When they were younger, my kids would interrupt the grace before meals by exclaiming, “Amen! Dig in!” They were ready to eat.
Perhaps you, too, are accustomed to hearing the word at the close of prayers. Maybe you will hear “amen” this Thanksgiving before carving the turkey or tofurky.
While used in many traditions, including Christian, Muslim, and Baha’i, amen is derived from the Hebrew word for trust (emunah). Amen is a way of saying, “I believe you” or “What you have said is true.” It is a fitting close of a prayer to a Higher Power.
We can also express our agreement with each other by saying “amen.” It is a way of saying, “I’m with you.” Rabbi Sharon Brous claims saying “amen” to someone else “indicates a relationship between seekers, an affirmation of one person’s blessing by another” (see her book The Amen Effect).
I am aware that there are tensions at many holiday tables, some of which involve religion and politics, often a combustible combination. Perhaps your prayers don’t align with those of your family members. Maybe you don’t pray at all.
However, we might all consider saying “amen” to each other, especially when we find common ground despite our disagreements. Perhaps it’s a shared interest in football or fútbol. Perhaps it stems from a preference for dark meat over white or the correct pronunciation of the word pecan.
Whether Jew or Gentile, Republican or Democrat, can’t we all agree that homemade cranberry sauce is better than the stuff from the can?
Amen! Dig in!
Andrew Taylor-Troutman is the author of “Little Big Moments,” a collection of mini-essays about parenting, and “Tigers, Mice & Strawberries: Poems.” Both titles are available most anywhere books are sold online. Taylor-Troutman lives in Chapel Hill where he serves as pastor of Chapel in the Pines Presbyterian Church and occasionally stumbles upon the wondrous while in search of his next cup of coffee.
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