Have you ever had the opportunity to visit a Lodge in a foreign Jurisdiction? *
If so, did you learn anything from their practices that you felt could be brought back to your own Lodge either temporally or permanently?
Likewise has your Lodge had a foreign visitor that it was able to learn something interesting from?
As long as we will be discussing visiting foreign Lodges, I think I should remind everyone that the Grand Lodge of Washington will be visiting Puerto Vallarta Lodge #34, of the MW York Grand Lodge of Mexico, on the evening of Thursday, December 16, 2021. If you would like to attend, we would love to have you! Contact me if you need further details.
Just in case you missed it, last Sunday’s version of the newsletter:
Although I have not had the pleasure of visiting a foreign lodge, I have had the opportunities to visit the GL of Scotland and Solomon #1 in Savannah, GA. Although neither were in session the visits were extraordinary. Both were steeped in history, the Oriental Chair in Solomon #1 having been first crafted and the donated by George Washington. I was in awe of the GL of Scotland’s history, hundreds of years of heritage and memories. What I saw and experienced in both lodges was the same as when I walked into my home Lodge for the first time and when visiting Lodges in the jurisdiction. We all have our histories, whether they’re relatively short or, hundreds of years. Visiting these lodges and meeting the brothers, what I learned and tried to bring back to my lodge was the warm feelings of Brotherly Love and Friendship I’ve experienced in my travels. I’ve learned things don’t make us Masons. Getting up everyday and being better than you were the day before and adhering to our obligations, that’s what makes us Masons.
A few years ago I attended the leadership retreat, and the keynote speaker on Saturday night was the WM Owen Shieh of Honolulu Lodge on Oahu. I actually was planning on visiting my daughter who was stationed on Oahu at the time, so I made sure my visit coincided with their meeting night.
Their opening and closing ritual was vastly different than ours. I haven't visited other jurisdictions before, I knew there would be differences, but boy, I was surprised how much. I learned their charter actually was through Queensland Australia, not the states, which accounted for much of it I expect. While the verbiage was similar, the floor work was a lot different.
At closing, WM Owen talked about how he had visited a lodge in Tennessee(?) and had been smitten with one part of the ritual, their closing charge. It seems the GL of Hawaii doesn't include a closing charge in their work. WM Owen then read the Closing charge from a piece of paper, and wouldn't you know it, what he read was basically word for word of our own closing charge.
This really reinforced with me two things - first that yes, people do things differently in other parts of the world, and second, the ritual hasn't changed all that much in our line of charters. Since our historical lineage goes back to that part of the country, it's interesting to see at least some of the ritual work is unchanged over all these years.
In our lodge "library", there are some old ritual books from the early 1900s, written in the same cipher we're using today and quite readable to modern masons. You can see how much the ritual itself has morphed over the years. While the majority of it is the same, there are obvious tweaks made.
I had to opportunity in visiting Italian And Canadian Lodges and one thing that captured my attention is that the Immediate Past Master continues to have a huge role as the mentor of the Master of the Lodge still sitting on the East behind and at the side of the Master. In Italy, the Immediate Past Master also has a distinct apron identifying him as such. In Italy, the Master presides the Lodge for a minimum two years. U.S. Lodges and other U.S. influenced Lodges normally has the immediate Past Master appointed as Tyler greatly diminishing to the role too fast with the least amount of responsibilities.
I have attended Lodge in four Lodges in New York State. They had just allowed for the Lodge to be opened on the EA and FC Degree and do business on those Degrees. They had to create the ritual for those two Degrees and it had a lot more verbiage than I was used to. One of the Lodges were so challenged by the new ritual that instead of closing the Lodge in the usual manner they simply went to refreshment until the next meeting. I found that a little amusing.
While in New York I visited two of my three brothers and stayed at my sister's house. On my first night at my sister's house i did a search on my phone for Masonic Lodges nearby her house. She generously offered to drive me to Lodge and asked me to call her when the Lodge was over and she came and picked me up. Interestingly, they were on three consecutive nights.
I got to one Lodge a little early and got to talk to one of the brothers and he told me that the Grand Master had allowed one or more brothers to conceal carry a firearm in Lodge due to an increase in threats that were occurring.
The fourth Lodge I attended was on a separate trip to visit my mother and I was staying at my sister in law's house. It was a Lodge in the town where my wife grew up and the WM remembered me many year before when I played in a rock and roll band.
What struck me was being welcomed in all those Lodges as if I was a member. Brotherly Love seems to be a universal concept as it should be.
I have sat in lodges in CA, NV, TN, ..... Work is a bit different and no Closing Charge......which I was able to give. Travel and have experiences with our beethren
Although I have not had the pleasure of visiting a foreign lodge, I have had the opportunities to visit the GL of Scotland and Solomon #1 in Savannah, GA. Although neither were in session the visits were extraordinary. Both were steeped in history, the Oriental Chair in Solomon #1 having been first crafted and the donated by George Washington. I was in awe of the GL of Scotland’s history, hundreds of years of heritage and memories. What I saw and experienced in both lodges was the same as when I walked into my home Lodge for the first time and when visiting Lodges in the jurisdiction. We all have our histories, whether they’re relatively short or, hundreds of years. Visiting these lodges and meeting the brothers, what I learned and tried to bring back to my lodge was the warm feelings of Brotherly Love and Friendship I’ve experienced in my travels. I’ve learned things don’t make us Masons. Getting up everyday and being better than you were the day before and adhering to our obligations, that’s what makes us Masons.
A few years ago I attended the leadership retreat, and the keynote speaker on Saturday night was the WM Owen Shieh of Honolulu Lodge on Oahu. I actually was planning on visiting my daughter who was stationed on Oahu at the time, so I made sure my visit coincided with their meeting night.
Their opening and closing ritual was vastly different than ours. I haven't visited other jurisdictions before, I knew there would be differences, but boy, I was surprised how much. I learned their charter actually was through Queensland Australia, not the states, which accounted for much of it I expect. While the verbiage was similar, the floor work was a lot different.
At closing, WM Owen talked about how he had visited a lodge in Tennessee(?) and had been smitten with one part of the ritual, their closing charge. It seems the GL of Hawaii doesn't include a closing charge in their work. WM Owen then read the Closing charge from a piece of paper, and wouldn't you know it, what he read was basically word for word of our own closing charge.
This really reinforced with me two things - first that yes, people do things differently in other parts of the world, and second, the ritual hasn't changed all that much in our line of charters. Since our historical lineage goes back to that part of the country, it's interesting to see at least some of the ritual work is unchanged over all these years.
In our lodge "library", there are some old ritual books from the early 1900s, written in the same cipher we're using today and quite readable to modern masons. You can see how much the ritual itself has morphed over the years. While the majority of it is the same, there are obvious tweaks made.
I had to opportunity in visiting Italian And Canadian Lodges and one thing that captured my attention is that the Immediate Past Master continues to have a huge role as the mentor of the Master of the Lodge still sitting on the East behind and at the side of the Master. In Italy, the Immediate Past Master also has a distinct apron identifying him as such. In Italy, the Master presides the Lodge for a minimum two years. U.S. Lodges and other U.S. influenced Lodges normally has the immediate Past Master appointed as Tyler greatly diminishing to the role too fast with the least amount of responsibilities.
I have attended Lodge in four Lodges in New York State. They had just allowed for the Lodge to be opened on the EA and FC Degree and do business on those Degrees. They had to create the ritual for those two Degrees and it had a lot more verbiage than I was used to. One of the Lodges were so challenged by the new ritual that instead of closing the Lodge in the usual manner they simply went to refreshment until the next meeting. I found that a little amusing.
While in New York I visited two of my three brothers and stayed at my sister's house. On my first night at my sister's house i did a search on my phone for Masonic Lodges nearby her house. She generously offered to drive me to Lodge and asked me to call her when the Lodge was over and she came and picked me up. Interestingly, they were on three consecutive nights.
I got to one Lodge a little early and got to talk to one of the brothers and he told me that the Grand Master had allowed one or more brothers to conceal carry a firearm in Lodge due to an increase in threats that were occurring.
The fourth Lodge I attended was on a separate trip to visit my mother and I was staying at my sister in law's house. It was a Lodge in the town where my wife grew up and the WM remembered me many year before when I played in a rock and roll band.
What struck me was being welcomed in all those Lodges as if I was a member. Brotherly Love seems to be a universal concept as it should be.
I have sat in lodges in CA, NV, TN, ..... Work is a bit different and no Closing Charge......which I was able to give. Travel and have experiences with our beethren