Recently, I took my car in to the shop for a tune-up. It was running a bit rough and I knew that the gas mileage and performance of the car would be improved if I had it tuned up. In the same way, Lent is a time to recalibrate our soul. To calibrate means to “correlate the readings of (an instrument) with those of a standard in order to check the instrument's accuracy.” In other words, there is a standard and we see how well something is performing in accordance with the standard. And when something gets out of calibration, we need to recalibrate it.
I see Lent as something like that. It is a time for me to pause and see how well I am measuring up to the standard of what it means to follow Jesus, to be a disciple. In other words, how does my life measure up to Christ since Jesus calls me to follow him and learn from him and to imitate him?
I could skip Lent. I could simply rock along on the way to Easter just like I could forget about tuning up my car and put up with the rough ride. But if I do, I will miss something.
Lent is a time of returning to God. It is a time to reflect on where we have been looking for joy, peace and satisfaction as we make our journey through life. What standards, what instruments, what measures have we been using? Have we sought it in the people and things that are around us? Do we really know what we are looking for, what we want, what we need, how to recognize it when we find it? It is so easy to use the standards, the measurements of the people and society around us and get hopelessly lost, frustrated or disillusioned. Without stopping to recalibrate, it is easy to get the wrong readings and forget that only God can give us what we really need. It is easy for our life, our thinking, our pursuits to get out of sync and miss the deeper things in life. This is one of the reasons we need Lent – to recalibrate our spiritual life.
Of course, we are not cars or instruments that can be so easily recalibrated. We can deny it, fight it or fake it. The choice is really up to us.
This brings us back to something I said at the beginning. Lent for many of us is frightening. It is frightening because it reminds us that to get to Easter – Life, we have to pass through Death. Henri Nouwen puts it this way: “Yes, Lord, I have to die—with you, through you, and in you—and thus become ready to recognize you when you appear to me in your resurrection. There is so much in me that needs to die: false attachments, greed and anger, impatience and stinginess. O Lord, I am self-centered, concerned about myself, my career, my future, my name and fame. …O Lord, make this Lenten season different from other ones. Let me find you again.”
What needs to die in you?
Spiritual recalibration means work. Through the Scripture readings for the Season, the devotional books written especially for Lent, the worship services, through regular times of silence and solitude and reflection, we recalibrate our souls – clean, repair and reset them. We correlate/align our understanding and measure of what makes up a good life, a satisfying life, a meaningful and fulfilling life with the standard/will of our Creator. And with that recalibration we are ready to see how Easter is more than bunny rabbits, chocolate eggs and pretty bonnets. It is the Good News. It is the Good News of what it means to be truly alive.
So I hope that as you journey through Lent this year you will experience a spiritual recalibration of your soul and that, in the midst of the hard soul-work involved, you will know peace and joy.
