Low: An Honest Advent Devotional
by John Pavlovitz
Not feeling particularly merry or bright this season? LOW is for you.
Let’s be honest about Advent: we're often forced to put on a happy face, to pretend we’re merry when we’re frustrated and stressed and exhausted by the expectations of others. And this year, we’re also experiencing despair, grief, and trauma, as we wonder how we’ll ever get through a COVID Christmas and what the new year will bring.
In this honest Advent devotional, bestselling progressive Christian author John Pavlovitz reminds us that God came to meet us in the low places in our lives, in the gritty, messy reality of the world. In these daily devotionals for the holiday season, Jesus walks with us, reminding us that the journey isn’t about escaping this world to an elevated Heaven somewhere else, but to bring Heaven down. “God with us” is Jesus, getting low.
Each devotional includes a scripture and Advent reflection on Jesus meeting us on the ground, in the grit of our real and messy lives.
Get lifted this Christmas season with Low.
Download the LOW Discussion/Reflection Guide
Endorsements
"If you're not yet a fan of John Pavlovitz's insightful spiritual writing, you will be when you read Low. And even if you already are a fan, the tenderness, honesty, and depth you'll find in these pages will surprise you, enriching your experience of Advent and inspiring you live more wisely and fully in the year to come."―Brian D. McLaren, author/activist
"I think of John Pavlovitz as America’s progressive pastor, the spiritual advisor for all of us who are grieving, bewildered, exhausted, or feel like we don’t belong. In his latest—Low: An Honest Advent Devotional—John helps us engage the holiday season through the lens of all that weighs us down, encouraging us to believe that in our pain, our humility, our sadness that God is with us. This lovely collection of readings will meet you where you are, remind you that you’re not alone, and help you navigate the hardships of the season."―Matthew Paul Turner
"In Low: An Honest Advent Devotional, John Pavlovitz shows us a Jesus who confronts the contours of real life. Instead of gauzy reflections on a spiritualized faith, Pavlovitz reminds us that any Jesus worth following is to be found in the low and messy places of everyday life—the places filled with monotony and depression, with small wonders and simple mercies, with fear and joy and mystery; in other words, in the places most of us spend the bulk of our lives. In Low we find an Advent faith that feels at home in the world we actually live in, which is exactly where Jesus continues to find us."―Derek Penwell, author of Outlandish
“The brief daily devotionals in this book—each based on a passage from scripture—address the world’s ‘gritty, messy reality’ alongside the promises that were born in Bethlehem and remain with us today.” -The Christian Century