The First Wednesday in Advent -- Loretta Ross-Gotta


A Reflection on Loretta Ross-Gotta’s To Be a Virgin (pp. 96-101)


One of my favorite Christmas hymns is Christina Rosetti’s In the bleak midwinter. Yes, it is a bit on the sentimental side, I know, but the last verse always gets to me nevertheless:

What can I give him, poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb;
If I were a wise man, I would do my part;
Yet what I can I give him – give my heart.

In her Advent reflection, Loretta Ross-Gotta explores the nature of Mary’s virginity and finds much more to it than mere sexual chastity. Virginity, she writes, has to do with one’s wholeness in relationship to God: offering God pure “space, love, and belief.” It’s not the bare fact that Mary was sexually inexperienced that makes her virginity holy; it is rather her willingness to offer her life to God in complete trust that makes her “the blessed one.”

We are so preoccupied with doing and achieving, Ross-Gotta insists. What matters more is the quality of our relatedness to others and to God. “We create holy ground and give birth to Christ in our time not by doing but by believing and by loving the mysterious Infinite One who stirs within. This requires trust that something of great and saving importance is growing and kicking its heels in you.”

The ultimate and beautiful irony for me of writing this blog entry just now is that as I do my younger daughter is in labor, slowly and painfully bringing forth the new life that stirs in her; what will be, God willing, our third grandchild. And even though I’m but a grandfather, at a safe distance from this extraordinary miracle of creation, it still takes my breath away to ponder what is happening in this moment.

And then I ask myself: even as a man in the second half of life, is it possible for me to feel Christ stirring within, struggling to get my attention, and hoping that I might bring forth in my life that fruits of his saving grace? How would you answer that question?

Loretta Ross-Gotta (b. 1945) is a Presbyterian writer and chaplain. She lives in Kansas where she directs The Sanctuary, an ecumenical center for prayer.


PS Our grandson, Benjamin Jo Unger, arrived safely yesterday morning. Thanks be to God.

Comments

  1. graceDecember 6, 2017 at 5:01 PM

    Welcome Benjamin! How might I bring forth joy in my final years of live?

    ReplyDelete

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