Why Atheists should Go To Church

A friend of mine suddenly stopped going to church because his teenage son was arrested for selling pot.  Yes, he is a scary drug dealer and probably has connections to Mexican drug cartels and has been involved in murder, abduction and child slave labor.  Actually, he just sold pot to a friend who entrapped him in an effort to have his own charges dropped.  Back to my friend, he was embarrassed and ashamed that this happened to his family and nobody from his church reached out to him.  He admitted to me that he was an atheist and church had no value to him, he was only going out of a Catholic obligation to a nascent guilt.  I disagreed with him that he shouldn't attend because they needed him and he needed them, but he needs to work through this on his own.  However, here are some generic reasons and granted, I am grasping here but indulge me.

1)  Church gives you a place where you can breath.  Many people will say that they don't sing but in your everyday life, you sing.  If you yell, you are using the same body parts and emotion that goes into singing.  If you scream, the same.  Do you speak with inflection such as you would when you speak with surprise, tenderness, comfort, imitation, sarcasm or chiding?  All that is part of the singing apparatus too so, yes, you sing.  The difference between saying those things and singing them though, that is where the difference lies.  When you sing, you are sustaining tones which forces you to awaken muscles between your ribs, your diaphragm, your chest and head.  An added benefit to actual singing is that you are taking in oxygen more deeply and richly than you would only by speaking.  That increased oxygen gets in your blood where it goes straight to your brain and muscles which are nourished and repaired by the newly oxygenated blood.  Singing is healthy.  If you are a health nut, singing should be part of your weekly routine and church is a perfect place to exercise those muscles without the worry of someone hearing you. If your church has a pipe organ, there is even more acoustical space to hide in.  Pianos and guitars have a natural decay and less secure to hide your voice therein.  Once you play a sound on any of these instruments the sound immediately begins to decay, necessitating more fills and chords.  But singing doesn’t work this way, and the continuity of the sung line is often disrupted.  The organ’s sound lifts and sustains the voice of the congregation through each phrase and guiding each breath.  The organ thrives in an open room and it fills the room almost like sunlight through open windows, the organ warmly invites even hesitant and untrained singers to join in.  An amplified band gives you a directional, electronic copy of the instruments. The pipe organ needs no amplification; the natural sound of the instrument itself fills the space evenly and fully with its massive range.  The organ can breathe musical life into any part of the Gospel story and your body.

1a) When you hear music, there are fireworks going off in your brain.  FMRI scans have shown that when people listen to music, multiple areas of the brain light up and when participating, music engages practically every area of the brain at once, especially the motor, visual and auditory cortex.  Strengthening those areas of the brain allow us to apply those strengths to other activities.  This also bridges the activity in the corpus callosum which regulates the left and right hemisphere of the brain. This allows you to solve problems more effectively and creatively in both academic and social settings. Because crafting music also involves understanding emotional content and message, musicians often have higher levels of executive function; a category of interlinked tasks which include planning, strategizing and attention to detail and requires simultaneous analysis of both cognitive and emotional aspects. This ability also has an impact on how our memory systems work. Transubstantiation may become more physical for after singing an hour in church you will leave a different person, more energized, alert and cerebrally attentive.

2)  Along the lines of music, attending the right church is a great place to hear masterworks of choral, instrumental and organ literature from the 14th, 15th, 16th, 17th, 18th, 19th, 20th and 21st century, all in one place.  Sure, you can buy a CD or find classical stations on the radio but hearing it live in the space the music was designed and composed for is much better.  Even if you don't sing, sitting there gives you the opportunity to set aside some time to reflect on your life in a holy space with holy sounds among holy people.

3)  You will be supporting local musicians.  Many musicians in churches are volunteers but a few of them such as the director or accompanist are probably paid.  Many of these people also play in clubs, bands, bars, are involved in community theater, compose and teach.  By supporting them in the church, you are supporting the circle of music in the community.

4)  Going to church also helps you to find community.  My friend, whose son was arrested could have found support, comfort and community but unfortunately his church was also embarrassed about the situation and didn't realize that not to act is to act.  It takes a lot of courageous effort to cultivate that sense of courage to seek and heal.  However, after that courage is marshaled, it will be discovered that it takes no effort or courage at all to heal.  I know of another church whose pastor lives in his own house so the rectory was empty.  When one of the elderly members fell into financial instability, there was no question that she could stay at the rectory free of charge. That is what church communities do for one another.  So, you don't have to go to church to find out what they can do for you, you can go to find out what you can do for them.  It is in serving others that we are served.

5)  Many people, even atheists, have a nascent sense of spirituality within them.  That means it is present but not active.  A friend of mine was arrested (hmmmph, I know a lot of people who were arrested) and he stayed at my house for a week because he wanted to get away and hide from everyone and take time to figure out his future life while it was falling apart around him.  A staunch atheist, he decided to attend church with me on a Saturday evening because I had to play and he didn't want to sit home alone.  Something touched him in the service and he went up for Communion.  He said he felt close to the God he didn't beleive in and it was comforting for him to be there.  He made an appointment to meet with the priest during the week but unfortunately the Roman Catholic priest alluded that he was not welcome there but, God bless anyway.  What a missed opportunity for both.  Most often the biggest problem with the church are its clergy because they lack the courage to do the right thing for fear of being accused of doing the wrong thing.  Not to act is to act and everyone loses.  It is easy to do the wrong thing then blame the one you are ostracizing.   They protest too much.

6)  As I mentioned earlier, going to church may help you find purpose.  An active church can provide you with the opportunity to volunteer to help where it's needed, a way of intentionally focusing on something transcendent and on becoming a more loving person while helping others.  Church's can be a great place for social gathering, too.  People are usually warm, friendly and accepting, at least in a good church! They may have groups that interest you and even have some missions which for you, even as a non-believer, you can participate in toward helping others in need. That is what is most fulfilling in life; having purpose and helping others.   When two hurricanes hit my area I was volunteering to answer a suicide hotline and was moved up to handling a disaster relief hotline for FEMA.  I did that for about three weeks, seven days a week, about ten hours a day.  Albeit exhausting, it was a very rewarding time for me.

7)  The point of the sermon on Sunday of any church is to learn how to apply scripture to your life.  This is a simple concept but many clergy think they have to be creative, gimmicky and entertaining and often miss the mark of breaking open the Word.  Even if you don't beleive that scripture is true spiritually or historically, there is great philosophy in the teachings of both the old and new testaments.  Even if you don't believe in God, you can agree to a lot of the values found in scripture as great truths.  Many of the stories have great lessons and you can find answers to many of your concerns and problems therein.  Our lives become the stories that we listen to and re-tell.  If you don't want to take the time to read the bible, start with the Jefferson Bible which is comprised of only the words of Jesus (the red words).  That can be very inspiring for those without a lot of time to weed through the historical and cultural detritus of scripture.

As long as you are not attending church to cause a disturbance, I would encourage going. The social, psychological, and spiritual benefits of participating in the liturgy and a community can be inspiring. If nothing else, you will get free food and coffee after the service.  That brings up a couple of other more over the top reasons to go.

8) The bible is loaded with good horror stories.  In the Bible, you can find stories of unsurpassed cruelty: murder, rape, incest, torture, slavery, cruelty to women and children, witchcraft, angry gods, natural disasters, plagues, wars, duels, mutilations, crucifixions, more blood than you can shake a stick at, and of course, eternal torment! Much of Hollywood's success comes straight out of the Bible. If you like horror, lust and greed, the bible is a great read.

9) Church is a great place for stand-up comedy.  Practically every page of the bible has something funny, ironic, dry or revealing in it if you look for it.  Preachers are willing to say anything from their pulpits! Many of them start off their homily with a joke and the comedy doesn’t end there either. Seeing some fundamental clerics affirm with a straight face their literal belief in a Noah’s ark, that dinosaurs didn't exist (a distraction planted there by old Scratch himself) or that the sun was “stopped” until some Jews won a battle, is hilarious! Yes, churches can provide hours and hours of knee-slapping entertainment if you know what to look for!

In some churches, you absolutely cannot be a member or be welcome to participate in the liturgy if you are not baptized, a member, affirming or have jumped through some other corporate hoops.  The Roman Catholics have many restrictions, the Episcopalians are more welcoming and lax, some churches require background checks (they don't want sinners), women are second class citizens in some, some are just cold, some don't like gays, while the Unitarians will take anyone.  Do some research, that might be half of the fun.  Visit a different church each week, take pictures and review them on Google or Yelp and talk about the music, homily, people, art, food, windows, flowers, whatever.

In the end, you may discover that some of your hookah-smoking and beer-drinking buddies are church mice.  You can share many a night around a fire-pit with those people discussing the spirituality of STAR WARS, HARRY POTTER and THE LION or THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE or STARGATE.  It can become something you'll never want to give up because even if you still don't beleive, you're a family.  Whatever brings people together is worth exploring.

So, come, all are welcome.  Well, not everyone, everywhere but, try.  If they don't want you, shake the dust from your feet as you leave (That's from scripture.  It was Jesus' polite way of saying, well, I can't say it).

Social Media Won't Last Forever

A local priest was recently arrested for using his cell phone to take pictures of a woman changing in a Salvation Army thrift shop.  I guess he didn't know that porn was rampant on the internet and free for the taking.  His court appearance was adjourned until January 20th so we won't know what sex offender crime he will be charged with until then.  Immediately after posting bail though, he closed all his online accounts such as Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin.  He didn't have to do that since there was nothing immoral about what he had on those sites (and, they can still be seen in the Google Cache).  What is sad though is that he had pictures of his church, parishioners, his family, cars and everything good about himself and others posted therein.  All that is good about him is gone forever and what remains are the dark sided news articles detailing his deviant behavior.  One "oops" erased a lifetime of "attaboys" but, such is our holier than thou, unforgiving and vengeful society.  The Facebook comments about him from "good" people only wish for him to be shot, rot or burn. 

It got me thinking though about our zeal to digitize photographs, posting them online and expecting that they are going to last forever; That might turn out to be wrong.  If there are photos we wish to keep "forever," we should consider creating a physical instance of them and print them out, then store them in "ye old fashioned" photo album.  I still have my grandmother's album, my mother's and my own childhood albums stashed away in the attic for future generations to view.  A friend of mine has a 20 year old son and they don't have a single hard copy photo of him.  They have thousands of digital photos stored here and there, though.  Today's online, high tech and cloud data storage system will most likely become tomorrow's floppy disc. We are currently living in the digital dark ages and printing our photos is probably more secure over time than merely posting them.

Think about it.  If websites such as Megaupload can be taken down, or if a social media website can go out of business such as Zurker, iMee, Posterous, or they can just fade away into obscurity such as Myspace, what could the future hold for other online storage and social sites where we post everything about our lives to?  If terrorists wanted to hurt everyone in the world in one fell swoop, they'd take down Facebook.  That actually wouldn't be a bad thing . . .

What we know about generations before us we have gleamed from written records and old photographs.  If a disaster were to strike our civilization or time simply wanes on and what is popular now becomes banal and trite in the future, how will historians and archaeologist learn about us if our digital footprint dissolves, is deleted, becomes demagnetized or is simply taken offline by our own doing, our failure to log in anymore, care-less relatives or, our favorite social media site where we store our pics simply ceases to exist?

We can still read 5000 year old hieroglyphs carved in stone.  We can still decipher three thousand year old ink on papyrus.  We still have books written in 1,000 year old ink and paper.  Digital copies of our 100 year old celluloid recordings are quickly being duplicated because they are decaying at a rapid rate.  The earlier magnetic tape recordings less than fifty years old are almost unintelligible because they too are decaying at a rapid rate. It seems our new technology does not have a relatively long shelf life.

Even if the medium still exists, the technology to read them will soon be obsolete and impossible to find.  Consider the following medium for data storage:  vinyl audio records, cassette tapes, 8 track tapes, card readers, punch cards, 5 and 1/4 inch floppy disks, 3 and 1/2 inch disks, zip drives, CD's, DVD's and now, the cloud.  Heck, I have data which I stored on thumb drives and they are unreadable today after the old age of ten years.

See the pattern?  Not only does the digital data decay rapidly but the hardware to read those formats is rapidly disappearing, too.  Don't expect the thousands of family photos you have stored on your phone, the cloud, your computer, on Facebook or on a disk will be there in 100, 50, 20 or even 5 years.  As the priest in my opening paragraph taught us, your digital footprint can be wiped out overnight, or your cloud company can go out of business or taken down such as Megaupload.  Social media websites or your working personal computer can be gone tomorrow taking your whole digital life with them.

There is a solution.  Get yourself to one of those struggling scrap booking stores dotted across the country and find out how you can get your precious memories stored in a slightly more secure photo album.  And don't use home laser or inkjet printers as they too fade over time.  Have your pictures printed from high quality printers using quality paper and ink.

Then, instead of just posting your picture to Facebook for your 800 closest friends to see, invite family and friends over for a meal, sit on the floor around the fireplace with a glass of wine and look through the photos together, sharing stories, making new memories and maybe taking more pictures.

Time weaves ribbons of memories to sweeten life when youth is through.  Like memories, our technology and online presence can fade and disappear.  How cool will it be for your great grandchildren to be rummaging through the attic and find a photo album of their ancestors - hopefully it won't be a book filled with selfies.  As I look through the old black and white photo album of my grandmother, I don't see many pictures of her but, I do see the pictures of the many people whom she loved.

-Malcolm Kogut.

Church Growth

I have had the privilege of speaking with several pastors recently about church growth or the lack of growth which many churches are experiencing across the country.  Some pastors are looking for gimmicks or programs to attract those who left and also looking for ways to welcome those who have never been.  Others are accepting of their size and diminishing membership and are desirous to settle for being in the service of those who remain.

A predominant reason people say they don't go to church is that they consider themselves spiritual and not religious and that the church is filled with hypocrites.  It is very easy to perceive the church as being filled with people who are "holier than thou."  It is also  very easy for the church to attract or foster people who "protest too much" in an effort to hide their own sinful nature.  It is easy for good people to be judgmental especially if they secretly recognize sinful desire in their own hearts.  On top of that, when some crime occurs in a church, we might discover that the perp was a pillar of the community, a lector, secretary, youth group leader, pastor or Eucharistic minister. 

It is not that the church attracts bad people.  The truth is everyone has the capacity to be a "bad" person.  There was a study by Wallerstein and Wylie where they asked 3,000 NY citizens who have never been arrested about all the things they had done in their lives.  100% of them have committed misdemeanors and were never caught and 97% had committed felonies but have never been caught.  So if you've never been caught, you must be a good person despite the bad things you've gotten away with.

About fifteen years ago I vacationed in Canada with a friend who illegally brought back Cuban cigars and prescription drugs which you couldn't buy in the US but they were available in Canada.  I thought it was very funny that I got flagged for a search and he, a Roman Catholic priest, waltzed right through. 

Today, churches often run background checks on its members in an effort to weed out the sinners.  It is good that they want to make safe sanctuaries but they need to keep in mind that most saints such as St. Paul and even Jesus, a convicted felon himself, would not be welcome in our churches for none of them would pass their background checks.  Part of the problem with organized religion is that it represents only a tiny part of the story and one that is often dangerously dysfunctional at that.

People of adversity find strength within themselves and they think that that has to do with finding meaning.  Instead of finding meaning we should call it forge for meaning for finding and searching are two different things.  Endurance is the entry way to forging meaning and, being accepted into a community is the only place that that can happen.  When we forge meaning we can incorporate that meaning into a new identity and that is what the church needs.  We need to take our faults and traumas and make them part of who we've come to be and we need to fold the worst events of our lives into a narrative of triumph as a response of things that hurt.  Instead the church tries hard to deny this.

I once encouraged a church to start a prison ministry and the response was that they didn't want to attract or associate with those kind of people.  What they failed to realize was that those people were already in the parish as convicted arsonists, drug users, DWI perps, a sex offender and burglar.  A few years later one of their 20 year old boys was arrested for dealing drugs and it still didn't dawn on them that they had the capacity to heal and the healing needed to happen in their own back yard.

When it was found out that I answered a suicide hotline, a woman grabbed me after a church service, broke down in tears and told me that her brother was arrested for committing a sex crime with a teenager, then completed suicide while in jail.  We spoke for quite some time and afterward I told the pastor what had happened so that he could be aware of the situation.  Instead of being compassionate, he became angry that the woman would confide in me and not him.  Of course, this was in a parish who abandoned a former pastor who was arrested on a DWI charge. She never trusted anyone in the parish with her pain and she carried it silently for many years. 

A woman who was raped as a teenager seemingly had her life destroyed.  She dropped out of school, gave birth to the child of the rapist and never went to college or forged a career of her own.  At the age of fifty she was asked if she ever thought of the rapist and she said she did and she felt sorry for him because, he has a beautiful daughter and two beautiful grandchildren and he doesn't know that and she does.  As it turns out, she considers herself the lucky one.  She credits the support and love of her community for the blessings in her life. 

Some things we are born to; our race, a disability, our sexuality, our gender and some are things that happen to us; being a rape victim, a prisoner, a Katrina survivor, a 9/11 survivor.  Religious identity means being able to enter into a church community to draw strength from that community and to give strength there too.  A church community is not for someone to enter in and say "I am here and I hurt," but rather "I hurt and I am here."  But we are ashamed, judgmental and can't tell our stories to the "good people" but our stories are the foundation of identity.

Just as the stories we tell come from our life experiences, our lives can grow from the stories that we tell.  The bible is filled with such stories of healing, joy, forgiveness and com-passion (suffering with one another).  That is the key; one another and, you won't find that on a Facebook page.  Instead, the church looks for ways to attract the wrong people because the church is interested in numbers and money.  If the church's goal is to promote healing and acceptance through pain and struggle, numbers and money will be the symptom thereof.  Currently, that calling is being lived out through social services and other organizations and they are doing a better job than the church is.   So, who needs the church . . .

It isn't solely about changing ourselves but about changing the world.  It doesn't make what is wrong right but makes what is wrong precious and you won't learn that from social services.  The road less traveled is what makes all the difference and the church is abandoning that road.  We can not be ourselves without the misfortune that drives our search for meaning.  "I take pleasure in infirmities," St. Paul wrote, "for when I am weak, then I am strong."  The church is trying to be strong while denying its weakness and driving out people it thinks will make them weak.

Oppression breeds the power to oppose it and that is the cornerstone of identity.  However, you can't change the church if you don't belong to it.  If a church is full of hypocrites, leaving it doesn't change that.  I know a church whose organist was arrested and half the church supported him and half wanted to abandon him.  The church chose to abandon him and eventually all the supporters left and the haters won.  That church's attendance dropped and is currently in danger of closing because - hate begets hate.  If the church chose love and forgiviness, who knows where it would be today. 

Today's church does not know what oppression is because they are doing the oppressing.  If you banish the dragons, you banish the heroes and we've always been attracted to the heroes in our society.  Satan doesn't have to fight the church because he has joined it.  When we shelter our children from adversity, we've failed as parents for it is adversity which trains and teaches children how to prepare and cope for what the real world may throw at them.  Someone once asked gay activist Harvey Milk what they could do to help the cause and Harvey told him to go out and tell someone.  There is always someone who wants to confiscate humanity and there are always stories to restore it but we need people to tell the story.  By banishing sinners the church is denying and forgetting its story and its calling.   Certainly every church will proclaim that it welcomes sinners but watch what happens if a registered sex offender or former murderer would like to join.  Ask Squeaky Fromme what church she is welcome in.

If the church lives out loud, we can trounce hatred and restore everyone's lives.  Then we can truly celebrate who we are and truly see ourselves in a healthy, life-giving, complimentary relationship with creation around us. Forge meaning and build identity then, invite the world to share your discovery and joy.  As the Hollywood axiom goes, "If you build it they will come."  Those who hear may even enter in for, they too have a story they'd like to share if they are brave enough and welcome to do it and then in the process, heal others too afraid to speak up.  The big question is though, does the church want to listen?

The Boss Is Always Right?

A friend of mine plays the organ for a Podunk church and they are in the market for a new organ.  My friend wishes to purchase a three manual instrument but his priest, looking to save money, will only allow the church to get a two manual (keyboard) organ.  The priest's logic is that an organist only has two hands so you can only play two keyboards at a time.  The organ salesman, not wishing to screw up a sale, concurred with him.  I wish I knew that I only had two hands before I recorded the following video.   But, what do I know, I'm not a priest. 

Malcolm Kogut

Mass Confusion

I often hear people complain about how boring church is or that the prayers are long and boring, or even that the pastor says the same prayers each week.  I'd like to offer some insight and possibly change your perception of prayer and church. 

Things can be boring for people for several reasons.  Take a baseball game.  If you know nothing about baseball, of course it may be boring especially if you were dragged to a game.  Every game is the same, some could say.  If you do know how the game is played you can appreciate it.  If your city owns a team you may have patriotism for the team because of this geography.  If you have a friend, child, sibling on the team or if you enjoy playing yourself, you will find tremendous interest in the game.  You will be interested because you are somehow connected to it and understand it. 

Just being present at the game can be boring so, most of us, when we go to a game we engage in active participation.  We are not playing the actual game but we are cheering, booing, standing or stomping.  Some of us may hold our breath while someone is up to bat or if the ball looks like it is going to go out of the stadium.  We talk about what is going on with the people around us.  We make note of the score, the innings, the balls, fowls, who is up to bat, how many people are on the bases and which ones.  This is all important information.  Simply paying attention to what is going on makes the game interesting for us because our minds and maybe our bodies are actively participating. 

"Church is boring because the pastor says the same prayers each week."  Well, is a baseball game boring because the team uses the same players each game, they run the same bases, the same balls, often in the same stadium, the same innings?  Yet, why is every game new and fresh for many people each week?  Each game, borne of the same matrix, is different.  Even though everything is the same, somehow everything is different.

How come we can listen to a favorite song over and over again?  Why don't we get bored with it?  The answer is because we actively participate with it.  We may listen to the lyrics, tap our foot, sing along, or simply get lost in the flow.  As a musician, I can listen to the same song every day but each day hear something different.  Why?  Because each day I am a different person.  I may be more alert or more tired.  I may be in a good mood or a bad mood.  I often find myself breathing with the performers.  A lyric may resonate more deeply with me because something new happened in my life.  I never thought my football playing-car mechanic friend, William, would sing nursery rhymes but now he sits with his four your old singing "Itsy Bitsy Spider" complete with hand movements.  Why this new full and active participation with nursery rhymes when four years ago his satellite radio was always tuned to Ozzy's Boneyard?  Something changed him.  He became aware of something.

So how can you fully and actively participate in the boring prayers the pastor or priest says each Sunday when all you do is stand there?  I'm going to break apart the most boring of prayers:  The Eucharistic Prayer.  It is long and boring and exists in most churches in most denominations in some form or another.  You'll probably be surprised that most of these segments have their own names and movements. Watch your clergy and what they do with their hands and gestures as they plow through this prayer.

The first part of this prayer is the Kaddosh.  It is the opportunity for you to enter into the holy.  The cleric says "Lift up your hearts" and our response is "We lift them up unto the Lord."  But do we?  This little segment of prayer goes by very fast and there isn't much time to "enter into the Holy."  When you enter a baseball stadium there are a few thousand people there and it is noisy.  You can probably feel the excitement of the crowd and within yourself almost immediately.  When Isaiah entered into heaven in his dream, there were thousands of angels there singing.  What is holy and sacred to you that gives you a special feeling?  Was it being present at the birth of your child?  Scaling the summit of some great mountain and taking in the view?  Could it be holding the hand of a loved one as they pass away?  Is it like watching the sunset with someone you adore?  Whatever it is, you need to know it and practice it so when your cleric invites you to lift your heart into a holy place, you can do it.  To further augment this action of your mind, heart and soul, consider lifting your hands a little as you say "We lift them unto the Lord."

The next part of the Eucharistic Prayer is the Eucharistia or, the giving thanks.  Here the clergy will recite some of the wonderful things God has done.  If someone does something nice for us, it is common to actively participate with them by saying "thank you."  So as the pastor reads a list of wonderful things God has done, think to yourself "thank you."  So, it may sound something like this:  Father in heaven, it is right that we give you thanks and glory.  You made the universe (thank you), you put an end to death (thank you), you created all things (thank you), you do not abandon us (thank you), you invite us to serve the family of mankind (thank you), your spirit changes our hearts (thank you), nations seek peace (thank you), you put and end to strife (thank you), you've created the moon and stars (thank you), you created all living creatures (thank you).  A lot of times the clergy will read or recite these things which we should be thankful for way too fast for us to think about them or even think "thank you" to ourselves.  For this I am sorry for, even clergy can be bored, not know what they are doing or even want to get out of there.

This section ends with the reference of Isaiah dreaming about being in heaven and he hears the choir of angels singing.  What are they singing? "Holy, Holy, Holy" or the Sanctus.  Here, we can fully and actively participate by singing that same song which has been sung for thousands of years.   Know this,  singing oxygenates our blood which goes to our brains and muscles.  If you sing, you can't help but be a different person as your body too, becomes transformed and energized by fresh oxygenated red blood.  A transubstantiation of sorts.

The next part is called the Epiclesis or, evoking the Spirit to transform and sanctify all things especially the gifts.  What is the greatest gift you can offer God?  No it is not your money in the collection plate but, your self.  Here a priest will say something like "We come to you Father with praise and thanksgiving through Jesus your Son.  Through him we ask you to accept and bless these gifts we offer you in sacrifice."  The priest will then do a sign of the cross over "the gifts."  I was in a Protestant church once where the pastor did the sign to the congregation.  That was powerful for me.  It meant that all the gifts I offer in sacrifice such as volunteering at the hospital, the homeless shelter or answering the suicide hotline - are blessed and sanctified by the Holy Spirit.   When Jesus was baptized, the heavens opened up and the Holy Spirit descended upon him "like a dove."  This is your opportunity to also be sanctified by the gifts you offer God.  What did you offer God?  Was it money?  I bet it was money.  Some churches love money. 

The next part for you to participate in is the Institutional Narrative or Anamnesis.  This is the story telling time.  It is the time to remember and participate in what Jesus did by re-telling his story.   Have you ever gone camping and sat around the fire and listened to people tell stories?  That is what this is like except our fire consists of a few candles.  I bet each one of us can remember huge childhood meals with our family such as Thanksgiving where the turkey is carved, bread is broken (and smeared with butter), dishes are passed, wine is poured . . . This is the Institutional Narrative and it tells of the day before Jesus suffers, he takes bread, looks to heaven, gives thanks and breaks it and passes it.  He then says to "Do this in memory of me."  Do we?  Or, are these just words whizzing by at breakneck speed?  We then actively participate by saying or singing an acclamation of memorial, "Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again."  I hope you're ready.

The next part which goes by quickly is the Offering or Anaphora.  It is the invitation or offering our gifts and self with, in and through Christ. We ask God to look with favor upon these offerings and accept them. 

The next long section goes way too fast.  It is the intercession to include all our friends, relatives, living or dead in this action of salvation even if they are not present.  We ask God (and ourselves) to remember the church, a list of clergy, maybe a dash of politicians, in the Roman Catholic church a specific person whose family paid the priest to mention them, all our brothers and sisters who have gone to their eternal rest, maybe a list of people in our congregation who are ill, Mary, the apostles and all the saints.  I say that this section, despite its length, goes too fast because when it comes time to remember my deceased relatives, there are far too many to think about in the one second the cleric as allotted me. 

Even more rapid is the Doxology where we praise God in union with everyone just mentioned and give God glory through his Son, Jesus Christ.  If you are quick, you can sneak in a thought of praise to God for everyone and everything just mentioned. 

The next part is the Renewal of the Covenant.  This is the moment of truth.  A covenant is a binding agreement.  It is your contract with God.  A verbal handshake.  If you break a contract in everyday life you could be sued, forced to pay restitution, fired or even sent to prison.  Break this contract with God - He'll give you another chance next week - He is not as vengeful and punitive we humans are.  Your acceptance of everything God promises you is your saying "Amen."  In return, your "Amen" is a promise to God to live, be and spread the Good News.  That means you won't leave church and judge others, ostracize, abandon, ignore, cheat or lie.  You will use the gift or yourself to feed, clothe, visit, heal and comfort.  Don't say "Amen" if you don't intend to hold up your end of the bargain.  That would mean your word is worthless.  Even though God will forgive you, your word is still worthless and you will know it.  That is why this is called "The Great Amen."  If you beleive in the salvific power of this prayer and the resurrection, this is a life and death proposition.  Will you break this contract when you leave the church parking lot and someone cuts in front of you?  How do you feel when you break your word?  Buddha called that karma.

Prayer is not something to stand there and listen to, it is something you do even if it is only in your own mind.  To sum up your full and active participation in the act of worshiping God during the Eucharistic Prayer, it involves: entering that place which is holy, giving thanks to God several times for what he has done, invoking the Spirit of God upon us (or the gifts), listening to the stories and giving them meaning, offering in Thanksgiving, interceding for those who are not here and remembering each of them, giving thanks, and finally, renewing the covenant and affirming it with an amen.  And of course, keeping your word the rest of the week.

Hopefully if you want to fully and actively participate in the prayers that your clergy is reciting, he will be going slow enough so that you can take the time to respond and remember and affirm in your own mind what he is saying.  If he is going too fast or you don't really care to participate, may the force be with you, na-new na-new.

If you do fully and actively participate, you'll leave church a different person, a better person a more compassionate person.  A person trying to be better.  A Eucharistic person.  A person of transubstantiation.  A person of metanoia.