Article VIII, Volume II December 30, 2012
Watch Meetings
It is a long time practice for black folks to be in a church when the New Year comes in. It is said by many that this practice started in December 1862 to celebrate the Emancipation Proclamation that was signed by Abe Lincoln to free the slaves, effective on January 1, 1863. The story goes, the slaves went into church on New Year Eve as slaves and came out free after midnight.
However, a reporter pointed out that the practice was started much earlier in white churches. Probably true, but that still does not reduce the sufficiency of the blacks celebrations.
I don't believe there was a whole lot of attendees at black churches informed about the Emancipation Proclamation. Instead, they went to worship service to give praises to God for his blessings and pray that freedom would be coming in the near future. Remember, they were slaves, and didn't have a lot of access to news.
I believe that research would show that the slaves begun the practice of prayer service on New Year Eve - when they could - many years before 1862.
Today, 9 out of 10 persons I know, probably never heard anything about the connection between the Emancipation Proclamation and Watch Meeting. The bottom line, we just do it to express our thanks to God.
In a sense, we are sort of like birds that fly south in the winter, we just fall in line and keep the practice going, without any thought about when and how it started. Slavery time? It isn't even part of the thought process.
Different Ways-Same Objective
Watch Meetings come in different forms today. Some of the differences are listed below:
1. Some mega churches have three or more services on New Years Eve with the final service ending at midnight.
2. Some the service start at 7 pm or earlier, and they feature singing and preaching most of the evening.
3. In some of the others, food is served, often of a soul food variety, during, before, or after the service.
4. In some traditional churches, they just pray, sing and testify until midnight. Then go home.
5. Many people just stay at home, and go down on their knees and pray, shortly before midnight and start their prayer and continue until the New Year.
6. Then, there are others, who just pause wherever they are shortly before midnight, and render a prayer of thanks.
In conclusion, whatever method or practice you choose, just do it. I believe that God hears every sincere prayer and is receptive of all truthful praise.
Copyright 2012 Grady E. Bryant, Sr.
