# LCMS Convention Workbook_St. Louis Missouri_2013_S361
# Machine transcription, uncorrected — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

THEOLOGICAL DOCUMENTS­­—COMMISSION ON THEOLOGY AND CHURCH RELATIONS
Conclusion
It has become so customary at the end of prayer to say, “Amen,” that it is
often meaningless. Both children and adults frequently understand the Amen
to mean, essentially, “The end.” That the word actually means, “surely” or
“truly,” is worthy of emphasis.188 It calls to mind the importance of earnestness
and sincerity in prayer. To add our Amen when another prays or to affirm it
after the Lord’s Prayer or a psalm is a claim of personal involvement and affirmation—this is also our prayer, our confession, our earnest and sincere desire.
Its usage in Scripture is no mere formality, but a reminder that nothing in the
true faith is our invention or entirely individual in nature. God declares the
truth, He directs our lives and our prayers, and He bids us to affirm that all His
Word and work is “surely” and “truly” good (see Deut. 27:15–26, where Israel
is commanded to affirm God’s Word with their “Amen.”). As we pray in worship, only one may speak aloud, but the Amen of the assembly ought to mean
nothing less than our wholehearted affirmation. Similarly, when we pray with
Christ, using His words, the Amen makes His prayer our own.
All this affirms certain aspects of what may be called both “Evangelical”
and “Catholic” emphases about Christian prayer. On the one hand, Evangelical Christians are noted for often insisting that prayer should be personal
and meaningful—a legitimate priority. Luther had long before expressed
that very concern: “You should also know that I do not want you to recite all
these words in your prayer. That would make it nothing but idle chatter and
prattle, read word for word out of a book as were the rosaries by the laity
and the prayers of the priests and monks. Rather do I want your heart to be
stirred. . . .”189 Sincere, devout prayer alone is genuine prayer.

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speak a sincere Amen to His truth—all of this clearly indicates that Christian
prayer is both free and disciplined. It is heartfelt, and mindful. It is subjective
and objective. It is joyful and tearful. It is individual and corporate. It is words
unique to each individual and words common to every believer. It is both the
utter simplicity of the infant’s cry, Abba, and the challenge of praying with
saints of the past, present, and future. We pray as individuals, pouring out
the secret things known only to us and God, and we pray as Christ’s body, the
church, speaking the common needs of all humanity.
What is Christian prayer? It is the response of the redeemed child of God
to his heavenly Father. It is the cry of the justified—tearful or joyful (Ps. 28:2,
7)—but always springing forth from faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. Why do we
pray? Because God the Holy Spirit opens our lips and fills hearts and mouths
with praise (Ps. 51:15)—because of command and promise, because of words
God has given and burdens we cannot bear. How do we pray? With Christ.
Always, ever, only in Him, in His words, in the confidence only He can give.
We pray in a thousand tongues and a thousand ways. But, most of all, we
just cannot stop praying, for we pray by the Spirit of Christ who has brought
us to faith in our Father.
. . . a Christian always has the Spirit of supplication with him,
and his heart is continually sending forth sighs and petitions to
God, regardless of whether he happens to be eating or drinking
or working. . . . Nevertheless, I say, outward prayer must also
go on, both individual prayer and corporate prayer. In the
morning and in the evening, at table and whenever he has
time. . . . Such prayer is a precious thing and a powerful defense
against the devil and his assaults. For in it, all Christendom
combines its forces with one accord; and the harder it prays,
the more effective it is and the sooner it is heard. . . . Thus it is
certain that whatever still stands and endures, whether it is in
the spiritual or in the secular realm, is being preserved through
prayer.191

On the other hand, many Christians assume that such a concern means
that one can never make use of another person’s prayer—“reading from a
book.” Such a perspective criticizes liturgical or memorized prayers, the
prayers of church tradition in the daily offices, and even praying the Psalter
or Lord’s Prayer, saying such practices are “too Catholic.” Luther’s criticism
of prayers that are “word for word out of a book” might seem to endorse this
view at first. Yet, in the quotation from the previous paragraph, Luther goes on
to complete the final sentence in this way: “Rather do I want your heart to be
stirred and guided concerning the thoughts which ought to be comprehended
in the Lord’s Prayer.”190
That Jesus teaches us to pray, providing actual words and content, that the
Bible includes the prayers of the Psalter, and that the Word of God calls us to

188
See ˜mea;, defined as “surely!” in William L. Holladay, A Concise Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon
of the Old Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans, 1971), 20. The root of the term is
“to believe.”
189

AE 43:198.

190

Ibid., emphasis added.

191

62

AE 21:139–140.

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2013 Convention Workbook