Downtown Murfreesboro has been beautifully transformed with sparkling lights and colorfully decorated shops for the month-long holiday celebration. This year the celebration will culminate the festivities with a “New Year’s Eve NIGHTWATCH—Praise and Prayer for 2012” at the First Presbyterian Church in downtown Murfreesboro, December 31st from 7-9 PM with doors opening at 6:45 PM, and there will be a “virtual midnight” at 9 PM.
Make plans to join this family-friendly, community celebration at one of Murfreesboro’s oldest Churches this New Year's Eve. First Presbyterian Church is conveniently located within a couple of blocks of the Courthouse on the corner of College and Spring streets.
The BLUE CHIPS PRAISE BAND from Celebrate Recovery at Belle Aire Baptist Church will provide lively music, along with Special Guest Musicians and Singers from other area Praise & Worship Bands to warm the night. Mike Courtney from Branches Recovery Center will be the "Emcee" for the evening, and a distinguished group of local Leaders, Educators, Public Servants and Pastors will be on hand to share a few reflections on the past year, and offer a prayer focused on a specific area impacting the peace and prosperity of our community.
WHAT TO BRING: a bright FLASHLIGHT for everyone in your family or group; a BELL or some other cheerful noisemakers - as we will celebrate the arrival of 2012 with a JOYFUL NOISE and shine our lights into the sky to symbolize a renewal of hope and commitment to working together to bring a better quality of life for everyone who lives in our area. ALSO – please raid your closets and bring a CAN OF FOOD or some other non-perishable household supplies, coats, gloves and blankets which will be collected and shared with the ongoing efforts to feed and bring comfort to those in need including the homeless of the community. Everyone is encouraged to bring their Leftover Christmas Cookies for refreshments. Non-Alcoholic beverages including Punch, Hot Cider and Coffee will be provided.
WHY A NIGHTWATCH CELEBRATION FOR 2012? The assignment goes beyond Worship and Praise this New Year’s Eve. We are issuing a declaration of the plans of God for 2012 for this City, County, and beyond. In Jeremiah 29:11, God tells each of us: “For surely I know the plans I have for you, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope. Then when you call on me, and come and pray to me, I will hear you. When you search for me, you will find me; if you seek me with all your heart, I will let you find me, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you…”
To say the least, 2011 has been a challenging year. Fearlessly and joyfully, we are poised to start a New Year with hopeful anticipation, as “watchmen”…
What - you might ask - does this mean? Why is thinking of ourselves as “watchmen” important?
In ancient times the watchman played an important role in the city. The watchman carefully alerted the city when good ambassadors were approaching so that the gates could be opened, and they could enter. Also, the watchman warned the city in advance of an enemy’s approach. They alerted, summoned, and forewarned the people of the city so that they could arm and protect themselves.
As people of Faith, we gather to celebrate at the boundary of one year passing into the next as “watchmen” – while mindful of the challenges we’ve faced together over the past year, and because we anticipate the likelihood of more challenges, we gather to fervently pray for an abundance of blessings… certainly an abundance of strength and resources to meet them with unwavering courage and collaborative creativity.
That is why the theme for this year’s NightWatch Celebration is “ABUNDANCE” ~ we believe that - by God’s Grace - everything we need – not only to survive the coming year – but also to ever more effectively help those in need, intentionally encourage and sustain one another, and to collectively prosper and thrive from day to day through the weeks and months before us… is God’s intended purpose to provide – in abundance – to each one who turns to Him, calls upon His name, and lives a life emboldened by expectance, reliance, obedience and gratitude.
Finally, we are blessed to have such an appropriate place for the community to pray God’s will and vision for 2012, for – as it happens – we will be meeting where one of the few genuine Civil War relics in our city remain, the church bell at the First Presbyterian Church.
The bell is within earshot of the lawn of the Rutherford County Courthouse where one of the most horrendous battles occurred in 1862. In fact, on another New Year’s long ago, from December 30, 1862 until January 2, 1863, the time of the Battle of Stones River, many loyal watchmen sentinels were positioned on the roof of the Courthouse and were assigned to protect and alert the city population from the advancing Union army. In that incident during the Union occupation, the church was burned to the ground.
The charred remains of the bell were recovered from the ashes, hidden in a nearby basement to keep the Union Army from melting it down into bullets, and –in due time - installed in the new church. This same bell survived the 2nd destruction of First Presbyterian Church in the Tornado of 1913, to be reinstalled in this present Church, where it still resides and will ring in 2011 along with other downtown Church bells and the Courthouse bell.
Here we are again, praying as God’s vigilant sentinels with the assignment to declare God’s will, God’s vision, and indeed God’s provision – in Abundance - for Rutherford County in 2012. To each of you who reads this ~ know that you are hereby personally invited and encouraged to be present with everyone who gathers to celebrate and become restored, equipped and encouraged as faithful watchmen – over our City, County, and beyond.
*For more information about Night Watch contact Thom or Gloria Christy at Community Crossroads (615) 896-6288 or (615) 893-2369
