Editor's note: Dear reader, may you have a blessed Advent! HuffPost Religion invites you to share your Advent reflections and experiences with us. Wha...

The season of Advent sounds a discordant note in a world abuzz with holiday Muzak: The world around us is in turmoil, God. We need your presence. Come and occupy our world now!

Even if you're like me and want nothing to do with this fictitious "war" on Christmas, you might still feel that something is not right in what usually happens in December.

Can it be that the story of Advent and Christmas holds less meaning for the single, separated, and divorced? I don't think so -- not if we look at the facts.

The impulses behind Advent should alarm those who are overly enamored with the current system, as well as any others who are overly confident in their ability to engineer what's best for the world.

The waiting time for Christmas is almost over. But so what? After all, there is nothing special about waiting. It's what we're waiting for that matters.

In the Garbage Village I found my Advent story. "When Jesus comes to a place, it changes the whole society," said Father Samaan, priest of the St. Simon Coptic Orthodox Church in Cairo, Egypt. And so it does.

Jesus' message is one of love and compassion, yet there is nothing loving or compassionate about the modern industries that produce almost all of the chickens, pigs and other farmed animals that are turned into meat in this country

Advent waiting is the time of relinquishing our desire to have outcomes our way and on our schedule. Can we trust that what God has in store for us is worthier of wonder and awe than even our deepest hopes?