Watch Night 2010

This is it: Watch Night.

I grew up thinking (even though no one explicitly said so) that Watch Night was when the faithful congregants of our church gathered to "watch" for the coming of the Lord. I have since learned, that it's just the way that we traditionally ring in the new year. With prayer, giving thanks for the prior year, fellowship, and Holy Communion. So...given my error in thinking, I decided to look it up: Watch Night.

There is a lot of information, some of it reaching back to John Wesley, which then links back to the Moravian Brethren. Things I know absolutely, positively, NOTHING about. So, I had to look back to the first night service that meant something to ME. Culturally. And for me, the first Watch Night service took place December 31, 1862.

And so on December 31, 1862 hundreds of thousands of African slaves were hoping for their freedom. Why? Because on January 1, 1863 is the date that the Emancipation Proclamation was to be signed. That was the first Watch Night, slaves anticipating the arrival of change. It probably wasn't a religious service that first time, though I'm sure some people prayed. That first Watch Night was undoubtedly about hope. And it's fitting because every New Year's Eve, the world over holds an element of this feeling. This awesome feeling that the thing we want most...that it can actually be had. It can be HAD!

Personal Application

My 2010 had some terrible parts. Parts that, honestly, I don't want to take into 2011 with me. But there are some things over which I have no control. Things that I cannot resolve to do. So this year, instead of New Year's resolutions, I have New Year's hopes:

Job 4:6 - I hope that this year  my confidence is 100% in Christ, and His Will for me. Confidence in my "righteousness" and in my "piety" and the expected resultant blessings is super dumb. I'm hoping that I don't take the bad advice that Job's friends were giving him.

Job 6:11 - I hope for endurance and faith that never fails. I hope and pray that the Lord blesses me with a new measure of faith. I don't have to depend on my strength in order to maintain hope, because when I am weak, then am I strong (2 Corinthians 12:10)

Romans 5:5 - I hope for hope. I know that hope never fails, or leaves me feeling like an idiot (I often feel like an idiot). Why? Because this particular hope is based on my knowledge of God's love for me.
 
2 Corinthians 1:10 - I hope for my deliverance. Certain perils have already been overcome...and those are faith-builders, hope builders.

Those are my hopes. But I have to live them...like they're real. That's the way to become free. On January 1, 1863 there were lots of people who just trusted in the proclamation and walked off. They just walked off like: "yo...I'm free. Deuces!"  Others just waited for someone to tell them they were free. I spent a lot of 2010 sick and lonely, but I'm not waiting for a doctor, or some dude to tell me I'm free. My hope is in the Lord, and I'm boldly walking into 2011 claiming happiness and freedom (not necessarily physically...but in all realms of my life) based on my hope in a proclamation that's like two thousand and ten years old (give or take a few years):


If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.

Happy New Year!