God has shown the strength of his arm,

[Where is the the Kin-dom that was promised? Where is God?]

and has scattered the proud in their conceit.

[The proud stiil parade around and flaunt their power and wealth.]

God has cast down the mighty from their thrones

[The mighty and powerful still rule and they exploit and oppress others.]

and has lifted up the lowly.

[The lowly wallow in the mire trying to survive on two dollars a day.]

God has filled the hungry with good things,

[Around the world children with swollen bellies cry themselves to sleep.]

and the rich he has sent away empty.

[The rich have sent away their money to off shore banks.]

He has come to the help of servant Israel

for he remembered the promise of mercy,

the promise made to our fathers and mothers.

to Abraham and his children for ever.”

[We still languish and cry out, “How long, O God?” as innocent children are slaughtered. Where is the promise?]

Martin Luther King said, “The universe bends toward justice.” How slowly it bends! Perhaps, he should have said, “Grinds slowly toward justice.”

Biblically, justice is right order. We have over time moved toward right order. Lincoln ended slavery. Black folks can now sit at lunch counters. Women can vote. Gays can marry in some states.

Nevertheless, people still discriminate against people of color. Women are second class citizens when it comes to pay. Popes and preachers rail against gay marriage.

Maybe, just maybe, this is the waiting that Advent hope is all about. We are grinding toward the fuller incarnation of the Christ in our troubled, chaotic, and absurd world. We are the Body of the living, cosmic Christ who gives us the hope to grind toward incarnating justice. “Come, Emmanuel, come!”