Low: An Honest Advent Devotional

"Advent is about God – and Jesus – coming to meet us in the low places of our lives, when we are our most vulnerable. Description: Let's be honest about Advent: American culture forces many of us to put on a happy face, to pretend we're merry when we're frustrated and stressed and exhausted by the expectations of others. We're also frustrated by what Advent has become – a celebration of consumerism – while it forgets the season's origins in a dark, cold stable with an empty manger. In this honest Advent devotional, best-selling progressive Christian author John Pavlovitz reminds us that God came to meet us in the low places of our lives – and that Jesus continues to come low this Advent season: when we live humbly, when we seek forgiveness, in our grief and suffering, when we act on behalf of someone else, when we pray. As we walk the road of Advent, Jesus reminds us the invitation is not to escape 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."