Most Masonic Temples here in Washington are designed to hold quite large events. A tiny minority of Temples have more than one Lodge room, of varying size, to better accommodate small and large meetings, but most have a single Lodge room, and it is generally far larger than is needed for the average Lodge meeting. I presume that it is the same elsewhere.
My own Centralia Lodge for example has a massive Lodge room, which is great when we have a huge installation or similar event, but it leaves a lot to be desired when it is just 15 or 20 Masons for a regular meeting, and the Master’s voice must carry all the way from East to West.
The difficulties with having too much space show up most often when a less formal, more intimate discussion is taking place. A discussion at which we are all trying to learn from each other.
Does your Lodge face this same difficulty?
If it does, have you considered moving the chairs towards the center to create a more intimate space, in other words, have you considered shrinking the Lodge?
Or has your Lodge considered creating a second, much smaller Lodge room out of some other space within your Temple, for use when less Masons are present?
Has your Lodge actually done something like this, and if it has, has that improved the ability to communicate deeply?
"Shrink The Lodge", which I've had suggested we change to "Let's Meet On The Level", becaue the WM, JW and SW step down to level of the Lodge room, was born at Myrtle #108 and has since been exported to Lodges all across this country. I think it was four years ago that the Grand Master of Romania came to our Lodge, so the idea may have traveled out of the USA.
The concept is simple, and yet its impact is profound. No one comes to Lodge to hear the the minutes and a motion to pay the bills, followed by a largely pointless hour of a pointificating on some subject no one will remember in 24 hours.
Rather, we find a topic ( two is always better in case one falls flat ) on which to discuess how we apply Masonry in and to our daily lives. The topic will always drift off course, which is perfectly fine becaue the real reason for Meeting On The Level is so that we can be close enough to one another to actually see one another and to meet is men trying to be better Masons, better husband, better fathers and better men.
Here are a few topics we've discussed;
As a man and a Mason, how are you different today then on the day you became a Mason?
Kipling is one of my favorite writers, and so we listened to his "Gunga Din" and reflected on the Masonic application ( Kipling was a Mason )of that poem. There were Masons who had military combat experience in the room that evening, and who were brought to tears by that poem and our discussion.
Another Kipling poem we read was "Mother Lodge", and prompted men to reflect on their Masonic travels, some of which were in foreighn lands.
Masonry has meaning and application in our daily lives. As we find that meaning, so too we bring alive the value and brotherhood of our Craft.
Having attended a Myrtle on the level conversation, I have to say that it was one of the finest Masonic meetings I've ever attended. I returned home and started telling everyone who would listen about it.
What I'm not sure of, to this day, though, is if it was the physical shrinking of the Lodge that made the discussion so great, or if it was your skills as moderator of the discussion. You my Brother have an amazing skill at getting men to open up and discuss what is important in their lives.
We have gone off session and pulled the chairs in for education. It's been an off and on way of doing our education. It did come into play well when we tried a hybrid session with Zoom for our discussion.
The first time we did this your predecessor was JGW and was visiting our Lodge.
During my term as Master of Centralia Lodge we shrunk the Lodge at every meeting from beginning to end. We moved the Senior Warden's Station with a chair and his podium on top of the Blazing Star in the center of the Lodge, the altar was moved halfway between his new station placement and the East. The Junior Warden sat on the sideline bench with his podium in front of him. The Junior Deacon rapped on his chair and opened an "invisible door" to deliver his lines to an invisible Tyler (Casper). I think it made for better quality meetings and after the first couple meetings the members felt quite comfortable with this arrangement.
in contrast, I have for sometime thought that we should make something much larger. The Investigative form to me is quite inadequate to properly vet those who we let in the West gate. I have been to 3 installations so far this year and to me a form which includes the 15 charges the Worshipful Master must agree to before being installed could be easily be made into a form with several lines for the perspective candidate's response which should be more than yes or no responses. This I think would serve our Fraternity well. These charges contain nothing esoteric as they are heard by non Masonic guests at an open installation.
I suggest this as I have heard several Past Masters tell me that they didn't know that no new Lodge could be formed without permission from the Grand Master or his Deputy (Charge number 13) I was astonished to hear this.
Should I preside over the next Little Falls Lodge meeting, the 15 charges will be taken one by one with a discussion of each. We meet on the 4th Friday at 7:30pm with a fellowship meal at 6:30 at the Centralia Lodge. I would welcome visitors to share their thoughts on this topic. I will open Lodge on the First Degree so EAs and FCs can join in.
"I suggest this as I have heard several Past Masters tell me that they didn't know that no new Lodge could be formed without permission from the Grand Master or his Deputy (Charge number 13) I was astonished to hear this."
This goes back to an earlier thread about the "Bench," and Brothers who memorize the work, vs. reading it. Event through 25 years, I've heard ritual that was horribly read, as well as well-read. Same thing applies to the memorized work. I've heard Brothers who knew the work well, but barreled through it as if there was a time limit on the ceremony. In these cases, I'm not surprised if the installed Master missed half of what the Installing Master had asked him. I was lucky to hear pretty good installations 30 years ago, when I was a visiting teenager, I was impressed by VWB Dick Nyholm's cadence at which he delivered these 15 Charges, as well as marveling at his ability to memorize all that work. The cadence made them sink in better.
This addresses your second paragraph; as your predecessor as WM of Centralia Lodge, I also liked the Round Robin idea, although my subject source was different. My topics were based on things I still didn't know or understand. As you recall (and I thank you for your assistance,) that's why I had the women's groups come to visit our Lodge for presentations. I'm a member of the OES, but not the others, so it was a learning experience for me, and I'm sure, for the others as well. So I made my third year in the East one as a student of sorts, as well as administrator of the Lodge.
The east and west chairs are built into the walls and can’t be moved. There is a limited number of moveable chairs beyond that, and the side liners sit in pews. The lesser lights can’t move as they are electric so the altar would need to stay in the middle.
Yes, all of these things can be accommodated for, but our lodge room is actually a pretty nice size. Not too big, not too small. Easiest thing to do would be to just have the brothers on the sideline move east of the JW, and the SW move up towards the altar. The JD can sit on the sideline just west of the JW. Also, the acoustics in our lodge room are pretty decent, and as long as you project your voice like a big boy, you can communicate quite well to all the stations. The only person screwed is the Tyler, but he can tyle from inside the outer door next to the JD. Thus, you’ve basically cut the lodge room down to 1/4th its size.
"Easiest thing to do would be to just have the brothers on the sideline move east of the JW, and the SW move up towards the altar. The JD can sit on the sideline just west of the JW." Yes, this is essentially what WB Franklyn did during his term as Master of Centralia Lodge.
"...and as long as you project your voice like a big boy, you can communicate quite well to all the stations." That's part of it, but many of our Lodges have members who are still pretty hard of hearing, so this is a key reason why WB Franklyn shrank Centralia Lodge during his term as well. Centralia's Lodge room is pretty big, and it echoes a lot (We're working on that.) So even if your voice was strong, the echoing made it hard to understand.
"Shrink The Lodge", which I've had suggested we change to "Let's Meet On The Level", becaue the WM, JW and SW step down to level of the Lodge room, was born at Myrtle #108 and has since been exported to Lodges all across this country. I think it was four years ago that the Grand Master of Romania came to our Lodge, so the idea may have traveled out of the USA.
The concept is simple, and yet its impact is profound. No one comes to Lodge to hear the the minutes and a motion to pay the bills, followed by a largely pointless hour of a pointificating on some subject no one will remember in 24 hours.
Rather, we find a topic ( two is always better in case one falls flat ) on which to discuess how we apply Masonry in and to our daily lives. The topic will always drift off course, which is perfectly fine becaue the real reason for Meeting On The Level is so that we can be close enough to one another to actually see one another and to meet is men trying to be better Masons, better husband, better fathers and better men.
Here are a few topics we've discussed;
As a man and a Mason, how are you different today then on the day you became a Mason?
Kipling is one of my favorite writers, and so we listened to his "Gunga Din" and reflected on the Masonic application ( Kipling was a Mason )of that poem. There were Masons who had military combat experience in the room that evening, and who were brought to tears by that poem and our discussion.
Another Kipling poem we read was "Mother Lodge", and prompted men to reflect on their Masonic travels, some of which were in foreighn lands.
Masonry has meaning and application in our daily lives. As we find that meaning, so too we bring alive the value and brotherhood of our Craft.
Having attended a Myrtle on the level conversation, I have to say that it was one of the finest Masonic meetings I've ever attended. I returned home and started telling everyone who would listen about it.
What I'm not sure of, to this day, though, is if it was the physical shrinking of the Lodge that made the discussion so great, or if it was your skills as moderator of the discussion. You my Brother have an amazing skill at getting men to open up and discuss what is important in their lives.
I salute you, and Myrtle Lodge for it.
Thank you, MW. I think it's a careful consideration of the topic and an enviorment where we can truely meet on the level.
We have gone off session and pulled the chairs in for education. It's been an off and on way of doing our education. It did come into play well when we tried a hybrid session with Zoom for our discussion.
The first time we did this your predecessor was JGW and was visiting our Lodge.
These work well if they are discussions, but they fall flat if they become lectures, or if they become a platform for one person to speak.
During my term as Master of Centralia Lodge we shrunk the Lodge at every meeting from beginning to end. We moved the Senior Warden's Station with a chair and his podium on top of the Blazing Star in the center of the Lodge, the altar was moved halfway between his new station placement and the East. The Junior Warden sat on the sideline bench with his podium in front of him. The Junior Deacon rapped on his chair and opened an "invisible door" to deliver his lines to an invisible Tyler (Casper). I think it made for better quality meetings and after the first couple meetings the members felt quite comfortable with this arrangement.
in contrast, I have for sometime thought that we should make something much larger. The Investigative form to me is quite inadequate to properly vet those who we let in the West gate. I have been to 3 installations so far this year and to me a form which includes the 15 charges the Worshipful Master must agree to before being installed could be easily be made into a form with several lines for the perspective candidate's response which should be more than yes or no responses. This I think would serve our Fraternity well. These charges contain nothing esoteric as they are heard by non Masonic guests at an open installation.
I suggest this as I have heard several Past Masters tell me that they didn't know that no new Lodge could be formed without permission from the Grand Master or his Deputy (Charge number 13) I was astonished to hear this.
Should I preside over the next Little Falls Lodge meeting, the 15 charges will be taken one by one with a discussion of each. We meet on the 4th Friday at 7:30pm with a fellowship meal at 6:30 at the Centralia Lodge. I would welcome visitors to share their thoughts on this topic. I will open Lodge on the First Degree so EAs and FCs can join in.
"I suggest this as I have heard several Past Masters tell me that they didn't know that no new Lodge could be formed without permission from the Grand Master or his Deputy (Charge number 13) I was astonished to hear this."
This goes back to an earlier thread about the "Bench," and Brothers who memorize the work, vs. reading it. Event through 25 years, I've heard ritual that was horribly read, as well as well-read. Same thing applies to the memorized work. I've heard Brothers who knew the work well, but barreled through it as if there was a time limit on the ceremony. In these cases, I'm not surprised if the installed Master missed half of what the Installing Master had asked him. I was lucky to hear pretty good installations 30 years ago, when I was a visiting teenager, I was impressed by VWB Dick Nyholm's cadence at which he delivered these 15 Charges, as well as marveling at his ability to memorize all that work. The cadence made them sink in better.
This addresses your second paragraph; as your predecessor as WM of Centralia Lodge, I also liked the Round Robin idea, although my subject source was different. My topics were based on things I still didn't know or understand. As you recall (and I thank you for your assistance,) that's why I had the women's groups come to visit our Lodge for presentations. I'm a member of the OES, but not the others, so it was a learning experience for me, and I'm sure, for the others as well. So I made my third year in the East one as a student of sorts, as well as administrator of the Lodge.
The east and west chairs are built into the walls and can’t be moved. There is a limited number of moveable chairs beyond that, and the side liners sit in pews. The lesser lights can’t move as they are electric so the altar would need to stay in the middle.
Yes, all of these things can be accommodated for, but our lodge room is actually a pretty nice size. Not too big, not too small. Easiest thing to do would be to just have the brothers on the sideline move east of the JW, and the SW move up towards the altar. The JD can sit on the sideline just west of the JW. Also, the acoustics in our lodge room are pretty decent, and as long as you project your voice like a big boy, you can communicate quite well to all the stations. The only person screwed is the Tyler, but he can tyle from inside the outer door next to the JD. Thus, you’ve basically cut the lodge room down to 1/4th its size.
"Easiest thing to do would be to just have the brothers on the sideline move east of the JW, and the SW move up towards the altar. The JD can sit on the sideline just west of the JW." Yes, this is essentially what WB Franklyn did during his term as Master of Centralia Lodge.
"...and as long as you project your voice like a big boy, you can communicate quite well to all the stations." That's part of it, but many of our Lodges have members who are still pretty hard of hearing, so this is a key reason why WB Franklyn shrank Centralia Lodge during his term as well. Centralia's Lodge room is pretty big, and it echoes a lot (We're working on that.) So even if your voice was strong, the echoing made it hard to understand.
sorry, i was referring mainly to my home lodge in Port Orchard. More thinking out loud how we could adapt as suggested by MW Cameron.
No, it sounds great! I was just expounding on it.
I would agree that Port Orchard Lodge is an awesome Lodge.