Churches Prepare for New Year with Remembrance, Reflection
By Mo Burge MBurge@RN-T.com
It was the night of Dec. 31, 1862.
Enslaved and free African Americans were gathered in secret to welcome the new year and await word that the Emancipation Proclamation, decreed a few months earlier in September, had taken effect.
At the time, it was illegal in Georgia for slaves to gather for religious purposes. However, they did so anyway, singing, worshiping and waiting for the clock to strike midnight, the official start of a new year and freedom.
Over the years, the celebration, also known as Freedom Eve, has been celebrated in African American churches in remembrance of that historic day.
It is a time for reflections on faith, and celebration of community and strength for the ending of one year and the beginning of another.
Greater Bethlehem Temple Holiness Church, 401 Nixon Ave., is one of several churches hosting its annual Watch Night Service on Dec. 31 at 10 p.m.
There will be singing, praise dancing, praying, poetry, words of encouragement, and plenty of laughter, said Sherry Adkins, one of the church’s ministers.
“A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones,” she said, quoting a verse from the Bible that encourages laughter.
The scripture embodies the message that laughter is good for the soul and central to the New Year’s Eve program, she said.
“That’s what this is all about,” Adkins said. “It started with slavery and this just carried us over throughout the years.”
Laughing is a serious matter that is not just a healthy way of coping. For some it’s ministry, said the comedian for the evening, Felicia “Lisa” McCluskey, of Rome.
“There’s a little bit of truth with comedy,” McCluskey said. “Clean comedy will only work with true people.”
McCluskey said talking about her own pain and learning to laugh has opened up a way to minister to others through her unique style of comedy.
“That pain fuels the funny,” McCluskey said. “It prepared me for others.”
The church’s pastor, Aurora Braziel, said the community is invited to share in the joy and laughter and be inspired to set a foundation of faith for 2025.
“We are trying to declare and decree some things of God,” she said.
