Matthew 26:41- Keep watching and praying, so that you do not come into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” NASB
I never really thought about why we celebrate Watch Night service in the church. Especially growing up. I may have even forgotten where it originated before, but our pastor invited us out to this year’s watch night service with a reminder of why we keep it. I thought this would be the perfect topic to end the year with.
Watch night service can be traced back to 1740 under the leadership of John Wesley (Broussard, 2020). However, in the Black church of America, the first Watch Night service was held on December 31, 1862, as enslaved Blacks waited for the official signing of the Emancipation Proclamation.
Frederick Douglass was among the top Black leaders who had the ear of President Lincoln. He and other Black leaders encouraged President Lincoln to place as much support for Blacks as possible in the Emancipation Proclamation. Not only were they hoping for enslaved Blacks to be freed, but they were asking for Blacks to be allowed to fight for their freedom in the Civil War.
The purpose of the Watch Night service was to pray or hold vigil, during the night for the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation, which Lincoln had promised would happen in January of 1863. Although Lincoln had made a promise, it was feared that something could happen to change his mind, thus the Black people were encouraged to pray all night long for the signing to really occur. Frederick Douglass observed the first watch night service in Rochester calling for vigilance on this important night.
“We were waiting and listening as for a bolt from the sky, which should rend the fetters of four millions of slaves.”
Frederick Douglass, 12/31/1862
In Northern states, these services were held in the open, but in the Southern states, many of these services were held in secret. Not only were they waiting for the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation, but they were waiting for their actual freedom from bondage. History tells us that with the signing of the Proclamation, many enslaved people still did not receive their freedom. As a matter of fact, the last freed enslaved people didn’t receive their freedom until Junteenth of 1865 in Galveston, Texas. Douglass said:
It is a day for poetry and song, a new song. These cloudless skies, this balmy air, this brilliant sunshine . . . are in harmony with the glorious morning of liberty about to dawn upon us.
Frederick Douglass, 12/31/1862
This began the tradition of Black churches sponsoring Watch Night services. While most churches may not bring up the past of slavery or the Emancipation Proclamation, they all recognize it as a time of prayer, worship, and fellowship to say goodbye to the old year and, to welcome the new year.
Over the years I have participated in multiple Watch Night services in church, but I have also spent many New Year’s Eve nights at home. My first remembrance of a New Year’s Eve was spent at my bedside praying. Mama had told us that how we end the year would determine how we go through the next one. So we ended it on our knees “praying” so that we would be pray-ers throughout the year.
With my own children, we attended Watch Night service at church. This time was filled with eating and then a variety of activities that led us to the final seconds of the year where we did a countdown! Never once do I recall us connecting those services to our freedom from slavery.
Is that important? I think the most important part of the night is spending it with the brethren as we say goodbye to one year and hello to another year. But now that I know better, I want to do better. And I think the significance of why we first held Watch Night service can be mentioned without it turning into an “ancestral holy night”. Black history is all of our history, and I thought it important to share this part of our history with you today. Wonderful Jesus!
Wonderful Jesus! 