Two Things
From a day of Masonry
Saturday I had a Day of Freemasonry.
In the morning, I drove with a bunch of Masons from my town, about an hour south, to a Fellowcraft Degree in Kelso.
Then some of us, along with some of the Kelso guys, spent the afternoon at my house, enjoying food, drink, and each other’s company.
In the evening we all went to Centralia Lodge, and put on an Entered Apprentice Degree.
Two things happened that I want to relate here. Both, I think, we would do well to contemplate, because both can indicate either a struggling future for our Craft, or a bright future for our Craft.
One of the fellows I traveled to Kelso with (so we had about 2 hours in the car together) is new to Freemasonry. He’s been a Mason for a couple of years. But, he’s an older gentleman. I’d guess in his mid to late 70’s.
He told me that he is probably going to stop coming to Lodge.
He wants to remain a Freemason, but he doesn’t want to actually sit in Lodge anymore.
Because in his view, he receives no meaningful education about Freemasonry in his Lodge. His Lodge has no meaningful discussions about important topics, Masonic topics, philosophical topics, or educational topics.
Rather, in his view, all his Lodge ever talks about is bills, debit cards, event planning, &c. It also spends, in his view, an inordinate amount of time at each meeting trying to fire up Zoom for the one or two guys who want to join in via Zoom. That he isn’t against Zoom, but he’s against Zoom in its present form, because his Lodge won’t invest in the proper technology to use it well, nor set up and test the technology it does have prior to the start of the Stated Meeting, leading to very long delays each meeting.
So, here’s a guy who has been really active in Lodge, and who wants to be really active in Lodge, but is likely to drop out of his Lodge.
I set up the Entered Apprentice Degree that we performed on Saturday evening.
Without trying to sound like a complete ass, one benefit of being a Past Grand Master is that if I’m asked to set up a Degree, it’ll sure as heck be run how I want it to be run.
As a result of that, the Degree was performed with the lights dimmed.
It is my view that Freemasonry is sacred. That Freemasons build sacred space when our Lodges are ritualistically opened. And that our Degrees are the most sacred thing our Lodges do.
And it is my view that dim lighting adds to feelings of sacredness.
So, I dimmed the lights. We had the altar light on, a light behind the East, and dim indirect lighting from overhead.
Brothers complained about the fact that the lights were dim. What they vocally called for was the overhead indirect lighting to be ‘on high’ and the direct overhead lighting to be on as well. They wanted it lit up like a modern office building. And 99% of the time, whenever this Lodge meets, it is lit up like a modern office building.
Despite the vocalized complaints, the lights were kept dim.
But, here’s what I notice from that: Those who wanted the lights to be cranked up as high as they can go were all men who have been Masons for decades and decades. The newer Masons, regardless of their age, are keen to have the lights dim. Keen to try and create feelings of sacredness within the Temple.
The choice is ours, and the choice is sitting there in front of us to make.
We can either give the men joining our Lodges today the high quality, sacred experiences they are seeking; we can give them Legendary Freemasonry. Or we can continue watching as our numbers decline and our Craft slowly dies.
These two little incidents from Saturday illustrate this choice really well in my mind.
I hope we choose wisely.
Here is all of my writing from last week, and some of the very best that Substack has to offer. I hope you enjoy this collection:
A lot to chew on here.
For the brother thinking about quitting attending his lodge due to lack of anything educational, I feel sorry for that brother. Unfortunately, most lodges that I've run across have the same issues, they just don't know it. Master Masons, over time, tend to just...drift away, and for exactly the same reasons. But lodges being run by these old past masters are too stuck in their ways to change. Not only that, but providing masonic education requires effort. Effort to learn, and to share your learning with others. For those past masters, they have no knowledge to pass on, because no one gave them that knowledge to begin with. This is a multi generational issue (masonic generational).
So, how to solve this problem? Well, he could find a different lodge, one that perhaps does offer what he's looking for. I know geographically this might not be a solution.
Or, he could walk away, and he'd continue to not get any education.
Or, lastly, he could take on that burden himself, and explore the vast catalog of masonic writings for wisdom. Listen to the popular and well done podcasts. Join a Lodge of Research. Try his hand at writing his own presentations to share with his lodge (although I'd suspect he'd be verbally beaten down if he tried). Associate with like minded brothers (such as the fine folks here at Emeth) and learn from them, I know I have gained so much just by chatting here.
There are a ton of resources for that brother. He can still walk away, but instead of just giving up, he can get to work, it will certainly pay massive dividends if he tries.
How do Canadian Masonic Lodges confer a Degree? I believe that I went to Degrees where the lights were barely on at all (only required Exit Safety lights and the "candles")?