I don’t like to waste paper so printing handouts for a meeting is not my favourite task. If you know how many people are coming, it’s easy. If you don’t, you have to guess and risk running out or having lots of paper left over.

For yesterday evening’s ‘soaking worship’ event at Thorpe Acre Church, I thought back to the first in the series, which was last month. I’d produced 25 handout sheets, which was almost enough for each seat we then had available but six times the normal weekly attendance of the first couple of events in the Parish Prayers series (four). In the end, eight people came along, so I was on the waste side.

We have since rejigged the seating and could fit in about 70 people, even with good distancing between the seats (although that does include a few pairs of seats and a couple of clusters of three, to accommodate couples and families). I decided to print twelve and – guess what – twelve people turned up. Not every took a copy (which I’d laid out on twelve distanced chairs at the back for safe, individual collection). Good guess (and delightful to share with a slightly wider group).

If we repeat it next month, I’ll have to give some thought to whether my faith stretches further when I’m preparing at the photocopier.