Although Christmas has dominated the holiday news lately, we cannot overlook that the day after Christmas marked the first day of Kwanza.  Although Kwanza is a relatively new holiday, its impetus, in light of the Advent season, speaks to us all:   a celebration of harvest, bounty, and human diversity.  Yes, Jesus was born a Jew in a forgotten town in Palestine, but he made it clear that God loves every human being, every variety of human beingness and expression, every bit of it.  He leaves no one out.
      
     So it is with harvest.  The world is for everyone.  Kwanza lauds the beauty and meaningfulness of this world, its harvest, its bounty, its joy of a year rightly lived.  The happiness of living in a world whose wonder speaks constantly to us, the beauty of the rhythms of the planet:  a call to treasure the immensity of existence.

     Enjoy the munificence of this wondrous creation.