The Tao of Masonry

The number 300 now being associated with half-naked, well-muscled Spartans, I didn’t want to confuse anybody with the approximate number of  Masons who attended the Grand Lodge semi-annual communication in mid-October of this year. Last year I complained a bit about the people who come to these meetings and then leave as soon as possible, so I’m not going to revisit that topic. I was, however, pleased to see that all of the lodges were represented, with only one exception — a marked improvement over the last few years. It might be cynical of me to mention that some lodges may have been motivated this year by one of the items to be voted on: the increase in a monetary fine to those lodges that fail to send any representation from $25 (barely the cast of gasoline and lunch) to $250.

I got there about a half hour before the session started, got a coffee (no donut, thanks), and chatted with people I hadn’t seen in a while. When I finally went inside the main room to find a seat, I discovered that the Deputy Grand Master had gone to the hospital the previous night for chest pains (at this point, it seems that he’s fine), and would not be attending. The rest of the officers were in a mild panic because they would have to move up a chair in order to open the Grand Lodge session.  Why is this a problem? Because the nine members come from different lodges, and most of those lodges have peculiar traditions and customs. Since Grand Lodge officers don’t have any rehearsals (ahem), it’s not unusual for somebody to miss a cue. And even for those officers who are familiar with what passes for standard Connecticut ritual, it might have been years since one of them actually sat in that respective chair in a Blue Lodge. What with the rituals for York Rite, Scottish Rite, Eastern Star, Rainbow, the Shrine, etc., in our heads,  it’s a wonder that half the Masons remember as well as they do.

During the break, I twittered “Who certifies Grand Lodges officers, anyway?” This is a reference to my one actual duty as a District Grand Lecturer (as opposed to those duties which I’ve made up for myself), that being to watch a potential Master properly go through the ceremony for opening and closing a lodge.  I meant it to be funny, but after the session when people got home, some of them commented about this  on my Facebook page. Soon, it became  a (yet another!) discussion about the perception that Grand Lodge is perhaps out of touch with what the real needs are in the lodges.

Comments about the ritualistic slip-ups were good natured ribbing, however, one brother brought up some good points on the relatively new practice we have of setting standards (and giving out certifications) for anyone aspiring to be the Master of a lodge.

Brother Frank expressed the general frustration that I’ve heard from others around the state.

“There’s so much emphasis on getting these little certifications these days. Does anyone actually look at a Warden and evaluate whether or not he’d actually BE a decent WM? No. But if he’s good at ritual, and can regurgitate the stuff on the little tests, then he gets the nod of approval. Granted, you need to be a decent ritualist, but that’s only 25% at best of what the job is.”

And he’s right, of course. Being able to memorize a few paragraphs of ritual doesn’t make you qualified to run a lodge. Neither, in fact, does your attendance at a couple of half-day seminars, nor your ability to memorize the various rules and regulations that the Grand Lodge has codified.
Frank sums this up nicely:

“[Grand Lodge] is overly concerned with certifications these days and not concerned enough about whether the Master is making lodge … Read More ENGAGING for this great crop of new Masons we have coming in. We should be concentrating on giving these new guys a great sense of fraternity, and in many lodges that is missing. Passing the WM certification does not guarantee that a WM can LEAD a lodge — and LEADERSHIP is the key.”

Ironically, the Grand Lodge would agree. That’s why in the last couple of years, we have changed the format of our officers seminars from serial lectures to mini-team building exercises. Aspiring Masters and Wardens are arranged in small groups and mentored through various tasks. The exercises are not arbitrary; all of them are based on developing the kinds of programs that have been shown to work well in lodges. Even better, each officer has a chance to talk to the others in his group about possible issues he might face in implementing such programs in his own lodge, and to get input from those in different circumstances.

Does even this type of education guarantee that someone will be a good Master? Of course not. But it’s a step in the right direction, because it makes potential Masters aware that there are various ways to approach developing a program for their year.

Who’s Certifiable?
Well, for starters, Eric and Ryan

On Sunday, August 12th, the Friendship Lodge officers set aside the afternoon to take a shot at testing their proficiency as Worshipful Master. “Proficiency” in Connecticut is actually very simple; unlike some other US states in which entire passages of ritual need to be recited and judged for exactness and conformity to some standard, we only ask for five things.

- Open the lodge in full form
- Receive a Masonic dignitary (A District Deputy or Grand Master, for example)
- Go to refreshment (some people refer to this as “calling off”)
- Come back to labor
- Close the lodge in full form

Having talked to people from other jurisdictions, I’m almost embarrassed at how little we require of our officers, both in the way of ritual proficiency and proficiency in the bylaws and regulations of the their lodge and Grand Lodge. While I agree that we are all volunteers, and have limited time in which to memorize ritual and to study obscure bylaws, the fact remains that in volunteering for the job, we gave an implied promise that we would do everything possible to be up to the task at hand. If all you need to do is know how to open and close a lodge, and to remember, or at least know where to look up an appropriate rule, then complaints about a lack of time begin to smack of a lack of effort.

But that’s a rant that I’m going to save for another day. Right now I’d like to introduce you to Eric and Ryan.

Eric is the Junior Warden at Friendship, and he’s been at my right hand ever since he joined the lodge. I escorted him around the lodge when he was an EA (not an easy job – Eric is easily six feet, and at the time was of a rather husky build), and when I went into the South, asked him to be my Senior Steward. Despite the fact that he could barely boil water, Eric toughed it out and proved himself to be dependable and conscientious. He stayed at my right hand to become the Junior Deacon, and then Senior Deacon when I was Master last year. Eric is now the Chairman of the Friendship Lodge Website Committee, and requested that I be on that committee – probably so he now has the opportunity to boss me around count on my support.

Being the most senior officer, Eric was on trial first. I explained that while it might not seem fair, that I was going to hold him to a higher standard for ritual than I might otherwise do for someone else. Friendship has a well-deserved reputation for good ritual work – not for just memorizing the words, but for good delivery; we believe that the candidates should have the best degree possible, and sometimes that means not just dead-on memorization, but a “drama show” that emphasizes the points.

I hope it goes without saying that Eric did an exemplary job, and that we can all be proud of him.

Ryan was a member before I joined; a former DeMolay with a head for memorizing ritual, I didn’t see him much for the first couple of years while he was in college, but after school he joined the officer’s line – not a surprise because he was very active in the Marcus Holcomb DeMolay chapter that is sponsored by our lodge.

Back in November, Ryan was the Senior Steward that jumped into the Senior Warden’s chair for that meeting when all the top officers were missing. He did miss one line in the opening then, but he did a great job in the East; better, in fact, than some twice-termed Masters that I’ve seen.

Naturally, I’m proud of both Eric and Ryan, but I also want to give props to Kevin and Kyle. Kevin is the Senior Steward, and Kyle (Eric’s actual brother) is the Junior Steward. Both of them made an attempt to open and close a lodge, and considering the short amount of time that they have been officers, I think that they really deserve some kind of honorable mention. Both needed prompting, but both of them were able to get through the ritual. They had the words in their minds, they just needed some help getting them in order. My guess is that next year they’d be able to qualify.

I did, however, want to mention one more thing. Although Eric, Ryan, Keven and Kyle are all young enough to be my sons, I try to always think of them (and I hope I’ve succeeded) as brothers. I’ve seen Eric go from a nervous, hesitant young man to being more self-confident, and more willing to take on leadership tasks. In the last few years, I’ve seen Ryan graduate college, look for jobs in his academic field, get married, and more recently, have a baby. I’ve known Kevin since he was a young teenager, and I’ve now had the opportunity to see him become more mature and become more active in the lodge. Kyle, the youngest of this group, has always distinguished himself as being ready, willing and able to pitch in whenever there was work to be done.

Why do I mention this in a post about Ritual Certification?

There is much more to running a successful lodge than being proficient in ritual, as I discovered first-hand last year. The Master of a lodge must be able to depend upon his officers for help, but too often I hear of Masters who do not call upon some of the younger lodge members, except, maybe, to help move something heavy. I think that this is a mistake on their part. Good officers – good Masters – are made not just from moving stones in the quarry, but from being shown where to place them. Too often, younger members are not given tasks that carry a lot of responsibility or visibility. They are overlooked so that more experienced members can run a program or plan an event. Let’s not forget, however, that experience comes from being given such responsibilities. New members, especially younger members, do not want to join an organization in which they’re expected to stand aside – many of them probably get enough of that at work.

Good Masters will understand that it’s part of their job to help develop the younger officers so that they can become good Masters one day. Sit with them. Get their ideas. Let them come up with a program and run with it, even if you’re not crazy about it yourself. The worst that could happen is that it might not come off perfectly (and what does?), but the best thing that could happen is that you’ll all be able to sit down and process the event, and that they can learn from it.

As a Worshipful Master, it’s your year. But that doesn’t mean that the year is all about you.

Tao of Masonry | Freemasonry | Masonry

“So Tom, it’s been a month since you went over to the dark side. What have you been doing with your purple apron, besides bullying lodges into giving you free meals and undeserved attention?”

Good question. Since I cut out dairy and wheat, I can’t even extort a free meal; so it looks like I’ve got to come up with a plan to make it look like I’m doing something constructive with all this power.

Actually, I’ve been busy this past month. I think that it’s important that I get out to all of the lodges in my district ASAP, if only to introduce myself and let the members know who I am and what kinds of resources are available. So far I’ve been to half of the eight lodges in my district, and I met up with the WM of another at a recent function.

But the life of a District Grand Lecturer is a lonely and frustrating one; the WMs of two different lodges have overlooked me when making introductions – one of them when I was sitting right between two Past District Deputies. Both apologized for the oversight, and fortunately my feathers aren’t so easily ruffled.

Hopefully they’ll both be prepared for the surprise inspection next month…

Seriously, the problem is that the DGL position is so new. We Masons tend to memorize things according to the rote method, and once certain pathways are laid down in our brains, we’re on autopilot. How many of us have heard our opening ceremony done by an officer that always recites things a certain way, no matter how many times he’s corrected? It’s because he learned it a certain way and just can’t get out of that ritual rut. Similarly, in Connecticut we quickly learn to watch for the purple aprons and to recognize the DDs and Past DDs, and to hopefully remember the Associate Grand Marshals. That done, it’s on to business.

But I’m I’ve made it clear that I do not want to sit on the sidelines with a checklist, so I’ve been offering my services to assist with degree work; specifically to go to rehearsals in order to help the younger officers with ritual and floor work, and if necessary, offer up some tips for floorwork. One lodge took me up on it immediately; unfortunately I’m going to be at another meeting on the night they have their EA degree, so I won’t be there to cheer them on.

I have been asked, though, to take part in several degrees. While I’m happy to show off to assist in degree work, I’m trying to get across the point that lodges need to develop their own resources, either within the ranks of members and Past Masters, or from among other lodges. In fact, when I can work out the details I’m going to present this at the next District meeting. I have an idea that some people could commit to being the “Plan B” for certain parts, available on short notice in case an officer can’t be at the degree. I have to admit that I got this idea while watching the movie version of “Farenheit 451;” at the end of the movie we learn that a number of people have read books and manage to keep the entire contents in their heads, and they travel around and recite them for others.

A couple of weeks ago, Friendship Lodge had an MM degree that was presented by the Caledonian degree team. You could probably guess from the name that this is a group of Scottish enthusiasts, and indeed, they showed up in full dress kilts… with a bagpiper. I’ve seen them in the past, and it’s a rare treat. I got to the meeting a bit late, so the officers were upstairs while the degree team was getting ready. As it happened, the team leader is an old neighbor, so instead of hurrying upstairs, I stopped to renew the acquaintance. While we were chatting, someone else mentioned that the Junior Steward was a no-show, and somehow I ended up pressed into service.

Can you imagine any other circumstance in which my wearing a skirt would not be conspicuous?

Unfortunately, they had no spare kilts – a shame, too, because it was warm. So, no, I still don’t know what’s worn under a Scotsman’s kilt.

The degree team has a little choreographed entrance and exit routine. I tried to follow along, I really did. I think that I got about 3/4 of it right, too. Unfortunately, it was those few mis-steps during the exit that will probably always call into question the wisdom of putting me in charge of any ritual.

I sure hope that those brothers are out of their casts by now.

Tao of Masonry | Freemasonry | Masonry