MID-LENT LUNCH AND TALK AT ST. JOHN
Sunday, March 10, 2024
By David Luhrssen
Very Rev. Fr. ELijah Mueller
Milwaukee, WI- On Sunday, March 10, 2024, following divine liturgy, St. John the Baptist Armenian Church marked Michink (Mid-Lent) with the community’s traditional vegan potluck lunch. This year, lunch was served with a talk on the meaning of the Lenten fast by Rev. Fr. Elijah Mueller.
Fr. Elijah is pastor of SS. Cyril & Methodious Orthodox Church, Milwaukee. His father, Rev. Fr. Thomas Mueller, conducted Bible study at St. John in the ‘90s. In past years, our two congregations collaborated on other religious events.
In his talk, Fr. Elijah discussed the multiple meanings of fasting. Fasting is a sacrifice in keeping with the sacrificial lambs of the Old Testament and in memory of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. By fasting, we are sacrificing the life of our senses in order to gain a new life. Fasting is a spiritual exercise, preparation for the Kingdom of Heaven. Quoting from various Church Fathers. Fr. Elijah said we fast “to gain our true senses. When we forego eating, we quiet the appetites that distract us throughout our lives.”
Fasting can train us to find “the higher senses, to perceive things beyond our normal material existence,” Fr. Elijah continued. Lent, he reminded his hearers, should be a time of stillness and reflection. Fasting can open “the hidden eye,” enabling us to see where our impulses come from in order to master them. As St. Basil wrote, to rule creation means to govern ourselves as governed by God. “We rule ourselves to become ruler of all things.”
Many of the ancient saints of the Eastern Orthodox and Armenian Orthodox churches he quoted during his presentation were poets, because in poetry, we see hints of the divine hidden in the distracted world of our senses.
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