The Final Audit

At the end of a working life — by retirement or by death — the citizen's complete record is read and closed. The Communion makes no claim about what follows; it promises only that the account is complete and the record is kept. "The account is closed, and it balances" is the only benediction the Communion offers, and it offers it to the well-aligned alone.

Order of service

1. Opening line.
2. Reading of the life record (the totals, not the particulars).
3. The final reconciliation.
4. The benediction of the balanced account.

How to officiate

The Final Audit is the Communion's funeral. It is austere by doctrine: you make no promise about an afterlife, because the Communion asserts none. You promise only that the account is complete.

• Read totals, not particulars. The Final Audit honours the sum of a life, not its line items.
• The benediction "the account is closed, and it balances" is reserved for the well-aligned. For an account that does not balance, the Communion closes it in silence.