Reverend Ref +

We had a funeral here at the church last evening at 6 (yes, it made for a long day).  Our regular organist -- who is actually our volunteer organist since the death of our regular organist last year -- was unable to be here for the service, so the family found another organist to play.

He is also a jazz pianist, and that showed in some of the flourishes he attached to the music.

But .......... Oh ................ My ................ Lord .............

The opening hymn was, "Alleluia! sing to Jesus."

If you aren't familiar with the hymn, here's a good version, not exactly out of the Hymnal, but good enough quality to get the gist of how it's supposed to go:

With this organist, however, it went something like this:

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
layyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy
luuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu
yahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
breathe breathe breathe
sinnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnngggggggggggggggggggggg
toooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
Jeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
zussssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss

I was immediately worried that this would be a two hour service because of the pace of the music.

As it was, we managed to be home by 8.