Am I a Builder

 Again I've been very remiss in adding anything new to the blog. It's not for a lack of material for sure. Here we are starting another Masonic year. January seemed to be a little slow but there are many things on the horizon. 

We just had another very successful Tri-District Lodge of Instruction with over 60 brothers in attendance from at least 3 different districts. Also, the Right Worshipful Grand Lecturer, Tom Braun added to the instruction.

Last evening King Solomon's Club had a Round-Robin Master Mason Degree at Linden Lodge with 40 brothers in attendance. The candidate was supplied by Swartz Creek who had a great showing to support their candidate. There is a very healthy competition between Swartz Creek and Linden lodges, these 2 lodges have become the power houses of District 16.

The driving force of both of these lodges are the younger members who are joining both lodges. By younger I mean any brother under the age of 50 is considered "Masonic young" . The younger brothers are eager and hungry for tradition, history, why we do the things we do and how can they learn more. This in turn encourages the "Masonic Mature" (which is nice speak for old farts) to teach, guide and learn.

Imagine that, the elders teaching the younger and showing them the way to foster their growth and to empower those young brothers to be the future leaders.....hmmm it's interesting how that works.

While these 2 lodges are growing there are several lodges on the other end of the spectrum. In the same district we have at least one lodge that will be consolidating into another lodge, with at least one more lodge that is contemplating it's future, there is one bright spot, we had a lodge from a neighboring district merge into one of our lodges. In other neighboring districts we have several lodges that are at a crossroads and their future is in question. 

"Travelling is one of the hidden gems of the fraternity", a quote from the late WB Michael Burt. Travelling is the one thing that Swartz Creek and Linden have in common that the lodges that are floundering don't have in common. By serving as Board of General Purposes, I attend many regular business meetings. The lodges that are successful spend a lot of time discussing how they can do more, make the lodge look better, get in the community more and plan out travelling to other lodges for degree work.....there definitely seems to be some correlation there.

It would be refreshing to see the consolidations and dissolution of lodges slow to a minimum ...the goal should be for those lodges losing their way to regain a foothold in their community and get back to doing Masonry. The challenge is that they have to "want" to make a comeback first in the community of their lodge but also the community at large.....and those lodges somehow have to juggle the finances of utilities, insurance, and property taxes while trying to nurse their lodge back to health.....not an easy feat once the pendulum swings to far to the negative side.

There are 2 very under-utilized resources available to Michigan Lodges they are PGM Fred Kaiser and PGM Bob Conley. These two brothers have a vast knowledge concerning best practices for lodges and lodge renewal. Honestly I've been hearing the term "lodge renewal" for 35 years, some lodges embrace the help and guidance and use them to their advantage while it seems the majority of lodges bristle at the notion of receiving guidance, ideas, and help from these Past Grand Masters. The catch is that the lodges have to do the work themselves, the very hard work of getting the lodge back on track and serving the needs of their Masonic community and their local communities where these lodges reside. The bottom-line is Leadership or the lack thereof that separates the successful lodges from the floundering lodges. Strong leadership is a must to bring these lodges back to life. Jurisdictions around the country bring in PGM Conley to present lodge renewal programs to get lodges back on track, and we have him right here in our state, and he is always very willing to oblige those who will help themselves.

In closing I would like to share a poem which used to be a part of our DeMolay installations....there appear to be many authors from anonymous to Brother Edgar Guest so we will go with Brother Guest

I watched them tearing a building down,
A gang of men in a busy town.
With a ho-heave-ho and lusty yell,
They swung a beam and a sidewall fell.

I asked the foreman, “Are these men skilled,
The men you’d hire if you had to build?”

He gave me a laugh and said, “No indeed!
Just common labor is all I need.
I can easily wreck in a day or two
What builders have taken a year to do.”

And I thought to myself as I went my way,
Which of these two roles have I tried to play?

Am I a builder who works with care,
Measuring life by the rule and square?
Am I shaping my deeds by a well-made plan,
Patiently doing the best I can?

Or am I a wrecker who walks the town,
Content with the labor of tearing down?

This poem by Edgar Guest raises an important and serious question for all of us: “Am I a builder or a wrecker?”