Patronizing the Assemblies

 Well....well....well....seems to be the current state of the "Craft" in our little area here. Lately some lodges have been overwhelmed with the response of visiting brothers attending degree work. For several years, many skeptics and nay-sayers have been saying that we are on the brink of our own demise.

It seems that the words of the Fellowcraft recap ring true once again....Freemasonry nothwithstanding, has still survived.....through a succession of ages, are transmitted unimpaired, the excellent tenets of our institution.

The numbers attending degrees here of late are staggering for our time. They remind many of the "good old days" when large numbers were the norm. Perhaps we are establishing a new "norm". Another encouraging factor is that the age of the candidates seems to be decreasing, young men seem to be the ones really embracing the craft and for a variety of reasons.

For some time, I've been commenting that it sure seems that we are doing a lot of degree work and wondering if it will pay off. My brothers, it seems to be paying dividends. It appears that several factors are driving the increase in numbers. First and foremost is traveling, the lodges that travel are reaping the rewards, sometimes it can be only one faithful brother and that brother will influence brothers to travel to his lodge. Some of the new brothers are being encouraged to travel with some of the more seasoned brothers, imagine that, including new brothers to participate in perhaps the greatest influencer the act of traveling to other lodges. For a while it seemed that first the TV, then the internet, then the phone were big distractors of people attending lodge.....but I think brothers have grown bored with those things and they realize.....thus man was formed for the social and active life, the noblest part of the work of God.

So, for the ol' timers out there.....occasionally pinch yourself, keep your head down and keep going....the greatest and best of men in all ages have been encouragers and promoters of the art, and have never deemed it derogatory to their dignity to level themselves with the Fraternity, extend their privileges, and patronize their assemblies.

How Good and How Pleasant

 

Behold How Good and How Pleasant it is for Brethren to Dwell Together in Unity. The above scene is starting to become more prevalent as of late. This was last evening's Entered Apprentice degree at Swartz Creek #458.

The remark was made that it felt like the "Old Days", meaning that in the not too distant past this scene was quite commonplace throughout the county. Traveling to other lodges is in my opinion what makes this fraternity great. The coming together of brothers with one goal in mind, to put on the very best degree a brother can receive.

There were about 48 brothers in attendance, among them 5 current Worshipful Masters, Grand Steward, 3 District Deputy Instructors, and 1 Board of General Purposes member. Numerous Past Masters, Vienna Lodge had at least 5, and 14 from Linden Lodge #132 to take the travelling gavel. This comes on the heels of a Tri-District Lodge of Instruction that had 63 brothers in attendance.

It's been said many times that we seem to confer quite a number of degrees, and the hope is that we continue to see these new brothers come back to lodge and get involved. This was demonstrated by Swartz Creek and Linden Lodge. I noted several of Swartz Creek's new brothers in attendance with two of their new brothers assuming offices in line. Linden was travelling with their newest Master Mason.

As we move forward, this momentum will help propel the craft into the future. The challenge is to get those lodges who seldom engage with other lodges to move out of their comfort zone and take part in the fellowship and camaraderie that takes place at an event such as the one we enjoyed last evening.

The key is getting the new brothers involved in the work of the craft. This can be accomplished in several different ways, such as getting them working on a small project, if they have a desire to get involved in the "work" give them a small part to memorize, be sure to include them in any travelling the lodge may do.....bottom line is to get them involved in something, a reason to come back.

It seems that the fraternity as a whole is making some real strides to a robust future. Although overall we still have too many lodges for the population, we need to slow the consolidations and help one another build up the smaller lodges to become viable once again.

I think our culture is beginning to realize that there is more to life than sitting behind a computer screen or staring into a phone. As we learn from the MM lecture concerning the beehive.....thus was man formed for the social and active life, the noblest part of the work of God, and he who will so demean himself as to not be adding to the common stock of knowledge and understanding may be deemed a drone in the hive of nature and unworthy of our protection as Masons.

We are actually beginning to hear from new brothers that they have been looking for something for that fellowship and community among good men. The fraternity of Free & Accepted Masons is one of the original social networking groups and it's importance and time tested beliefs can meet the needs of a society so lacking for that all important human interaction for the betterment of mankind.

It's a Big Deal

 It's been far too long since my last posting. It certainly isn't a lack of activity in our local lodges, it's just laziness on my part. It's refreshing and a jab to the gut when I encounter a brother who asks when are we going to see a new post on your blog, so here we go.

Somehow I managed to make it 40 years in the fraternity and was honored to receive my life membership I'm truly honored.

The daylight is beginning to wane, summer is bidding farewell and the Lions play their opening game tonight.....that can only mean one thing....autumn is upon us and we are getting back into doing Masonry after a very nice summer off.

Now is the time that the incoming Masters are hopefully putting the finishing touches on their upcoming installation of officers. The installation ceremony can be very powerful and meaningful or it can be dull and uneventful. There is one issue, that of whether to have an "open" or "closed" installation....meaning either open to the public or closed to the public.

This year hopefully will be different, but last year seemed to disturbingly lean toward .....closed.

There are still many brothers that like to espouse that we are dying, we don't have the members we used to and so on. For our fraternity to supposedly be on life-support, we seem to be scrambling to get all of the degree work done before installation time and the holidays, or getting the work done before Grand Lodge session, or getting it done before we go dark. If in fact we are dying....why are there so many degrees.

Yes, our numbers are less than in the old days but look at the demographics we inherited. We are born, we live, we die....but is death the end of man and the expiring hope of all faithful Masons....no....blessed be God. It seems to me that we are nearing the point where we will start to make some positive growth. It boggles my mind when brothers say that we are dying but we keep doing more and more degrees. Unfortunately many have passed on to the Celestial Lodge above, we have lost some key players but we need to foster and mentor newly made brothers.....and I see some brothers rising to meet the challenge.

Now back to the issue at hand, installations. Open or Closed is the question. My thought is that it's a great time to shine and hopefully expand our reach. We need to remember that we do have some fresh officers and they have never been installed before or maybe only once or so. True we do have some retreads in offices from Worshipful Master on down through Junior Deacon. The fact is that an open installation allows for family, friends, neighbors, and co-workers, etc. to witness what it is that we do. I've heard that we just don't get the turnout that we used to.....this is true.....but have the officers actually invited people to attend, do we send out invites???

To be installed as an officer of a lodge should be something the brothers want to share with their families, friends, co-workers, and neighbors. My view is somewhat slanted I suppose, having come up in DeMolay, installations were a great time for all, then at Fellowship Lodge the feeling continued. It was just a matter of course that the installation would be "open" and the officers were excited to share the honor with ones that matter to them.

Back in the day, it was very rare for a lodge to have a closed installation. Somehow we have lost our way and just go through the paces to get it done, and having a closed installation is far easier. The easy path doesn't always profit the lodge, the brothers, and the craft.

Just a few years ago, Otisville was having closed installations as a matter of routine. When WB Dale Thomas was elected the first time as Master of Otisville he had an open installation. There were 100 people there for that installation, it was the first open installation in some time and WB Dale made sure that he invited people and encouraged them to attend, and they responded accordingly.

There are many challenges facing today's lodges, among them is who will actually fill the leadership roles in the lodge. Unfortunately many lodges don't plan in advance who will most likely be filling which chairs. When a brother is installed as Senior Warden he should begin to plan his most likely installation as Worshipful Master. By doing this he actually has a whole year to put things together for his installation.

By putting this kind of emphasis on the event, it will surely create an atmosphere in the lodge that the installation of officers is a big deal and should foster the brothers to treat it as such and realize that it is in fact a "big deal", one that they will want to share with others.

It's been said before that enthusiasm breeds enthusiasm, the incoming Worshipful Master needs to stress that to his officers and encourage them to invite people to attend. Hopefully inviting more than brothers from other lodges, but invite those who may have never been in a Masonic Temple or attended a Masonic Ceremony. This is the lodge's time to shine and gain some much needed positive exposure.

Are We Ready

We touched on a few things in the last post concerning our readiness as we move forward. As we talked, January finished strong. There has been a strange mix of events in terms of the degree work. Great examples of brilliance with some not so brilliant.

My belief is that the ritual is what separates us from the rest of the fraternities. Men throughout the ages have craved and sought esoteric and philosophical teachings concerning how to live a profitable life. We are richly blessed that the words laid down in our esteemed little black book hold many answers and raise many questions for us to ponder as we journey through this adventure called life.

It has been said many times in this blog that the authors of our ritual were extremely gifted in how they put the ritual together. It wasn't easy getting to the point we now enjoy, but the end result is remarkable. The authors were highly skilled in their choice and placement of words, for example the meaning of a single word may take 10 words to explain.

It pains me greatly when such little care and respect is given to the words of our rites and ceremonies. There are examples of brothers feeling they don't like the way the ritual is written and feel they can insert their own words and convey the same meaning. That is totally preposterous given the fact that they can't deliver the words that are written....why should they be trusted to insert their own words  when they don't comprehend the ones that have been passed down through the ages 

We or I should say, I am bantering around the word "ritual" quite a bit....in our area we Masons refer to the written text of our three degrees as the ritual....this word has different uses and variations, it kind of reminds me of the mother of all swear words because of it's different uses. For example, I always take my ritual with me to lodge, we enjoy visiting that lodge because they do great ritual work, he's known to be quite the ritualist, 

In reality the word ritual mean a solemn ceremony....or another definition can be a "rite of passage". Actually we are going to a solemn rite of passage at ABC Lodge and we will be carrying our black books which describe the ceremony and how to perform it.....thank goodness we can just say ritual.

Sorry about the tangent but I think I picked up a new subject for the blog....so we had the case of wanting to rewrite the ritual because someone didn't like the style. We also have the case where many young officers busted their hump to make their degree a very successful evening....then we have the lodge who seemed woefully unprepared and completely lost at times. The old cliché was mentioned that my goodness we give the appearance of having never practiced this degree to be followed up by another....there is so much brass here tonight, I froze and completely lost my bearings, and my dog ate my homework.

Also we saw some true leadership displayed by a Grand Lodge Officer, with the newly initiated brother out of the lodge room, he addressed the very poor performance of portraying the EA degree. It was done professionally, politley but firm. He said that the degree is for the candidate not us. We have but one chance to make a good first impression. His question was, how impressed do you think the candidate was, and that it was a true injustice to the candidate to have not presented him with the best degree possible.

This leads to ask, "Are We Ready?" if we aren't how do we get ready? With anything that is done well there are a few things that can be done in preparation not only for degrees but anything we do in life that we want to do well.....we had a series of training tapes here at work and his favorite thing was Practice, Drill, and Rehearse. 

When it comes to degree work, the lodge officers need to study on their own, work with a close brother or brothers to get the words out in the open, and if the lodge knows they are shaky they need a practice degree working together to work out the kinks and rough spots.

It's an involved process. Much studying and preparation needs to be done by each individual officer. The time to study is not on the way to lodge and walking into the lodge room. The hours required depends on the person, but I know I have logged countless hours studying my work.

It is possible for everyone to study individually and come together on the night of the degree and pull it off......if they have some experience in degree work, otherwise it behooves the lodge to actually practice the degree beforehand.

According to the Great One, WB Bennie King....when studying a part, always recite it out loud to yourself or the steering wheel while driving or your dog....many dogs have received many fine lectures over the years....but, yes verbalize it....this will enhance one's practice.

As mentioned above we get one chance at a first impression. Imagine if you will, a young man discovers his grandfather was a Mason. He begins his research into the mysteries of Freemasonry, usually this is done online. Many things are unearthed, secret handshakes, certain gestures known as signs, many of the founding fathers of this great country were Masons. Mystery, intrigue, and suspense. The young man stumbles on to the Michigan Grand Lodge site, and after a few emails and phone calls and spending some time with men who are unknown to him. He's investigated maybe some of his friends and business acquaintances are contacted......then he finds himself at the lodge. After arriving he is prepared for initiation and is led into the lodge room. He finds himself being quizzed and his escort or conductor is supplying the answers .....and then it happens, the conductor and the one asking questions quite clearly have no idea what they are talking about. The candidate surely asks himself, is this why it's a secret....it's so secretive that they don't know how to communicate it to each other.....or is it that they don't care to the point it makes them look like bumbling fools......there goes the first impression out the window.

All of the mystery and intrigue are gone as the Wardens and Senior Deacon stumble around trying to communicate the word, the handshake and the sign. Suddenly the prospect of these men ruling the world and being movers and shakers is gone. I'm not suggesting that we are movers and shakers but we should be proud enough of our fraternity that the modes of recognition is something we highly regard and treat them with the respect that their history and heritage deserve.

This is why practice, drill, and rehearse has to be part of our routine. The questions and responses to the Wardens before and after the obligation need to be routine and come so natural the impression is given that they have been practiced so much that they come off as second nature. If you've ever talked to someone who was in military service, regardless of how long they've been out they can rattle off their number in the blink of an eye, they never forget and they know how to recite it instantly.

There are a few keys to being ready to move forward. First, the work...the ritual needs to be impressive to the candidate. Secondly a brother needs to take the newly made Mason under his wing, mentor and guide without pushing. Get the new Brother involved doing something, even a small job or a small part in a degree, get them involved. Be sure to include the newly made Brother in all things, invite him to travel...make him feel that he is a part of something, because he is.

Now We Move Forward

 It's that special time of the year when the lodges are coming off the installation hangover, the holidays, etc. Now it's time to move forward into another year in Masonry.

One thing that really stood out about this most recent installation season was the number of closed installations. In talking with some of the brothers it was mentioned that when you've seen one installation you've seen them all. That may be true for some that have been around for a while but not true for everyone.

Years ago, shortly after the disappearance of the dinosaurs I went into line. I served two years as steward before moving on to Junior Deacon then all the way up through the ranks. My wife at that time, my kids, parents, in-laws, friends etc came out for every installation, they were all open. At that time a closed installation was very rare and almost unheard of.

An open installation does many things. It brings out family, friends, and relatives so they can see our buildings and meet those we are spending our time with. It is an outward symbol to the community, because they see an unusal amount of vehicles in the parking lot of the local Masonic Temple. While doing all of the above, those attending witness the fellowship and perhaps pick up on a few of our teachings.

I'm sure that my family thought they had seen plenty of installations but I was proud to have them there and to show that I was making progress in the fraternity. Pride of membership was something that we cherished in the old days and we were always eager to demonstrate that to our families and public at large.

An installation was something of a gala event. The officers had their boutonnieres and the ladies their corsages. The officers were all dressed in tuxedos, it was a formal affair for sure.

I feel the lodges lose out in many ways when the installation is closed, just my opinion. Well enough about installations time to move forward.

As we are now moving forward once again after the stagnation of the season of Covid we can get back to doing Masonry. The beginning of January was a little slow in the degree department but it appears that the closing weeks of the month are producing very good results.

Again, we are seeing many men move into the ranks of Masonry. A good variety of degrees in all three degrees. My worry stays the same, can we make a good enough impression, display enough brotherly love and friendship to entice them to come back and get involved.

Invariably when there is a decent size crowd, the old timers(myself included) begin reminiscing about the old days and the hustle and bustle of the work and the vast number of lodges and brothers at that time. I'm sure they are all thinking as I am.....what happened? Why are we struggling to make a comeback.

It appears that with all of the work we do that we should be making a comeback based on the numbers of newly made brothers and the number of degrees throughout the entire area. But, it seems that in a few months when we go back for another degree those who were just raised are not in attendance.

The Grand Lodge of Michigan has instituted the 6-step program for aspirants, and they also encourage mentoring new members. My fear is that the lodges only follow these initiatives half-heartedly. Recognizing of course that these newly made brothers need to be somewhat self-motivated in seeking more light on their journey.

As we move forward are we willing to bend our standards, traditions, heritage, and basic lessons that were taught  and embraced by local lodges not that many years ago.....or should we keep some of those standards and teachings in place moving forward....after all it brought us this far.

Scheduling of degree work.....again they are joining us, I realize some flexibility is needed but we should dictate when and where. When entering the line, certain parts of lectures need to be learned as well.....and what about memorials....there are some nice small parts that the line officers could learn and this would foster them to actually attend memorials.

Mentoring should be happening during the 6 steps, when the petitioner begins his degree work, after the degree work, after the brother is raised, and for as long as it takes for the new brother to become acclimated to what is going on. Involvement is the key.

This week I've been to 2 Master Mason degrees and witnessed 4 new brothers raised to the sublime degree of Master Mason. Where will they be 3 months from now? Will they be floundering on their own without guidance or will they be guided and encouraged by a brother or brothers of the lodge?

In addition to getting the new brothers involved in the busy work of the lodge such as cleaning, building repair, fund raising, and so forth; we need to get them involved in the "work" of the craft. There are many smaller parts in our ritual that are easy to learn and easy to recite.....along with these parts there are non-speaking fellowcraft parts. We should really encourage the brothers to get engaged with the ritual. Some will really enjoy it while others may not, now is the time to find out.

During these "modern times" there are far too many Worshipful Masters that cannot open or close lodge, there are even more that stumble through the opening and closing but can't do degree work,. I feel this is an indication of their leadership skills and lodge development skills as well. However, the title of Past Master will be bestowed and $300-$500 spent on a Past Masters apron.

It seems to me that the installation ceremony describes the incoming Master as an expert craftsman and highly skilled. We have to get beyond the fact that a brother has served as Warden and meets the mirror fogging requirement to gain the seat in the East. A bother's performance in either the South or the West seems to be an accurate indicator of the type of Worshipful Master he will be.

We all bear responsibility in making this fraternity prosper. From the youngest EA who stands in the northeast corner to the Worshipful Master who has been elected to preside over his lodge.....first-line signers of petitions, mentors, Past Masters, officers, and members....we all have to be more engaged in teaching and leading.....and voting qualified people into line and voting for those who are duly qualified to advance through the ranks.

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.