This morning, we arrived at the hotel to discover it was pretty full of people at a conference - turned out they were international doctoral students on some kind of residential thingy - and knowing that we had to be out pronto sharpish to allow 'our' room to be used for a wedding.

Despite having announced an earlier start time last week, it was inevitable that some folk would come for 11 a.m., and sure enough they did, arriving in dribs and drabs over a twenty minute period.  It was all rather chaotic but all very relaxed and everyone just took it in their collective stride.

At the end of the service, I was able to give Bibles to some folk newly arrived in the UK in their first language - the look of pure joy on their faces was a delight to behold, and over coffee I could see them peeping at the first few pages, excited to hold such a precious book in their own hands.  Sobering and humbling.

After coffee some of us took these folk for lunch - pizza and coke/sprite/orange - simple fare shared among people who between us represented a number of nationalities, and none of that mattered a jot.

This is ministry at its best - muddled, chaotic, characterised by love and laughter and somewhere in the midst of it all our newly arrived folk found peace, security and welcome.

A good morning.