Traveling as I was in the days immediately following Christmas, I missed remembering Kwanzaa.  What's Kwanzaa?  It is a week long celebration of the Africana in African-American culture, particularly its focus on the harvest.  Although Kwanzaa ended on January 1, as we in the Northern Hemisphere move ever more closely to spring, we may like to ponder the notion of harvest.  We may wish to remind ourselves that despite the apparent somnolence of the land, soon, sooner than we think, its fecundity will show itself once more.
     In ancient cultures, the harvest was a time of great celebration:  once again, the land had yielded its bounty for humankind.  In the material appurtenances with which we wrap ourselves and our lives, we usually miss the harvest.  Thanks to modern supermarkets, we can obtain almost any type of food any time of the year.  We rarely need to wait for the "harvest."
     As a result, we often miss the point.  We miss the fact of the land's nearly inexhaustible bounty, we miss the marvel of a world that continually provides for us.  We miss that from which we have come.
     As I look back at Kwanzaa, I think about the harvest.  I think about the wonder of the world, the fertility of the planet.  Though I am well aware that certain parts of the globe are not as productive as they once were, I nonetheless believe that, given proper thought and ingenuity, the world will continue to speak to us, to continue to provide for its inhabitants, human and other creatures alike.
     We need only remember who we are and why we are here:  wayfarers on a vast, vast sea, a sea we could not imagine nor make, an ocean which we are obligated to preserve for the generations which will follow us.  We are humbled.  We are humbled before the inexhaustibility of a world created by an inexhaustible God.
     Also, as you may know, today is Shrove Tuesday.  Shrove Tuesday is the day, commemorated by the Christian church (and festival goers at Mardi Gras) as the final day of bounty before Ash Wednesday and Lent (about which I will say more tomorrow).  It's a good day to contemplate the remarkable fact of our existence.
     And God.