Can I (Not) Get an Amen? (Controversies #9)

Now, at first this doesn't seem like a big deal. Possibly not even worth mentioning. Except that at a casual gathering a few weeks ago someone did mention it, prompting me to realize I wasn't the only person thinking a certain way. One of the many advantages of no longer being a teenager is realizing that if you're thinking a certain way, no doubt other people are, too (as opposed to the younger mindset that believes "Only I am this weird and nobody else's mind would go or has ever gone here"). 

I'm talking about the "amen corner," or the tendency of some pastors to speak as if they need an active amen chorus operating in the congregation in order to know whether their sermon is coming across. You may have heard it: the pastor makes a statement, says, "Amen?" and the congregation or certain portions thereof answers, "Amen," and this exchange is peppered throughout the sermon. But why do we think this is necessary, and why don't we realize it can be harmful? 

The person who raised the subject in the conversation I was in said something like this: "When Pastor makes a really good point, I'm thinking about it and turning it over in my mind. Or realizing something I never saw before, or remembering a related Scripture. I'm not in a place to say 'Amen' at that moment." To which, ironically, I say Amen. What we want people to be doing, it would seem, is thinking, "Oh, that's what that means!" Or applying the Scripture to their own life. Or feeling conviction from the Holy Spirit. Or reaching a new, life-changing understanding. Which usually takes place in the realm of listening, often deep listening, rather than speaking. 

At the risk of a horrible mixing of metaphors, parroting "Amen"--and it does become parroting after a while because "Amen?"/"Amen!" eventually becomes classical conditioning or a Pavlovian response to a stimulus; you're not even fully aware you're doing it--is batting the shuttlecock back over the net instead of receiving what was preached and letting it settle inside to be pondered, chastened by, or examined by good Bereans. In other words, the amen chorus has the serious potential to block the inner processes that should really be going on. It's like if we say "Amen" in all the right places, we've made the pastor happy and we've done our duty. But did we let the truth get down into our inward parts, or with the mindless "Amen" response, did we swat it away?

Peer pressure raises its head in funny ways. But when a sermon point strikes that match inside me that illuminates a truth, connection, or meaning I never saw before, I'm not worried about whether I've been prompted to amen it, or who else does or doesn't comply. I'm going to wait quietly, let it glow, and receive the next words.