The service starts with the Pointer Sisters’ ‘I’m So Excited’ projected on to the back wall. At the prompting of Sanderson Jones, the charismatic leader, everyone stands up and sings along to the small band on stage. Most clap their hands; many are swaying, holding their hands in the air — and, during the instrumental section, where the lyrics are replaced with the words ‘Jumping Break’, some do start jumping. After everyone has applauded themselves, we segue into the next song: Daft Punk’s ‘(I’m Up All Night To) Get Lucky’. On first hearing the lyrics of this song, you might assume that it was about someone searching for a missing dog — and who, amongst the dogless, doesn’t have a dog-shaped hole in their life? — but it’s actually about a man hanging around until a woman is drunk enough for, or otherwise disposed towards, sexual relations. The lyrics have been altered, though: the charismatic leader jumps up and points out that ‘If you change the “I” and “she” to “we”, the song is a lot less creepy.’
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He introduces, first, a reading. Not having any sacred texts, the Sunday Assembly can make use of wisdom from any work of world literature, and today’s reading is taken from the American science fiction writer Terry Bisson, the author of Star Wars: Boba Fett: The Fight to Survive and the novelisation of The Fifth Element. It’s a short story, a dialogue between two sentient but incorporeal entities (aliens, presumably, rather than angels), who are horrified to discover the human brain is made of meat.
