Watch Night Service

[TeresaB]

Pianomandan,

Yes, Watch Night services in the UM church seem to have suffered a fall from grace so to speak, much as many of our Wesleyan traditions have. But the traditional service is based on the John Wesley service of the Covenant of Grace. I'm actually looking forward to this. We haven't done one at our church in recent memory.(With a church that's 183 or so years old, that's the only way to describe things.) Hopefully we'll get a good response from people to come and participate.

Thanks again to everyone for their help and ideas.

Teresa B.

[nevmoor]

Wow, there are a few different explainations for watch night services. In the African American church it has ties to the eve of the date of the official adoption of the Emancipation Proclamation where many gathered together and celebrated their freedom at midnight.
There is also a "Juneteenth" June 17th Celebration based on this because the word didn't get to Texas until that date.
Here's a LINK
Any one else have an origin story for this service??

[Gene]

That was the one I was familiar with, and I was going to suggest a broken chain and a moon for an image. But then I noticed the UMC in TeresaB's profile, and did some looking to see what the UMC tradition was.

[savannahtech]

maybe you could get a big moon lighting fixture that would be NEATO like you know like they use for tv shows or what not

[[Director] Joseph B]

Watchnight (at the last church we attended) was our New Year's Eve party -- at about 1/4 of 12 we would all gather together to "Pray in" the new year.

In essence we would watch through the night for the new year and then start it off the right way (in prayer - not a drunken stupor like a lot of the world).

[ritetreck]

Many of the Watch Night Services in Black communities that we celebrate today can be traced back to gatherings on December 31, 1862, also known as "Freedom's Eve." On that night, Americans of African descent came together in churches, gathering places and private homes throughout the nation, anxiously awaiting news that the Emancipation Proclamation had become law. Then, at the stroke of midnight, it was January 1, 1863, and according to Lincoln's promise, all slaves in the Confederate States were legally free. People remained in churches and other gathering places, eagerly awaiting word that Emancipation had been declared. When the actual news of freedom was received later that day, there were prayers, shouts and songs of joy as people fell to their knees and thanked God.

But even before 1962 and the possibility of a Presidential Emancipation, African people had gathered on New Year's Eve on plantations across the South. That is because many owners of enslaved Africans tallied up their business accounts on the first day of each new year. Human property was sold along with land and furnishings to satisfy debts. Families and friends were separated. Often they never saw each other again in this earthly world. Thus coming together on December 31 might be the last time for enslaved and free Africans to be together with loved ones.

So, Black folks in North America have gathered annually on New Year's Eve since the earliest days, praising God for bringing us safely through another year and praying for the future. Certainly, those traditional gatherings were made even more poignant by the events of 1863 which brought freedom to the slaves and the Year of Jubilee. Many generations have passed since and most of us were never taught the African American history of Watch Night. Yet our traditions and our faith still bring us together at the end of every year to celebrate once again "how we got over.