12/31/2020
We're saying GOODBYE to 2020...and welcoming 2021!
Join us tonight for our virtual Watch Night Service... @ FB Live or on our website @ http://www.communitybaptistchurchatlanticcity.org/
Tithes/Offerings/Donations can be made @ tithe.ly or mailed to 234 New Jersey Avenue, Atlantic City, NJ 08401
Our CBC ministerial staff will be bringing the message:
Min. Zenobia Tyler
Min. Reginale Hathaway
Min. Wynston Whitlow
Min. Troy Brown
Pastor Elias Thomas
Watch Night Service History...
Many of you who live or grew up in Black communities in the United States have probably heard of “Watch Night Services,” the gathering of the faithful in church on New Year’s Eve. The service usually begins anywhere from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. and ends at midnight with the entrance of the New Year. Some folks come to church first, before going out to celebrate. For others, church is the only New Year’s Eve event.
There is an important reason for New Year’s Eve services in African American congregations. 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, Blacks came together in churches and private homes all across the nation, anxiously awaiting news that the Emancipation Proclamation actually had become law. Then, at the stroke of midnight, it was January 1, 1863, and all slaves in the Confederate States were declared legally free .
When the news was received, there were prayers, shouts and songs of joy as people fell to their knees and thanked God. Black folks have gathered in churches annually on New Year’s Eve ever since, praising God for bringing us safely through another year.
It’s been 145 years since that first Freedom’s Eve and many of us were never taught the African American history of Watch Night, but tradition still brings us together at this time every year to celebrate “how we got over.”
