It's Yours My Brother

With the overwhelming influence of social media in today's culture, one can join a group concerning almost any subject. The same is true with Freemasonry. I belong to a couple of these groups one being the "Winding Stairs".

 This group seems to be a lot of younger Masons and they are very inquisitive about topics from which way to wear ones ring to the wearing of the lambskin.

The discussion about the lambskin proved to be very interesting. The question was whether it was permissible for a brother to wear his lambskin to lodge.

Usually the responses to the questions posed are much more entertaining to read and think about than the point in question. In reading the responses I'm reminded that there are as many opinions as there are Masons.

Among the responses were things like; no definitely not to be worn but to be put aside until death, death is the only time this apron should be worn.....should be taken care of and worn only on special occasions....worn only during installations, etc.

If I remember correctly we are instructed as follows; it is yours my brother yours to wear through an honorable life and at your death for we are all born to die it may be placed upon the casket that encloses your lifeless remains and with them lowered beneath the silent clods of the valley.

One of the senior Past Masters of Fellowship Lodge, WB John Gilmore wore his on a regular basis, and his PM's apron only on special occasions. WB John's lambskin showed the work of a craftsman. He said, They gave it to me to wear and at my death I want it to show the labor I've done for the craft."

The reason I raise this topic is to illustrate that Masonic Education must be ongoing. With the way brothers are indoctrinated in today's lodge, Masonic Education can't go too far. Some of the young men coming in will seek out knowledge others will accept only what is given to them, in other words they are not going to go out of their way to learn.

We old timers take too much for granted. We tend to think that if a new brother wants to know they will search it out like we did. Today's generation have two factions, seekers and receivers. There is still curiosity and yearning for the seekers but many will take the knowledge when presented but figure if they want me to know they will tell me.

With Masonic Education perhaps we can convert some of the receivers into seekers. Sometimes a little knowledge is enough of a spark to ignite a fire of seeking and yearning for knowledge.

Again, there is something to be said for the old way of  doing ones proficiency. We lost a big element of teaching, explaining, and most importantly learning. Today we are supposed to mentor the young Masons coming into lodge, regrettably I think that falls by the wayside way too easily.

We need to foster these brothers coming into lodge and build friendships and brotherly love with these young Masons regardless of their age. We saw this illustrated at Eureka Lodge when we visited their Prince Hall Lodge. They still require the old style proficiency and there seems to be a bond there.

Regardless of all the social media and knowledge that can be learned from various avenues on the internet, the age old method of socializing and teaching face to face seems to still be one of the most effective and accurate ways of communicating our rituals, history, and traditions. When was the last time someone explained "So Mote it Be" to a new brother???????  That's just the tip of the iceberg as they say.