Who Will Lead

There is a nip in the morning air, the bow hunters are taking to the woods, pumpkin spice is available in more things than necessary and the Craft is getting back to work.

In most cases Lodges are reassembling after a two month hiatus and the work of Freemasonry unimpaired marches on into yet another season. Just two short years ago there were many who said that the Craft could not weather the pandemic and Freemasonry as we knew it would cease to exist.

During the majority of that first year not much happened with the fraternity. It did continue to exist contrary to some naysayers. In 2021 most lodges crept back into action and began to do some degree work under strict guidelines. Then in 2022 the Craft came roaring back seeming to dispatch a built up demand for degree work....often presenting challenges for the lodges and coming up on the summer break, the degree work really picked up some steam.

So here we are coming off our break for the summer....yes, I know some lodges go dark in the winter months......here in our area the majority are dark for July and August. Now that we have that out of the way...lets take a look at what is happening as the Craft is back working and we are approaching the holidays and the season of Installation of Officers for the lodges in the Grand Jurisdiction of Michigan.

Most lodges have a pretty good idea who will serve as Worshipful Master for the upcoming year. However, there are a great number of lodges who are wondering....."Gees, I wonder who we can get to be Master?" Therein lies the problem plaguing the fraternity as a whole......what are we going to do....who will be willing to take it......what kind of year are we going to have.

Chances are that if an unqualified candidate for Worshipful Master is pushed through, the lodge will suffer through a disappointing year and nothing will happen except for frustration and in most cases the lodge will flounder at best and most likely not grow in number or presence in their community.

Lately I've been inovolved in a number on conversations about the lack of leadership exhibited by some sitting Masters and a number of them are retreads....those who have already had the position and are supposedly Past Masters.

The issue at hand is that there are an alarming number of Masters who can't or won't do their own work. In some cases these brothers are unable to open or close lodge, not to mention not being able to do any degree work. My term for these brothers are placeholders, the unfortunate thing is that this lack of dedication to their lodge bleeds over into other areas such as membership growth, community involvement, fund raising, and the list goes on.

These lodges are now voting on and most likely passing motions to purchase a nice Past Masters Apron to the tune of $400 to $500 and these brothers who will go through the rest of their Masonic career being recognized as a Past Master without putting forth the work and truly earning the title and the accolades associated with the honor. Most of them will never realize that they didn't hold up their end and most will never make an effort to learn any of the work.

Sounding like a typical, old, grumpy, past master; when we had the population and the fraternity was filling a need in society, men who became brothers worked their way up through the ranks, gaining experience along the way. By the time they were in the west they could step in and open the lodge, conduct business, confer degrees, and close lodge. Today these brothers don't fulfill their duties and obligations, and they fail miserably in leading their lodges into the future and make those lodges relevant in the community and the lives of the brothers.

In the installation ceremony the qualifications are outlined succinctly; an expert craftsman of great skill and zealous for the fraternity. It seems unfair for the incoming Master, the brethren of the lodge, and the fraternity as a whole, to install a brother who is woefully unprepared to assume the position of Worshipful Master of a lodge.

The argument in favor of such actions always comes down to there are no brothers who are willing or able to take the position....and we can't keep recycling Past Masters. What is worse a familiar face who can open and close lodge and do degree work or a Warden thst is not qualified to do the work and most importantly LEAD the lodge into the future.

We have a lack of true leaders. If we look at Linden Lodge, WB Scott Wogen is a Past Master but he is a leader and one who can certainly do the work and do it well. Not everyone is cut out to be a leader, and not everyone is cut out to be a ritualist, but one would think to be Master of the lodge the brother should at a minimum be able to open and close lodge. Unfortunately fund-raising is a necessary part of any Lodge being able to survive, property taxes, utilities, and insurance in most cases is more than the lodge collects in dues. Eventually the savings account gets mighty slim without some source of income.

When looking at the neccesary skill sets a Worshipful Master needs to do his job it makes it seem like a near impossible task to find all of those in a brother for that position. He should and has to be a delegater to get the job done. A Master above all has to be a leader and he can't do everything but has to surround himself with people who can and will do what needs to be done. At a minimum ritually be able to open and close the lodge, at a minimum.

Another thing challenging the lodges in our geographical area is a declining population. We just don't have the population numbers to support the number of lodges in this area, unless....we suddenly get some true leaders that will be able to get some of the fledgling lodges back working again.

A Mason's Mason

 From time to time I've wrote about extrodinary Masons in our area. Too often it has been after they answer the summons of the Grand Warden of Heaven. So I think it's just as appropriate to recoginize these great brothers while they are still serving the craft.

WB Lloyd James Williams, known to all as Jimmy Williams. WB Jimmy was intiated, passed, and raised in Genesee Lodge #174,  in the year of 1963. This was in the days of the full catachism, he joined in September of that year and was raised in October of the same year. Apparently the ritual work came easy for this young Mason.

WB Jim has served the craft in a variety of capacities over the years. He served as Worshipful Master of Genesee Lodge #174 in 83, he went on to be DDI for District 15, and was made Chaplain Emeritus in 2017 for Genesee Lodge after serving 10 or more years in that office.

WB Jimmy has always been a regular traveling Mason especially in Genesee County. He is just a tremendous asset in lecturing in all of the degrees and has performed many outstanding installations with his rich almost baritone voice. One of his special talents is pulling together a great degree team for the King Solomon's club Outdoor Master Mason degree.

Last evening I had the privilege of attending Genesee Lodge #174 in Flushing to witness the conferral of the Master Mason degree on three brothers, one from Holly Lodge, one from Welfare Lodge, and one from Genesee Lodge.

They opened lodge at 5pm and when I arrived shortly after 6pm the parking lot was quite full, more full than I have seen it in many years. When they went from labor to refreshment, I knew why the parking lot was so full.....brothers from all around the county and a variety of lodges came pouring out of the blue room.

The degree was performed very well with WB Jimmy Williams directing the trhrong of brothers required for a Master Mason degree. Throughout the evening I learned that Jimmy had been on the phone for several days arranging who was going to do what, just as he has for many years for the outdoor degree.

Traveling with WB Jim Williams last night was WB James O. ....heavy on the O. Allen, these two characters roamed the roads and lodges of Genesee County for many years. They were really a great team on memorials....WB Jim Allen had a soft, soothing voice that I'm sure was a great comfort to many grieving Masonic families at countless Masonic memorials.

Both of the Jims logged countless miles, hours, and degrees over the years. The late WB Joe Florida said back in the 90's that we had more Masons in the State of Michigan who were 90 and above than we did Masons 50 and below....so if you want to live to be 90 join a Michigan Masonic lodge. It was really neat to see WB Jimmy and Jerry Graham a 70+ year member working together on the Master Mason degree last night.

So if you bump into WB Jimmy Williams or WB Jim Allen, or Jerry Graham....be sure to tell them how much you appreciate what they've done for Masonry over the years. Let them know how much we appreciate them now, right now for what they've done for our craft. 

 A very sad conclusion has come to the search for the missing Grand Master Hiram Abif. King Solomon along with the King of Tyre and an entourage of 12 Fellowcrafts have made their way to a hill west of Mount Moriah.

At this location a fresh grave was discovered while the same Fellowcrafts were in search of Abif. According to sources close to the investigation a lone sprig of accacia suspicously marked the grave. The Fellowcrafts did discover the jewel of Hiram Abif's office on or about the body.

King Solomon himself examined the jewel and determined, that it in fact did belong to Grand Master Hiram Abif and was the jewel of his office.

King Solomon along with the assistance of the King of Tyre did manage to raise the body of Abif. The body was transported by the 12 Fellowcrafts and accompanied by both Kings. The body will eventually come to rest in the sanctum santorim of the Temple where it will receive a proper burial.

A tragic ending to a life cut short because of greed, impatience, and unsubdued passions on the part of three men from Tyre whose murderous designs took over their logical thinking. It seems that these type of situations always end with an extremely sad outcome. May we all learn from this tragedy for generations to come.

Where Have They Gone?

 As I sat in lodge last night witnessing the first section of a Fellowcraft degree, I remarked to WB Dale, "How many of these have you seen?" His reply was hundreds. I suppose after 50+ years in the fraternity he has seen it hundreds of times. I can relate with my short 39 years that I'm probably edging close to a hundred myself.

Sitting there gave me an opportunity to reflect on few things. I've seen hundreds knock at the door of Masonry and sadly to say only a few remain. Admittedly some have passed, some have moved, but the largest percentage have faded away. The question is why?

I think if we are honest we know why. Lack of leadership followed by not including the new brothers like they should be included. They should be included in everything from working in the degrees, traveling, lodge projects, and working around the lodge.

Recently I've noticed something that seems to be a common thread among some of the new brothers. The ones that seem like they are really going to stick, all have something in common. They were involved with brothers of the lodge and were around the lodge for a while before they were actually members.

Again, the Six-Steps to initiation as promoted by the Grand Lodge of Michigan plays a huge role. I've seen this play out at Millington lodge with a father and son duo, at Otisville lodge by a very enthusiatic new member who had to wait several months to meet the domiciling provision, and now at Mt.Morris lodge a young man who is very attentive and eager to learn and get more involved. In all of these cases these men were around the lodge frequently, they weren't able to attend official meetings but they got to know the members of the lodge and the members of the lodge got to know them.

The next step is to engage them, to make them a part of the team. Encourage them to travel, challenge them to learn a small part of the ritual, ensure that they are at least offered to participate. All brothers are different, everyone is not a ritualist, but everyone has something they are good at it. As a lodge, we need to uncover that talent and put it to use, we would all be surprised if we really worked at this.

Reflecting back over the years I can't help but think about some of the legends in Genesee County Masonry that have passed on to the celestial lodge above. At the same time it's refreshing to see some of the soon to be legends quietly stepping in to fill the shoes of those who have already gone home.

There are some real good Masons that are stepping up and working on filling some of those holes left by those worthy brothers who have laid down the working tools of life. It's fascinating that in most cases these brothers realize and know in their heart that it's time to step up and attempt to take the place of those who used to do the lions share of the "work" of the craft.

So, we have these brothers stepping in with lecturning and so forth, but they've been around for a while, they've been through the chairs, they've served as Worshipful Master, and they want to contribute to the work of the craft to ensure the new brothers receive the quality degree that they did in the past.

Through the yearsall of the men I've witnessed become Master Masons....where have they gone? Perhaps the greatest challenge facing Masonry, and it has been the challenge for many years now, the greatest challenge is retention and involvement in the craft. Just think if these brothers become engaged then NPD is no longer an issue, finances would become easeier, the big question....who is going to go through the line....all of these challenges would be solved.

 New developments concerning the whereabouts of Hiram Abif are currently unfolding. Sources close to the King said that a sizeable delegation of workmen appearing to be Fellowcrafts were granted an audience with King Solomon earlier today.

Apparently three men were seen to be bound and were under heavy escort of at least twelve Fellowcrafts. A spokesman for King Solomon gave a brief statement following this meeting with the King. The three men who were bound and taken before King Solomon admitted their guilt in the murderous plot and have been duly executed according to their imprecations before several witness. Justice in this part of the world moves very swiftly.

One last piece remains.....where is the body of Grand Master Abif?

This just in from the Port of Joppa, some members of the search party from King Solomon's Temple have discovered some interesting clues concerning the disappearance of Hiram Abif.

Members of the party encountered a seafaring man. The man stated that he had a chance encounter with three strangers. From their attire they appeared to be workmen from the temple.

They were seeking a passage to Ethiopia, the very place the seafaring man was bound for. After a brief discussion it was determined that they were not in posession of King Solomon's pass, upon which they were denied passage.

When asked further about the three, the seafaring man said that the three seemed suspicous to him, and they flead into the countryside after being denied a passage with him.

 

 Twelve Fellowcrafts clothed in white gloves and aprons were seen entering King Solomon's court. Apparently they outlined a conspiracy of 15 Fellowcrafts who had plans to extort from Hiram Abif the secrets of a Master Mason.

The twelve stated that they had recanted from the original plans and humbly implored the King's pardon. King Solomon then instucted the twelve to go in seaarch of Grand Master Hiram Abif. We will continue to follow this story very closely. It is hoped that Abif will be found with a positive outcome.

Still no sign of Grand Master Hiram Abif. King Solomon ordered that a strict search be made in and around the yet completed Temple. According to labor sources there appears to have been some sort of rebellion among the workmen regarding the pace at which they were being advanced. 

Also it should be noted that attendance reports of the workman has been completed with some notable absences. According to our sources a delegation of some of the Fellowcrafts are scheduled to meet with King Solomon sometime this afternoon.

Special Report

 

Reports keep pouring in from Jerusalem's Mount Moriah concerning the work stoppage at King Solomon's Temple.

Sources close to the king are saying tht Grand Master Hiram Abif has not been seen since high noon yesterday. The sources who remain unnamed also say that King Solomon and the King of Tyre have entered into private discussions.

Highly placed members of the King's administration say that King Solomon has not ruled out assembling a large number of men to go in search of the Grand Master.

Breaking News

 

This just in from the Middle East, apparently work has stopped on the building of King Solomon's Temple. According to officials, when the workmen reported for work this morning there was no plans laid out on their trestleboard. Hiram Abif was not available for comment.

A Spin on Quantity vs. Quality

 Traditionally here in lower Michigan lodges tend to go "dark" during the summer months of July and August. Some lodges in northern Michigan go "dark" in the winter months of January and February. Just a little background which has little to do with my thoughts for this entry. As I often tell my girlfriend I am full of useless information.

So as the lodges are now wrapping up for the upcoming summer months, it's refreshing to see many of the lodges scurrying to tie up some of their loose ends concerning degree work. After a couple years of uncertainty and not being able to meet and conduct degrees, we are now somewhat back to normal with lots of "work" to do.

There is absolutely no doubt that the pandemic had a detrimental effect on the fraternity and it's current members. What is odd is that it seemed to have an almost opposite affect on the aspirant, not in all lodges but it seems to be the case in the majority of lodges.

By now I think everyone who reads this blog has a pretty good idea of my philosophy concerning quality vs. quantity when it comes to candidates for the fraternity. Now I feel the need to point out how degree work can become so enjoyable when the number of brothers seems to be a little light, stretched, and even could be referred to as a skelton crew.

The basis for these thoughts has evolved over a few visits to a couple of the smaller lodges in the area. One being Millington Lodge and the other Otisville Lodge. It seems that both of these lodges have existed and continued to work, but for what ever reason don't put a large number of candidates through.

Admittedly Millington is a little busier than Otisville but both are smalltown lodges with very loyal members and some of the Past Masters have a number of notches on their aprons for years in the East.

Back when the snow was blowing and temperatures were dropping, Millington made it known that they had a father and son duo who had petitioned the lodge and were being initiated in the Craft. I ventured out after work to find a warm meal, warm fellowship, and two eager candidates.

The EA degree was well attended in spite of the weather and was conferred in fine fashion as well as the Fellowcraft degree a few weeks later. Again the FC degree was nicely attended and conferred in fine fashion.

Now it's time for the father and son duo to undergo one of the most trying scenes that human nature has ever endured......that's right, it's time for the Master Mason degree. The weather was much nicer and warmer, the meal was great but the attendance was shall we say a little slim.

We ventured up to the blue room for the degree. I was even able to do second base for the second time in my short 39 years. Most of us doubled up on different parts and just a handful gave the lectures....the surprising thing was it was without a doubt one of the most enjoyable MM degrees I have ever been involved in or witnessed. It was just a great amount of fun and truly an enjoyable evening.

I'm not advocating that degree workers should be stretched so thin...but in the above case even with very few in attendance and all the multi-tasking, the brothers received a mighty fine Master Mason degree and those of us who were there got to take part in an almost magical degree.

My hat is off to WB Gary Watt and the leadership of Millington Lodge for really knowing these two brothers before they received any degree. In fact I learned that they had been working with the brothers at the lodge before, during, and after their degrees. The Grand Lodge of Michigan's six-step program in action.....brothers it pays huge dividends to the lodges that embrace it.

Another great night was last night at Otisville #401. Their candidate had been patiently waiting for at least 6 months if not longer to join, the hangup was his residence in the state, he finally got his 12 months in residing in the state of Michigan.

Again my hat is off to WB Joe Norton and WB Dale Thomas for keeping this young man interested while he put in his time to get to 12 months of residence. The young man was at their Installation of Officers and would come out and socialize with the brothers before they had their regular stated meetings.

The turnout was mighty slim for an Entered Apprentice degree, in fact we had a grand total of 8, including myself. As the night proceeded there was nuch doubling up and multi-tasking and again the brother received an awesome degree.

Too often we take for granted 30-40 brothers showing up for a degree. While that is great there is something different about an intimate setting , everyone is involved out of necessity and they tend to really step up to accomplish the degree.

Let me be perfectly clear, I am NOT advocating light attendance. To have the sidelines full, and a full compliment of officers is a clear demonstrable sign of honor and respect to the candidate and the fraternity as a whole.

Sometimes a more intimate setting can also be very powerful, whether it be a small number of committed brothers, or a Fellowcraft degree by candle-light, when the chips are down and the brothers are determined to get the degree accomplished despite the challenges, special things happen.

How good and how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together as Masons.

What's the Rush

 It appears that we are getting back to doing Masonry again. There also seems to be a little bit of a backup in degree work, a good problem to have. Some lodges are managing this new influx quite well, others have reverted back to the old "rush 'em through" method.

I've been asking for years, "What is the big rush?" Are we in a big rush to get the candidates through their work, so they can stop coming back to lodge, sooner?

I really have to give kudos to WB Scott Wogen and Linden Lodge #132 for managing their candidates in a responsible and productive manner. They have spaced out the work, they have involved the newly made brothers in visiting other degrees and have also supplied candidates for a King Solomon's Club event. In my opinion this is doing Masonry correctly and responsibly.

One lodge attempted to schedule 3 candidates for an Entered Apprentice degree. In my opinion the EA degree and the MM degree are designed to have individual candidates for a reason. The candidate's first experience with Masonic degrees and his last experience with the Blue Lodge degrees should be deeply personalized and geared toward one individual brother.

That did not sit well with the brothers in the area who travel to help with the degree work. The lodge was advised by many including myself that this was not a good idea, the lodge would not aquiesce and scheduled for 3 candidates, only 1 showed, which leads to another dilemma......the absentee candidate.

The absentee candidate is becoming quite the popular character, one which only a few years ago was nearly extinct. Today the elusive absentee candidate can be seen in a variety of lodges and situations. In the case of the 3 scheduled EAs the lodge had 2 absentee candidates.....why is that?

My feeling is that when candidates don't show for their degrees, it illustrates that there has been a breakdown in the 6 steps and a breakdown in the lodge really getting to know the candidate and building a relationship with him before he takes any work.

Especially for the EA degree, it makes one wonder just how committed the man is to joining us and the fraternity. In the words of PGM Lemons, we need to remember that the candidate is joining us we are not joining him. In other words if this is truly important to the man, he will be there or at least make a courtesy call with some sort of excuse.

This all leads to the age old question....are we looking for quantity or quality?  As we move forward, we need to concentrate on preparing our candidates before they receive their degree work. Another important factor is not allowing the candidates to languish between degrees, but get them involved all along the way. Encourage them to travel with the other brothers in the lodge, visit other lodges, get them ivolved, but all of this requires leadership.

One thing that always strikes me is when a lodge has a candidate and none of the officers from the Tyler to the Junior Deacon, to the Senior Deacon, to the Wardens and right down to the Master knows the candidates name....and when it gets really embarassing is when the candidate has a difficult name to pronounce, the man's name gets absolutely butchered.....if the lodge truly knows the candidate then they are familiar with his name and if it's difficult to pronounce then the officers of the lodge should have spent enough time with him to learn how to pronounce his name correctly.....so often these actions produce some embarassing times for the lodge and the candidate and demonstrates disrespect and disregard for the man's most prized posession, his name.

One can say what they want about we old grumpy Past Masters....but some things should never go out of style. Showing up for meetings on time, on the right date, properly attired,etc. Joining a Masonic Lodge is a privilege not a right. Men who are truly ready and willing to join the fraternity will demonstrate their desire to be accepted and clearly demonstrate that they are ready to join us and as the EA charge says conform to our tnents and rules that the honor, glory, and reputation of the institution may be firmly established, and the world at large convinced of its good effects.

Brothers and Fellows?

 First of all, my apologies to those who have followed the blog in the past, my attention has not been on writing here lately. I enjoy it and would very much like to continue and hopefully get re-inspired to add to the content.

From what I've read and heard expressed by a variety of brothers, our new brothers to the fraternity are hungry to learn as much as they can about this great fraternity.

I've also heard from a variety of brothers that we are dying as an organization or fraternity. My feeling is that we took about a 2 year slow down due to Covid-19 and the shutdowns and precautions taken to help curb the tide as they say. Hopefully the majority of that is behind us now.

At our most recent King Solomon's Club event we had the pleasure of having WB Dirk Hughes from the Library and Museum give us a presentation on the anti-Masonic movement of the late 1800's. He reminded us that during this dark time that the Grand Lodge of Michigan basically ground to a halt for nearly 13 years.....and somehow we rebounded from that.

We should also be reminded that in the Fellowcraft Degree it speaks of the ruthless hand of ignorance and the ravages of war destroyed many valuable treasures but not withstanding Freemasonry has survived. I've said it 100 times before and here is 101....the fraternity is bigger than any of us or anything that can be thrown at it.

Now on to the actual meat and potatoes. I've heard bantered around recently what is the meaning of....As all brothers and fellows have done before. This is something we've heard too many times to count, but it raises a good question, just what does it mean and who are brothers and who are fellows.

Let's start with Fellows. After reading several definitions of the word fellow, I think in our case it can be deduced that a fellow or fellows have similar interests in common, as far as the fraternity goes similar values and beliefs. 

Brother is defined as members of a certain group or fraternity. The term brother is widely used today, African-Americans very often refer to one another as brother, some religious bodies call each other brother, but in our case we are Masonic brothers and the term is widely used throuout our ritual.

So.......why is brothers and fellows used in the ritual? If we examine the interrogatories in all three degrees the term brothers and fellows is only used in the EA degree.....but, why?

I feel that the term fellows means that during the "process" of becoming an EA the candidate is a fellow, he's not a brother until the obligation is completed at the altar and at that moment he becomes a brother. Further, if for some reason he becomes disassociated with the fraternity he returns to fellow status because he still has things in common with the brothers but he is no longer a brother.

For the initiate, he is seeking what all brothers and fellows have done before him. Even if a brother becomes disassociated with the fraternity he still had that experience which will be what the initiate will experience.....the the fun begins what will the newly made brother do with what he has received.