Easter

Easter “AMEN” 4/8/07

P- Christ is risen! C- Christ is risen, indeed!

Amen. Don’t go getting all excited! “Amen” is the title, not the end, of my Easter sermon! I began this sermon on Saturday, February 17^th, sitting at the antique dining room table in our family cottage on the then frozen shores of Lake Erie, with 11 inches of snow on the ground and 1-2 inches still falling. It may have been the frost or it may have been the fatigue resulting from writing this 9-part Lenten sermon series in 5 isolated days, but…whatever the cause…I actually considered ending my sermon immediately after hearing you say: “Christ is risen, indeed!” Some of you may wish the February frost or sermon-series-fatigue had prevailed, but the cottage furnace kicked-on, I added a log to the fire, poured another cup of coffee, and my energy was restored. Thus, on this Easter morning we consider the final word of The Lord’s Prayer… “Amen”.

The phrase “For thine is the kingdom and the power and glory” was added to the Lord’s Prayer in the 6^th century A.D., so we move immediately to the “Amen”, a word appearing 77 times in the King James’ Version…27 times in the OT, 50 times in the NT, and most often in Revelation. This Easter morning we join all the company of heaven described in Revelation 5 in saying the grandest “Amen”, the greatest Easter hymn ever sung! This heavenly-anthem starts strong, building to a thrilling crescendo, the rhythm quickening with each word. John writes: “I beheld the voice of many angels round about the throne and the beasts and the elders; the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousands, and thousands of thousands; saying with a loud voice, ‘Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!’ Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, heard I saying, ‘Blessing and honour and glory and power be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb forever and ever!’ And the four beasts said, ‘AMEN.’” (Rev. 5:11-14)

“Amen” is a very significant Hebrew word for our gathering this morning, a word of completed, fulfilled historical fact. It means “that’s the truth” or “so be it” and declares that what has been said is true! In the Lord’s Prayer we have the truth as embodied in our risen Savior Jesus Christ, the One who is “the way, and the truth, and the life” (Jn. 14:6). Jesus, and His prayer, teaches us to Whom we belong, where we are moving, what we really look like beneath our assorted masks, and what true kingdom, power, and glory looks like! We know the truth, first, by being made truthful and this only occurs in a personal walk with Jesus and as we pray His prayer! Amen!

God, “Our Father,” determined that our sin-offering be paid and gave His own Son as full-payment… “He who did not withhold his own Son, but gave him up for all of us.” (Rm. 8:32) Hel opposed all that heaven proposed, but through Christ the victory is won, the Kingdom is His, and, as Martin Luther wrote: “The kingdom’s ours forever!” “Amen”---This 4-letter cheer is far more than a signal that this prayer or this sermon is concluded. The “Amen” at the end of The Lord’s Prayer can properly be applied to every phrase, and each petition, the very “ingredients” of this marvelous prayer.

What might this sound like? Let’s try it…after I pronounce each phrase of The Lord’s Prayer, shout aloud together the “Amen”: Our Father, who art in heaven”---

“Hallowed be Thy name”---“Thy kingdom come, they will be done, on earth as it is in heaven”---“Give us this day, our daily bread”---“And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us”---“And lead us not into temptation”---“But deliver us from evil”---“For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever and ever”---“AMEN”.

As I have often prayed with the aging father of a faithful member of Grace and dear friend of mine, I have come to appreciate that after I pronounce the “Amen”, this elderly man of faith boldly, and with confidence, remarks, “So shall it be!” Pronouncing the “Amen” is putting our signature of acceptance at the conclusion of the prayer. Pronouncing the “Amen” indicates that we sincerely desire the things we ask for in The Lord’s Prayer. Pronouncing the “Amen” bears witness that we firmly believe that Jesus was raised from the dead and, as we dare to say at the start of a Christian funeral: “When we were baptized in Christ Jesus, we were baptized into his death…so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might live a new life.” (Rm. 6:4/LBW p. 207) May God’s name be hallowed by us; His kingdom come through us; His will fulfilled in us; His daily bread given to us; each other’s sins forgiven by us; temptations led away and evil delivered from us; and the resurrection be granted to us. May all in worship say “AMEN!” P- Christ is risen! C- Christ is risen, indeed! Amen.