October 3: [John Raleigh Mott, Ecumenist and Missionary, 1955]

The Collect of the Day

John Raleigh Mott

Everlasting God, who leads your people's feet into the ways of peace; Raise up heralds and evangelists of your kingdom like your servant John Mott, that your church may make known to all the world the unsearcheable riches and unsurpassed peace of your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord; to whom with you and the Holy Spirit be all honor and glory, now and for ever. Amen.

John Raleigh Mott

Everlasting God, who dost lead thy people's feet into the ways of peace; Raise up, we beseech thee, heralds and evangelists of thy kingdom like thy servant John Mott, that thy church may make known to all the world the unsearcheable riches and unsurpassed peace of thy Son, Jesus Christ our Lord; to whom with thee and the Holy Ghost be all honor and glory, now and for ever. Amen.

Isaiah 60:1–5
Psalm 133
Luke 7:11–17

A dedicated missionary for the worldwide spread of the gospel, John Raleigh Mott connected ecumenism and evangelism as related tasks for modern Christianity.

John Mott was born in Livingston Manor, New York, on May 25th, 1865, and moved with family to Iowa in September of that same year. After graduating from Cornell University in 1888, Mott became student secretary of the International Committee of the YMCA and chairman of the executive committee of the Student Volunteer Movement. In 1895, he became General Secretary of the World Student Christian Federation, and, in 1901, he was appointed the Assistant General Secretary of the YMCA. During World War I, President Woodrow Wilson appointed him to the National War Work Council, for which he received the Distinguished Service Medal.

His ecumenical work was rooted in the missionary slogan “The Evangelization of the World in this Generation.” Convinced of the need for better cooperation among Christian communions in the global mission field, he served as chairman of the committee that organized the International Missionary Conference in Edinburgh in 1910, over which he also presided. Considered to be the broadest gathering of Christians up to that point, the Conference marked the beginning of the modern ecumenical movement.

Speaking before that Conference, Mott summed up his view of Christian missions: “It is a startling and solemnizing fact that even as late as the twentieth century, the Great Command of Jesus Christ to carry the Gospel to all mankind is still so largely unfulfilled…The church is confronted today, as in no preceding generation, with a literally worldwide opportunity to make Christ known.” Mott continued his involvement in the developing ecumenical movement, participating in the Faith and Order Conference at Lausanne in 1927, and was Vice-President of the Second World Conference on Faith and Order in Edinburgh (1937). He also served as Chairman of the Life and Work Conference in Oxford, also held in 1937.

In 1946, he received the Nobel Peace Prize for his work in establishing and strengthening international organizations which worked for peace. The World Council of Churches, the founding of which was largely driven by Mott’s efforts, elected him its life-long Honorary President in 1948. Although Mott was a Methodist, the Episcopal Church recognized his work by making him an honorary canon of the National Cathedral. Mott died in 1955.

Lessons and Psalm

First Lesson

Psalm

¹Oh, how good and pleasant it is, *when brethren live together in unity!

²It is like fine oil upon the head *that runs down upon the beard,

³Upon the beard of Aaron, *and runs down upon the collar of his robe.

⁴It is like the dew of Hermon *that falls upon the hills of Zion.

⁵For there the Lord has ordained the blessing: *life for evermore.

Gospel

¹¹Soon afterwards he went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a large crowd went with him. ¹²As he approached the gate of the town, a man who had died was being carried out. He was his mother’s only son, and she was a widow; and with her was a large crowd from the town. ¹³When the Lord saw her, he had compassion for her and said to her, “Do not weep.” ¹⁴Then he came forward and touched the bier, and the bearers stood still. And he said, “Young man, I say to you, rise!” ¹⁵The dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother. ¹⁶Fear seized all of them; and they glorified God, saying, “A great prophet has risen among us!” and “God has looked favorably on his people!” ¹⁷This word about him spread throughout Judea and all the surrounding country.