with no ties adorning their short-sleeved cotton shirts would lean back just a little more and, maybe, throw their arm around the back of their wife's chair. The wooden chairs would crackle and, the fans set up all around would whirr, and of course, the wide-open entrance to the rest of the campground permitted all manner of noises to accompany the preaching: a car rolling down the gravel drive, children playing on the swings up the hill, squirrels calling out to one another in the trees, and the men in the waaaay back who bellowed AMEN! 

Outside of camp meeting, the only time I ever heard the word Amen, was at the end of prayer. The strange thing is, when the men in the waaaay back shouted, I knew they were agreeing with the preacher; I understood this was their way of saying he'd spoken the truth. What I didn't understand was that when I was using it at the end of prayer, I was using it all wrong. In a teaching by the late Keith Green, he said Amen is not meant to be Goodbye or We'll talk later. Not until I heard him say that did I realize that's just what my brain was hearing: Signing off until tomorrow! 

Chabad.org writes:

The Talmud explains that there are three intentions within the word amen (depending on context):

1) An oath, 2) acceptance of the statement or terms, 3) confirmation of (or faithfulness in) the statement (e.g. belief, prayer, and faith that the statement will be fulfilled).

As such, when the court would administer an oath, the person would answer “Amen,” and it was considered as if they themselves had sworn. Likewise, we reply “Amen” after hearing others recite prayers or blessings.

The word amen is versatile and is used to respond to blessings and prayers in praise of G‑d, as well as after hearing a request or supplication to G‑d.

When saying “Amen” after hearing G‑d’s praise, one’s intention would be “the blessing that was recited is true and I believe in it,” since the word amen signifies an affirmation of belief. The letters of the word amen are the root letters of the word emunah, meaning belief or trust.

And after hearing a request or supplication, one’s intent would be oriented more to the future — that the speaker’s statements and requests be affirmed and speedily fulfilled.

When we say Amen at the end of our prayers, the things we have petitioned God for, we are speaking the things we want Him to deliver, but in His way. We are affirming our commitment to the process as He sees fit. We have given those things to Him, and we are now moving forward in partnership with Him to see those things come to fruition. For example, the simple prayer of thanksgiving: Bless this food to our bodies and us to Your service. Amen. This is not passive: I'll wait, Jesus. This is a request for God to use the food He has given us to nourish our bodies, keep them running, as we walk in obedience to Him, as we serve Him in the ways He commands us to serve. A request for God to impart to us wisdom may end with Amen, but the process does not. We are affirming, Okay, I have asked You to do what only You can do, now keep me in doing what I need to do to receive wisdom: study Your Word, seek godly counsel, actively listen to biblical preaching... Watch me walk this out in partnership with You.

Amen is the opening of a door. The board meeting is over, now it's time to get busy and do everything in my power to walk this out. I'm not going to forget what we've talked about and find myself praying the same prayers over and over; but I'm going to keep my eyes on my Heavenly Father as we work toward His glory together. My prayer for peace on earth is going to be accompanied by me looking for ways to be a peacemaker, to encourage others, to respond with a soft answer, to forgive. My prayer for health is going to be accompanied by eating the right foods, getting exercise and rest, following the doctor's orders. Amen is not the end; it is the beginning, the beginning of all I am going to do today to live the resurrectionary life Jesus purchased for me at the cross. Watch me, Jesus! Here I go! AMEN!