Ezk 37.1-14; Ps 104:25-35,37; Acts 2:1-21; Jn 15:26-27; 16:4b-15

I have been a longtime fan of singer-songwriter Jackson Browne. I particularly love his song: “Running on Empty”: Looking out at the road, rushing under my wheels; Looking back at the years gone by, like, so many summer fields; I look around for the that I used to turn to, to pull me through; Looking into their eyes ….I see them running too! Running on empty;…. Running blind Running into the sun;…. But, I’m running behind.

What makes this song so compelling is that, sadly, all too many of us are, “Running on empty.” The song describes a lot of us in this world, both literally and figuratively. As an aviator, gas is very important to me. Gas is good; no gas is simply, “airplane becomes big metal falling object.” And, as a carrier pilot, with lots of wet, ocean all around, you always want full gas tanks. So, you “top-off” from the airborne “tanker” aircraft every chance you get. Much like a lot of people trying to “top-off” their car’s gas tanks the past few weeks!

I can honestly say that, as a pilot, I have never run out of gas… in the air that is. On the ground is another subject. My husband, Mike, and I were driving to his parent’s home in Prosperity, South Carolina late one Friday night. And we had one of those ‘married couple’ discussions. I kept recommending that we should stop for gas; and he insisted that we could make it. Well, you guessed it, in the middle of nowhere, the car sputtered and died. The needle, that had been sitting on “Empty?” was not lying. Oh, how I wanted to say, “I told you so.” But, I bit my tongue, because, after all, it wouldn’t do any good anyway. We had started our journey on “Full,” but we failed to take the time and to make the effort to fill-up.

The point is, Jesus wants us to be filled with the Holy Spirit. He wants us to be filled all the time. Yet, how many of us start out our day, or our week, on “Full,” only to end-up on the Big E: empty? We let ourselves go and fail to keep an eye on what is essential. Jesus wants us to be filled with the Holy Spirit every day. Why? Because he knows, he knows personally, that we live in a physical world that challenges us every day. Often, the very pressures of work, families, social obligations, drain our tanks. When that happens, we lose our vitality for ministry to ourselves and to others. When that happens, our efforts often don’t seem to have any meaning.

It happens because we’re not filling-up, “topping-off” with the Holy Spirit every day. We end up “running on empty” instead of “full. As a priest, a spiritual leader, I can point you to the gas station. And you can go and park at the station, but that doesn’t mean you get filled. You must do the work. It doesn’t just “happen.” The same is true for church. Some people come and park at the church every Sunday and yet never get “filled.” Heck, some people come and get “filled up” on Easter and expect the tank to last them until Christmas! Jesus tells us that we need to be filled; we need to be filled up every day. But I think there is a reason that people get bored. They are empty. They never get filled up; they are just “going through the motions.” Life becomes drudgery because they are simply “running on empty.” The point is, just knowing where the gas station is, does not fill up your tank. You must take the responsibility to get out and to do it… take responsibility for part of the process. That means that we must be prepared for what God wants us to give to us. When we seek the Lord honestly, with our whole heart, that gives us the strength to live each day and to minister to others.

Remember, the Holy Spirit did not come upon the disciples right away either. They had to wait for it; and they worked for it. They prayed and they studied scripture, seeking to understand how they could best serve God in this world, preparing themselves for the One that God promised to send. And guess what, the same is true for us today. We prepare ourselves to receive the Holy Spirit and to be filled with God’s divine power and wisdom by doing the same thing as the disciples— by spending quality time in prayer and the study of scripture.

When we pray and study, we reveal the Word of God in our own lives. We hear the “still small voice of God” and we fill our hearts and minds with the knowledge of God’s love for us. We literally prepare ourselves to receive the Holy Spirit, the very breath of God, our divine teacher.

That is exactly what Ezekiel did. God said to Ezekiel, “Prophesy to these bones. …. And I will cause breath [wind, spirit] to enter them.”[Ezk 17:4,6c] So, Ezekiel did just that—in that exact order. First, Ezekiel prophesized as God commanded, and then the Breath, the Spirit, the Wind, came into the “bones” and “they lived.” They lived! They did not just “exist;” they did not just go through the “motions.” They lived!

And, what is “prophecy” all about? What does it mean to prophesy? It means to reveal the Word of God. It’s about understanding what God has to say. When we: “read, mark, and inwardly digest” scripture in private reflection or group study, we are preparing ourselves to be filled-up with that same Divine wind, spirit, breath that allows us to live fully, as God intends. I can point you to the gas station. I can even help you prepare for what you must do there, but you must still engage the Holy Spirit in your own life. We do not need to “run on empty.” God doesn’t want us to run on empty. Jesus says that we need to be filled with the Holy Spirit, for “he will guide us into all truth.” Today, Jesus is saying, “Be filled!”

Open your hearts and drink deep of God’s love, be filled to overflowing. You do not have to be “empty,” just pick up your Bible every day and be: filled! Do the work of preparing yourself to be “filled.” Today is the day! Open your hearts, feel the power. Because, unlike that song, there is no need to “run on empty” or to “run blind.” The Good News is that Christians do not run on empty. We know what we believe. We are not “running blind.” We have the Spirit to teach us and to guide us. And to “fill us” with God’s wisdom and truth. In today’s world, that is news worth sharing. So, prepare yourself, open your hearts and “be filled” with God, the Holy Spirit!

“I will sing to the LORD as long as I live; I will praise my God while I have my being.” Ps 104:34