Eat with Eight

Our church has started a new ministry for we older folks. It's called, simply, "Boomers," borrowing from the term used for the period of life in which we were born. 

That would be the post-World War II "baby boom." "Boomers" has caught on as our label. Sometimes the term is not used in a complimentary way, so I did not necessarily agree with the name given to this initiative. But nobody asked me, and I don't feel that strongly about it, so I'll keep my opinions to myself, except for this one time mentioning it here. 

One of the purposes is to give people in our age group an opportunity to meet other people in our age group. Because our church is what is commonly defined as a mega-church, with several thousand attendees and multiple services on two different campuses, there are many church members we do not know.

So, one of the offerings of the Boomer ministry is "Eat with Eight" dinners. Eight people, composed of couples, singles or both, gather in someone's home, have a meal and get to know each other. In theory, you don't know these people until this meeting. 

We do, in fact, know a lot of folks at church, and we are involved in a small group that meets regularly. But, still, there are many we do not know. 

Wife volunteered to host one of these "Eat with Eight" dinners in our home last Friday night. 

She had been given the names of three other couples who wished to participate. She contacted each of them and gave them assignments of what to bring. 

As I wrote in my last piece here, I am an introvert. I love people, but for whatever reason, they make me tired and sometimes anxious. And in a new situation where I do not know the people, I can become particularly uncomfortable. 

But I also believe God made us for relationships. Although because of my personality I keep events such as this to a minimum, I can rise above my comfort level from time to time.

It helps to prepare myself well. I tell myself there will be a starting and an ending, and I know we also gather for a common purpose. I also take cues from a book I recently read (How to Know a Person by David Brooks) in which the author contends all people, at some level, want to be seen and heard. All of this helps. 

Wife knows me and my personality, so she agreed to take the leadership role. In addition to being in charge of getting everyone here, she had a mental list of conversation topics and kept things going throughout the evening. I think she also had some type of game in mind in the event of a lull, but it turned out she did not need it. 

For us, Eat with Eight became Eat with Six. The husband from one of the couples who was supposed to come got sick, so that couple canceled. 

It ended up being enjoyable, and I did fine. Guests arrived at 6:30. We had appetizers for about 30 minutes, then sat down to dinner. We sat at the table until about 9:30. I finally had to get up and stretch because my legs get stiff after sitting that long. (After all, I'm a Boomer.) 

I was not in any way signaling that people needed to leave, but that kind of gave rise to departures. By the time everyone gathered up their dishes and coats, it was 10 p.m. 

The people were very kind. I was the only one who still has a day job (not retired) and I was also the youngest one. (I did not hate that.) I did not ask for the age information -- they volunteered it. 

I think we are supposed to have a couple more of these, so I will await Wife's further instructions. As long as they are appropriately spaced, I'll be a willing participant.