Confession

Here's something I've never understood. Maybe someone reading this can enlighten me. Why do preachers - Christians of various denominations - sometimes end big group prayer times with "and all God's people said...", to which everyone is supposed to respond "amen".

Where did that come from? Third Corinthians? I've been reading the Bible seriously for over twenty-five years and I don't recall Moses or Jehoshaphat ever saying "and all God's people said..." Maybe Solomon said it at the dedication of the temple, but I don't think so.

I guess it's just tradition. Correct me, please, if I'm wrong. But it's a tradition that has irritated me for years. I love to say the "amen" in agreement at the end of anyone's sincere prayer. And it is certainly sweet to be part of "all God's people". But I can't stand feeling obligated to say "amen" just because somebody mechanically, robotically says "and all God's people said..."

I attended a church briefly years ago where the pastor threw that in several times in every service. That's when it grew tiresome to me. Before we started attending our crazy rock n roll church this year, we were going to a local Southern Baptist church. "And all God's people said" popped up about every other service. But it was when we were living in Winston Salem - attending a huge 6,000 member Southern Baptist church - that I made my stand.

Pastor Gilbert always had a prayer before he preached and he always had the congregation standing during this prayer. At the close of the prayer, just before we all sat back down, he would say it: "and all God's people said..." and the huge auditorium full of people all said "amen".

Except for me.

About two years ago I started saying "yowza".

I didn't say it too loudly at first and the couple of thousand people around me completely drowned it out. But I soon started saying it a little more confidently: "Yowza!"

Until one Sunday Melody heard me and gave me... the look.

Since then I say my "yowza" much more quietly, almost reverently.

And all God's people said... Yowza!

So next time you're in a service and someone lays that line on you, remember your old friend Chip and lift up a "yowza". Maybe we'll start a trend - a tradition. And years from now someone will write a blog entry asking why in the world people at church are always saying "and all God's people said yowza".

Can I get an amen?