Morning Watch

George Williams was 23 years old when he started the YMCA. At 73 he was knighted by Queen Victoria. Another young man in the YMCA movement, John R. Mott, was, at age 30, one of the founders of the World Christian Student Federation. At 81 he received the Nobel Peace Prize.

George and John both had a prayer practice that in part powered their success. That practice was the foundational practice that started the YMCA movement. John Mott wrote of that practice in a short pamphlet entitled The Morning Watch.

Simply stated, the morning watch is 1/2 hour at the start of the day in prayer and Bible study. It is amazingly similar to the ancient Christian spirituality practice called Lectio Divina, Sacred (or Holy) Reading.

Here's what Mott says about this practice:

The keeping of the morning watch is the secret of largest and most enduring achievement in life and in service.

The morning watch prepares us for the day's conflict.

Many persons begin with a few moments of prayer, follow this with a season of Bible study, then spend some time in meditation, and close with special prayer.

After praying and during Bible study it is well to pause and listen to what the Lord shall say.

The practice of Lectio Divina was first written about by one of the early Christian fathers, Origen, around the year 185 CE. Guido of Arezzo, a Benedictine monk, identified the four steps of this prayer practice in his short writing, The Monk's Ladder, in 1150 CE. Here are his four steps, the heart of this practice and of Benedictine spirituality, and, seemingly, the same practice John Mott calls "Morning Watch".

Lectio (Reading) - read a passage of the Bible over several times slowly.

Meditatio (Thinking) - reflection on the words or phrases that catch one's attention and what thoughts and feelings are stirred up by those words or phrases.

Oratio (Praying) - talk directly to God in a conversations tone about what has come to mind and heart.

Contemplatio (Contemplating) - rest and listen to God's response in your heart.

The last of the three named Jewish patriarchs, Jacob (of "Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob"), had his name changed to Israel, which means "the one who struggled with God". This it seems to me, is what both John Mott and Guido of Arezzo call each of us to do, to struggle with God at the start of the day. This too, in some way, is perhaps a way to follow in the footsteps of Jesus whom we see struggling in prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane, as he faced his most difficult day.