Fellowship and Fun? Join Tables of Eight!
by Carol Capps

Last autumn, Augustanans were invited to contact the church office if they were interested in participating in Tables of Eight, informal dinners of eight people who want to get to know other Augustanans better. Tables of Eight are get-togethers -- no agenda -- where one person hosts in their home, one brings an appetizer, one the main dish, another salad or a vegetable, another dessert, etc. People who express interest are randomly grouped together in a “Table of Eight.” The whole purpose of the dinners is to get to know others better and to have fun -- and no one has to do a lot of work. Typically the same Table of Eight will meet several times over a period of one year and then the Tables of Eight will be scrambled into new groups.

Enough Augustanans have expressed interest thus far to form two Tables of Eight. The first met at my house on Sunday, April 6. All afternoon I felt as though I should be cooking dinner and had to keep reminding myself that my “guests” were bringing all the food. Our Table included Jennifer Bailey, James Wagner, Salome Burton, Chuck Holmes, Matt Tosiello, Sonvy Waidler, John McKirgan, and myself -- we will actually be a table of 10 next time now that Betsy and Walt Knauff are back from Florida
(or rather 11 -- Jennifer and Jamie promised, at much urging, to bring Liam next time).

From this one relaxed evening over dinner I realized how superficial many of my contacts with Augustanans are -- a rushed conversation at hospitality hour or discussion of a focused agenda in a committee meeting -- and how much I can learn about fellow Augustanans in a more relaxed setting. I learned, for instance, that Jamie Wagner hails from Orono, Maine -- I moved to Maine with my parents as a teen-ager and ever since have felt that summer in Maine is about as close as you can get to paradise!

After this first fun “get-to-know-one-another-better experience” we all decided to get together over dinner again soon. Our next Table of Eight will be June 22 at Chuck Holmes. Chuck has promised to introduce us to his two dogs -- I didn’t know Chuck was a dog lover before either!

If you’re interested in participating in Tables of Eight, phone the church office at (202) 234-5315 or e-mail pastor@augustanadc.info. I personally am finding it a wonderful way to get to know more people at Augustana better and feel Tables of Eight can be a particularly rewarding experience for a congregation as geographically scattered and diverse as ours.

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Augustana Lutheran Church
2100 New Hampshire Avenue, N.W.
Washington, DC 20009-6507

Church Office Hours:
Monday-Friday, 9:00am-4:00pm