First Sunday of Lent—Spare Tire

Driving down the road one day, I thought, “We need to get the tire pressure on the spare tire checked.” We’d owned the car for almost seven years. I thought I probably had not checked the pressure in four years. It seemed important that day, because the tires we were driving were, if not bald, inadequate for any kind of heavy driving. Lincoln’s head not only was seen clearly when you put the penny in the tread, there was room for his stove pipe hat.

Remembering that day, I started wondering if we practice and think about faith like the spare tires in our cars. They are both something reassuring to have in the background or trunk, but often neither is regularly thought of or even cared for.

We tend to use our faith as part of a routine, something that we do without thinking. It is operating in the background, something we might miss if it were gone, but not a regularly thought of activity. (Did I brush this morning, or didn’t I?) Do we give our faith and spare tires the kind of care they deserve and need, or do we wait until crisis time has arrived and then wonder if there is any air in the spare?

In the old days, the spare would get put into the standard tire rotation pattern. It was checked at least a couple times a year. With the introduction of radials, that all changed. Now it is shown to us when we buy the car, but do we really pay any attention to it after that?

In many ways, I think that our faith in Lent is like that spare tire. We think about our faith and the lives of the community of believers when it is time to baptize our children, sometimes when we gather at weddings and funerals of loved ones. We are reminded of it especially at Christmas, and maybe even Easter, but we wrap our faith within so much family celebration that the faith part fades into the background like the spare tire we are shown at the time of the car sale. The debris of our lives can cover Lent just as the blankets, car supplies, and sports equipment in the back of the car hide the spare.

There was a time when Lent was a more functional part of our faith lives. It was rotated into the regular pattern of our faith living. It gave us extra opportunities for learning about our faith practices and gave us time for examining our lives. It was a time for faith communities to think about where they had been and where they needed to go. Lent gave us space and time to check the air in the spare because we were aware that you never knew when the road would get rough and a nasty thorn, a spike, or three, might spear through the side wall of your tire causing a crisis along the road. Then, without a spare, what happens?

We all know that even with modern tires that the spare will always be necessary. It just isn’t overly used for normal driving. Lent, however, continues to invite us into a time of learning and faithful self and communal reflection. Lent continues to ponder Christ’s time of temptation, teachings, and willingness to go to the cross for us. Lent continues to be a time for knowing Christ’s leading through the Spirit, God’s pneuma breath. It is our time in faith to check the air in the spare—to be prepared for the crisis of the tomb and know the reassurance of the resurrection.

Prayer of the Day

Holy God, heavenly Father, in the waters of the flood you saved the chosen, and in the wilderness of temptation you protected your Son from sin. Renew us in the gift of baptism. May your holy angels be with us, that the wicked foe may have no power over us, through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen