#357. The prayer version of "You Stay Classy San Diego."
Jul 21st by JonIn the movie “Anchorman,” Will Ferrell’s news anchor character always signed off the air with the same phrase, “You stay classy San Diego.” I thought that was funny and recently my friend Stan reminded me that sometimes we do the same things with our prayers.
Have you ever done that? Instead of just closing a prayer with “amen,” you throw in a little spice? A little flair? Like putting a big loop in your signature when signing things, whoomp, there it is!*
I know what my prayer sign off is, “Lord, thank you for this day and everything you blessed us with.” A pastor I’ve heard of likes to end his prayer with, “May your grace, mercy and peace be with each and every one of us, both now and evermore. Amen.” I like the addition of the word “evermore” because it feels a little medieval to me, like maybe I should be holding a sword when I say that word. Is there anyway I could punctuate my sign off with that? Would it look weird if when I prayed I said,
“Lord, thank you for this day and everything you blessed us with. Evermore.”
That’s cool, right? Maybe not, but I had a few other thoughts on this topic.
1. Context doesn’t matter.
One of the things I love about prayer sign offs is that what you said immediately before the sign off doesn’t matter. Regardless of the topic of your prayer, you’re signing it off with the same phrase. That’s like ending the movie “Saving Private Ryan” with ten minutes of comedy from that dude Balki on the show, “Perfect Strangers.” You’ll throw a fancy sign off on the end of a prayer about a pig winning a blue ribbon at the state fair or a casual sign off at the end of a tragic hot air balloon mishap. It makes no sense.
2. Here comes the end.
The great thing about having a favorite prayer sign off is that your friends know that once they hear that, you’re about to stop praying. As you ramble about the verbal countryside, throwing out the word “just” and repeating God’s names a million times, they can all wait for those magical words that mean, “he’s done.” (That was a test. If you laughed at that you should be ashamed of yourself. For a real Christian there’s no such thing as a “too long prayer.” That’s an oxymoron.)
3. Sometimes that’s all you’ll say.
There are times at our house when my two daughters are already trying to eat their chicken strips (roughly 87% of the food they consume), the phone is ringing, the dishwasher is running and all manner of chaos is breaking out. I admit, I’ll go right to my sign off. Instead of praying, I’ll just start and finish with the sign off. I didn’t really realize I was doing that until today. That’s like writing a letter that only has a “p.s.” in it. I am such an awesome Christian.
It’s weird how many prayer posts are on this site. If someone asked me what I thought was funny about the church, I doubt I would say “Prayer. Prayer is hilarious.” But there it is, prayer sign offs are something funny we do.
Mine is pretty boring, but I would love to hear what you do or hear one you’ve listened to before at church.
*That’s right, I said it.
Tag team back again. Check into wreckin, let’s begin. Party on party people let me hear some noise, DC’s in the house jump, jump rejoice. Says there’s a party over here, a party over there, wave your hands in the air, shake your derriere. These three words when you’re getting busy, Whoomp There it is. Hit me.
Comments
My normal ending is, “We love you and praise you, amen.” But every now and then I admit to dropping a holy “Holla atcha boyee!”
I bet God appreciates a sweet shout-out every now and again.
Holla atcha boyee!
I also love the Talladega nights prayers (totally sacreligious) — AND I love Greg Focker RN in Meet the Parents …
but the real reason for my comment is to give a shout out woot woot for the song reference — as a former wedding DJ, this song was a large part of my life in the mid 90′s.
We pray freestyle in these parts, I don’t think we say the same thing in closing very often — but we do like, “okay God – do it do it.”
Long live Will Ferrell and Ben Stiller.
One thing I usually hear at meal prayers is “Bless/Thank You for the hands that have prepared this food.” Which I get – good times, thanks for the people that made it. Rock on.
But it can get awkward if it’s standard. B/c once my sister made the food and was asked to bless it. She said “And God thanks for, well…me…” I assume the rest of the prayer was going to finish with “thanks for me making the food” but I lost it and couldn’t continue listening. Too funny.
I also had a minister who at the end of every class/meeting/sermon would “sign off” with some variation of:
Go in peace
Love one another
Love God
I think he stopped praying to God and started commissioning us but I always got confused….
I typically begin with “Hi, God!” and end “in Yeshua’s name, Amen”
For a while in high school I usually began “Hi God! Thank you for toes!” I don’t know why.
One of my friends *sings* his signoff – “B’shem Yeshua HaMashiach, Sar Shalom, Baruch haba b’shem Adonai, A-a-men”
(translation – in the name of Jesus Christ, Prince of Peace, Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord Amen)
The "thank you for toes" part really appeals to me. I mean, why not? Toes are pretty incredible when you think about it!
My 8 year old ends every prayer with “and thank you for your son Jesus, Amen!” It’s so sweet.
I’m in a rut though. I start all out loud prayers with “Father God thank you for this day” and end all of them with “In your son’s name”.
I like the “God you rock” one. I may steal that. I can’t wait to see what my church thinks when I bust that out next time they ask me to pray. I’ll let you know…
The prayer opener runs rampant in our house and my husband has passed it on to our children. I’d like to claim it as the “Baptist Prayer”
“Dear Jesus, thank you for this day…”
Funny. Mine typically start the same, which I thought was cool until now.
“God thank you for the intersection of our lives Lord”. When I write it, it looks so corny!
My son is 8 and sometimes prays for supper. He says “GodisgreatandGodisgood, letusthankhimforourfood. Byhishandsweallarefed, giveuslordourdailybread.”
He says it as fast as he can so he can eat.
At first I wanted to say “TAKE THIS SERIOUS!” But I think God has a sense of humor…
(And I to get started quick too!)
Jason
Transparent Christian Magazine
I lived with a pastor’s family for a while, and every time the pastor prayed for dinner he’d end it with the “bless this food to our bodies and our bodies to your service” tag. Every once in a while that pops into my head and I start to try to say it, but it never comes out right.
Also, my four-year-old always starts out her prayers with “Thank you for this food” even if we’re praying before bedtime or after she gets in trouble. I don’t know if she’s just in the habit or if she’s secretly hoping for a snack.
Christians DO like prayer sign-offs…
Mine is usually something like “We ask all of this in the name of Jesus, Amen.”
I think. I know I consciously try to change it up once in awhile, but the sign-off is just so easy.
Well, I don’t know of any really “catchy” sign-offs (my own are pretty mundane), but the one habitual prayer thing that is SO distracting to me are the people who interject “Father God” after every half a sentence…
“Father God, we just come before you tonight, Father God, to enter into your presence, Father God, and Father God, we just praise you for your awesomeness, Father God, and….”
Does He need that many reminders of His own name? I’m pretty sure He knows who He is…LOL
We were talking about this one Sunday, and our pastor decided to end that day’s prayer with “Go Spurs Go!” Gotta love a joker.
Uhoh my comment got too long so I turned it into a blog post.
And don’t forget to spay or neuter your animals.. oh wait-that’s the wrong ending.
Along with overuse of the word “just” in prayers is the overuse of the word “Lord.” I know a lot of people who do this, but one person we knew in high school would seriously say it every other word…it was a total crutch.
“Lord we Lord ask Lord that Lord you Lord would Lord bless Lord this Lord time Lord together…”
I would always have to clamp my hand over my mouth when she prayed, so I didn’t burst out laughing…cuz I’m really spiritual like that:)
Actually, there is such a thing as a too long prayer for Christians. The ‘Great Commission’ orders us to get out in the world, implying that spending too much time in our little bubbles is dangerous to both our growth as Christians and to others’ ability to accept Christ. And while you could argue that our lives should be ones of prayer, our prayers should not be our lives.
i totally laughed out loud on this one. the post got me, and the comments did too, especially “don’t forget to spay or neuter your animals”. i bet bob barker would be tempted to sign off with that one.
when i was in high school, we had to tell the lunchroom cashier our lunch number and she’d charge our account. one day i went to ask the blessing and found myself telling God “6631″.
oh, and don’t forget saying the same blessings over and over. we take turns in my house, and until i was 8 or so, i did “God is great” until my mom suggested i change it up, i guess so it would actually mean something. so i came up with a new one, which i’ve said ever since: “Dear God, thank you for this food and i ask that you bless it to our bodies and our bodies to your service. in Your name, amen”. but what i hate is that i have a hard time enunciating the k of ‘ask’ so sometimes i think i sound like i’m cussing at God. so i try to run it together with “that” so it sounds a little better. maybe i should start saying “pray” instead. or say something new. i think 12 years is quite some time to be praying the same prayer every meal. sorry for the long comment.
first……..i find it interesting how many people referenced Hebrew prayers (or phrases). cool.
i have a friend (and it has spread among the group of us) who prays (at meals) “thank you for this food and let it nourish our bodies and not be stored as fat”
i just LOVE that!………..wonder if it works? (not according to my scale, but I don’t use it consistantly!)
I'm a youth pastor and my students recently told me that I always end my prayers with a "double amen" (all 4 years of ministry). I stopped doing it and now that's all they think about.
Mr. Acuff, I just want to thank you, John. For all the things you point out to us, johnny boy. Now, Jonathon, i just want o point out you have hit the preverbial nail on the head, @prodigaljohn. So , Mr John Acuff, son of old man Acuff, thank you. thank you thank you thank you…. just……just…. thank you.
The campus leader of Cru at my college has an awesome sign off– he'll say something to the effect of "If my words are true to your words, let them be remembered. If my words stray from your words, let them be quickly forgotten."
I heard my pastor steal it one week.
Isn't it great how we gravitate to liturgy and ritual even when we think we're non-liturgical? I grew up in a combination of non-denominational, Lutheran, Assemblies of God, Vineyard, and probably some others. The big difference? Some of them had the liturgy written down in the hymnal, and others just had it memorized and pretended they didn't have one