So you come to the end of the prayer. What do you do? Even a beginner would retort, “You say Amen.” All right, but why? It’s a word that expresses truthfulness and certainty. Jesus used it before he spoke some word of truth. “Amen, amen, I say to you no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above” (John 3:3). Amen was also typically said in Judaism as a response to a blessing or at the end of an act of praise. Christianity took over Jewish practice.

 In his Small Catechism, Martin Luther explains the word “Amen.” “‘Amen, amen’ means, ‘Yes, yes, it is going to come about like this.’” So, when we end a prayer with “amen,” we are praying with complete confidence in God.

Of course more elaborate endings are possible. Christians have traditionally prayed to the Father through the Son so that many prayers end, “through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.” Or even more elaborately, “through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.”

Regardless of how the prayer is concluded, I recommend a final moment of silence to make the transition back to other activities of life.

 Read Romans 16:25-27, and remember: God loves YOU unconditionally.

 Wayne

Adapted from a posting in 2016