THE  MEETING

There are all kinds of meetings - every day - all around the world.

Friends have coffee or lunch together. Buddies meet to plan an upcoming Pop Warner Football season. Families get together for a cruise to celebrate their parents 50^th anniversary. Engineers, architects, surgeons, get together for every week as well as their annual meeting every year in some great spot or city.

There are all kinds of meetings - every day - all around the world.

Most, 999 out a 1,000 meetings we never hear about. There might be minutes, decisions, announcements, but no - not our luck to know what happened.

There are secret meetings. There are public meetings. There are boring meetings. There are meetings that fail. A couple finally see a marriage counselor - but one of the spouses refuses to communicate.

So I was surprised - and not so surprised - when I accidentally heard in today’s first reading from Isaiah about a meeting God had with his creations that took place out there in the open fields.

The rain was asked: “What do you do?”

The snow was asked, “What do you do?”

The seeds were asked, “What do you do?”

And words were asked, “What do you do?”

Give an account of your stewardship.

“Well,” said the rain. “I don’t know why you ask me. I fill 78 percent of the earth with water,  so people can sail the oceans. I give water to drink - from rivers, lakes, reservoirs, and wells. I help crops grow - in fields, backyards. I am part of everyone. If they get dehydrated - they come looking for me.”

The snow said, “I don’t get as good a press and publicity as rain. I’m slower, colder, and often avoided. That is, unless someone is a skier or the manager of reservoir in Nevada or California - that needs all the water it can get. I can be beautiful. I know you can’t eat beautiful,   but snow is like that frost on the top shelf of so many refrigerators - that keep ice cream cold. I’m mostly quiet - quiet like the North and South Poles. It’s in reserve - for years to come. Right now with global warming - people are starting to notice the gift in the wings that I can be - especially as polar caps collapse.

The seeds were ready and willing to speak up. “We seeds work together with farmers and the soil, the earth, along with water and the sun and in time you can see what we can  be - what we can become. Trees, wheat, barley, rye, potatoes, grapes, wine, strawberries, people.” Ooops I can become bread and surprise: Eucharist.

Words came last. Everyone was listening to what the words were about to say. “I know some  people can be all talk - and not message.  I know people can babble - as when some people pray - without thinking a word about what they are praying. But words can be inspirational. Words can be prayers as in the Our Father.  And surprise: the word became flesh and lived/lives amongst us.