Watch Night

This is an unusual topic, one many of you have probably not heard of, but, perhaps, there is something to be gained from the remembrance.

“On New Year’s Eve in India, our church would hold a service that began about 10:30 p.m. and ended about 1:30 a.m.,” said our friend and guest speaker Solomon.

Immediately I was transported to my own past with the memory of “Watch Night” services of long ago. I haven’t heard of such services for a long time. More than likely, some churches still have them, but I am not familiar with any, nor have I been to any such services for many years.

“Watch Night”: We are watching on this night? We are keeping watch on this night? Why does this night need to be “watched” more than others?

My only experience with watch night services were the ones that I attended when I was a teenager. The service would start at 10:30 or so, bur ended right after midnight. It was a time of directed prayer and contemplation, with a few pieces of music interspersed throughout the time period. The solemn service began with a looking back at the year that was passing away. The time of reflection served to bring us to a point of repentance, if necessary. Where had we failed or fallen short? By taking inventory of our past mistakes and shortcomings, we could pledge to do better in the future. We had a list, a tally, of those parts of our lives that were less than ideal.

Looking back on that exercise now, I can only imagine what all of us in the congregation were thinking. Were we overwhelmed by the magnitude of our shortfalls? Were we energized to try harder just one more time? Did we have at least a bit of despair that we couldn’t possibly succeed where we had failed, not only in the past year, but also in all the years before that as well?

Of course, the emphasis should have been on what the grace of God could do in us to enliven us and to justify us, but I think that the emphasis had much more to do with old time grit and determination to overcome our failures. God was in the mix somehow, but, for the most part, we felt obligated to do better—and I’m not sure we asked for much help.

After the time of soul searching our past, we were encouraged during the latter part of the service to look forward to the new year. What were our goals? What should we try to accomplish? What would we do for our Lord? Then came the time of intense prayer. We would “pray in” the new year, asking for guidance as the year began so that we would live a holier life than we had led the year before. A rousing song of rejoicing and greetings of “Happy New Year” from one pewful of people to another ended the service.

It’s been years since I have been to a watch night service. Here in Illinois, I have been to several parties that had a religious component, sometimes drawing prayer partners for the new year amongst the attendees. And I’ve been privileged to be in England with student tour groups on two different occasions for New Year’s Eve, and the host company was kind enough to help us ring in the new year.

I’m wondering now about the benefits of various kinds of celebration of the coming new year. I rather like what we usually do now, which is to have a party with our Sunday School class members, all of whom are congenial friends with shared interests. Because of those common interests, the time of food and games also includes lots of chatting about family, friends, and church members. Prayer is a component of the night. This year, of course, we were unable to have such a gathering, but we can hope for communal gatherings next year after COVID-19 is behind us.

But I wonder about those watch night services of old. Were they in any way a bad idea? I doubt it, even if sometimes our prayers and goals were more personally oriented than they might have been. A time of contemplation, a time of repentance, a time of anticipation of the new year as a better year ahead—none of that is bad. In fact, as long as I keep my eyes focused, not on my own abilities to bring about the better life, but on the fact that a God who is control of the universe would like to see me have a better year ahead, then I think that a watch night event, whether it’s a service or just a private time of meditation, would be good for me, even if I’ve missed the new year by a few days—and it’s got to be much better than all of those pointless resolutions that so many people make—and then break—each year.