The veritable Dagwood sandwich of a service began with an atonal "Alleluia for All Saints" by one of our past music directors, and, in procession, the hymn which is our unofficial anthem, "For all the saints." But we also had the third of four lay stewardship homilies ("pledge!"), which came after a sermon for All Saints (which we were observing although it fell on Tuesday), and before the reading of the Necrology - the list of names of the blessed departed - for All Soul's Day (which fell on Monday). After the service, the space was rapidly transformed into a dining hall to host our monthly Sunday Supper.
It was true to the three ring circus that we are, I suppose, but a bit much, really. There was no space for the rest we wished for the departed - except when the choir sang "In Paradisum" from the Fauré "Requiem" (after communion, but before the Necrology). I hope the congregation was nourished by it. I've been steeping in recordings of it all week, so I hear its strange and sublime cadences in my head still (not least because today was the day I officially switched to trying to sing tenor). Were we too busy to provide welcome for the saints?
I hope they were happy for their memory to be wrapped up in the whirl of activity. Perhaps they remember the patronal feast for us.