It is this time of year when I stop and take notice of a certain change in the atmosphere around me.  When I accidentally cut off a stranger on the road I do not get back the raised fist or digital sign language of contempt.  No blaring horns, no verbalizing scorn with four letter words, no cold shoulder darken my path. Instead I am greeted with a smile and best wishes by perfect strangers; women open doors for me and even dogs wag their tail at my presence.

It’s Christmas and the spirit of the holiday has taken hold of most homo sapiens.

Chris Thomas in an article titled, ORIGINS OF THE CHRISTMAS SPIRIT, Having A Real Spirit of Christmas Throughout The Year, quotes Thomas S. Monson:

“Giving, not getting, brings to full bloom the Christmas spirit. Enemies are forgiven, friends remembered, and God obeyed. The spirit of Christmas illuminates the picture window of the soul, and we look out upon the world’s busy life and become more interested in people than things.”

Thomas goes on to say:

“Having such a spirit doesn’t have to be something that is seen or noticed by everyone. It can be as simple as continuing with one’s work while the teacher’s not in the room or conducting oneself at work as if they were being watched, even while the boss is away.”

“Philippians chapter 2, verses 3-5 state, ‘Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too.’

“Note that these verses don’t encourage one to belittle themselves but rather to recognize the worth of others as well as oneself. The spirit of Christmas truly involves being a character with integrity, one that is selfless and humble and above all, loves.”

Our Daily Bread, describes the Christmas Spirit this way:

J. I. Packer goes to the heart of this matter in his book Knowing God. He writes, “We talk glibly of the Christmas spirit, rarely meaning more by this than sentimental jollity . . . . It ought to mean the reproducing in human lives of the [temperament] of Him who for our sakes became poor, . . . the spirit of those who, like their Master, live their whole lives on the principle of making themselves poor—spending and being spent—to enrich their fellowmen, giving time, thought, care, and concern to do good to others . . . in whatever way there seems need.”

These descriptions, this Christmas Spirit are how a Mason governs himself 365 days a year.  Oh there are a few bad apples in the pile, I guess.  But by and large a Mason is or strives to be honest, kind, giving, patient, understanding, tolerant, patriotic, gentle, forgiving and charitable.  These are attributes which puts a Mason in a year round Christmas Spirit.

I am often asked what effect does becoming a Mason have on the individual. And my answer is that one becomes a new person, with a new outlook on life.  Masonry is a way of life but that way of life is not limited to a certain time of year.  That is really what it means to become a Mason.

When you enter that door for the first time you are in darkness, seeking light.  When you have found light you have started your rebirth into the world of constant learning and constant striving to polish that rough ashlar. Freemasonry is a journey not a destination but it is the process of performing a new way of life that makes a man a Mason.

Remember that spirit that followed immediately after 9/11?  We were all one, united in one purpose, one spirit, one common bond.

From my home state of Massachusetts, The Gloucester Daily Times put it this way:

“There was a true spirit of camaraderie, a sense that we were all in this together, all on the same side, from our own neighborhoods, throughout our local communities, and across the country”

But then the newspaper goes on to lament:

“Sadly, that spirit has long since been lost over the last seven years; in fact, it was lost within a few months after the attacks. Unfortunately, we now seem as divided — politically, economically and ideologically — as we have even been. And that’s not only on the national level.”

Outside the Craft, the spirit is short lived.  It is there after some national traumatic event; it is there at Christmas time but it soon fades and soon we are back to a dog eat dog world.  Not so with a Mason. His world is Christmas time year round.

So let us salute the peace, harmony and tolerance that Masons throughout the world contribute to their world and everybody else’s world.

AND A HO, HO, HO TO Y’ALL!

The original Moses Dickson piece originally published at the National Heritage Museum’s blog. The National Heritage Museum is an American history museum founded and supported by 32° Scottish Rite Freemasons in the Northern Masonic Jurisdiction of the United States of America.

Pictured here is Moses Dickson, from the frontispiece illustration of the 1879 book A Manual of the Knights of Tabor and Daughters of the Tabernacle. In 1872, the Rev. Moses Dickson founded the International Order of Twelve of Knights and Daughters of Tabor, an African-American fraternal order focused on benevolence and financial programs. Dickson was born a free man in Cincinnati in 1824, was a Union soldier during the Civil War, and afterwards became a prominent clergyman in the African Methodist Episcopal Church. Dickson showed an interest in progressive fraternal organizations early on – in 1846 Dickson, with others, founded a society known as the Knights of Liberty, whose objective was to overthrow slavery; the group did not get beyond the organizing stages. Dickson was also involved in Freemasonry – he was the second Grand Master of the Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Missouri.

Dickson’s International Order of Twelve of Knights and Daughters of Tabor – or Order of Twelve, as it’s more commonly know – accepted men and women on equal terms. Men and women met together in higher level groups and in the governance of the organization, although at the local level they met separately – the men in “temples” and the women in “tabernacles” (akin to “lodges” in Freemasonry). The Order of Twelve was most prominent in the South and the lower Midwest. The major benefits to members – similar to many fraternal orders of the time – was a burial policy and weekly cash payments for the sick.

What many people today remember about the Order of Twelve is an institution founded in Mound Bayou, Misssissippi in 1942 – the Taborian Hospital. Michael Premo, a Story Corps facilitator, posted his appreciation for the impact that the Taborian Hospital had on the lives of African-Americans living in the Mississippi Delta from the 1940s-1960s. The Taborian Hospital was on the Mississippi Heritage Trust’s 10 Most Endangered List of 2000, and an update to that list indicates that the hospital still stands vacant and seeks funding for renovation. Here are some photos of the Taborian Hospital today.

Want to learn more about the Order of Twelve? Here are a few primary and secondary sources that we have here in our collection (with primary sources listed first):

Dickson, Moses. A Manual of the Knights of Tabor and Daughters of the Tabernacle, including the Ceremonies of the Order, Constitutions, Installations, Dedications, and Funerals, with Forms, and the Taborian Drill and Tactics. St. Louis, Mo. : G. I. Jones [printer], 1879.
Call number: RARE HS 2259 .T3 D5 1879

—-. Ritual of Taborian Knighthood, including : the Uniform Rank. St. Louis, Mo. : A. R. Fleming & Co., printers, 1889.
Call number: RARE HS 2230 .T3 D5 1889

Beito, David. From Mutual Aid to the Welfare State: Fraternal Societies and Social services, 1890-1967. Chapel Hill, N.C. : University of North Carolina Press, 2000.
Call number: 44 .B423 2000

Skocpol, Theda, Ariane Liazos, Marshall Ganz. What a Mighty Power We Can Be : African American Fraternal Groups and the Struggle for Racial Equality. Princeton : Princeton University Press, 2006.
Call number: 90 .S616 2006 (1)

(1)  From The National Heritage Museum –   http://nationalheritagemuseum.typepad.com/library_and_archives/2008/05/moses-dickson-a.html

SOME ADDITIONAL INTERESTING INFORMATION ABOUT MOSES DICKSON

Moses Dickson, prior to the Civil War was a traveling barber.  Later he became an AME minister and was known as Father Dickson.

He was one of the Founders of the Lincoln Institute, now Lincoln University in Jefferson City, Missouri.

In 1879 along with others such as James Milton turner, John Wheeler and John Turner he helped create the Committee of Twenty Five, organized to set up temporary housing for the more than 10,000 travelers who passed through St. Louis each year.

He was President of the Refugee Relief Board in St. Louis which helped to shelter and feed 16,000 former slaves who relocated to Kansas.

Moses Dickson was the first Grand Lecturer of the Most Worhipful Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Missouri upon its foundation in 1865.  He was the second Grand Master of this Grand Lodge and the Grand Secretary in 1869.

In 1876 Companion Moses Dickson was elected Deputy Grand High Priest of the Grand Chapter of Holy Royal Arch Masons of Missouri and Jurisdiction.

Moses Dickson wrote the Ritual of Heroines of Jericho penning the “Master Mason’s Daughter,” the “True Kinsman,” and “Heroines of Jericho” degrees. It was sold and distributed by the Moses Dickson Regalia and Supply Co., Kansas City, Missouri and entered into the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. in the year 1895.

The Knights of Liberty was organized by 12 Black Men in secret in August, 1846 in St. Louis, Missouri.  They were also known as the Knights of Tabor or the International Order of Twelve. Tabor is a Biblical mountain in Israel where the Israelites won a big victory over the Canaanites.

Moses Dickson was a leader of the Underground Railroad.  He and 47,000 other Knights enlisted in the Union Army as soon as Linclon authorized Black men to sign up.

Disbanded by the Civil War many of the Knights of Liberty reformed after the War was over into a benevolent fraternal society named the International Order of the Twelve Knights and Daughters of Tabor. Moses Dickson authored “International Order of Twelve 333 of Knights and Daughters of Tabor,” a book outlining the Constitution, Rules and Regulations of the Temples of the Uniform Rank of Tabor and Taborian Division.

Moses Dickson died on November 28, 1901. A truly remarkable man!

The building is 245 feet long and 50 feet wide.  The wing housing the library is 113 feet deep at its west end.  The building was built in 1955 at a cost of slightly over a million dollars replacing the one on the same site that was built in 1884. The exterior is Vermont Marble with gray marble from Carthage, Missouri on its inside walls.  All the metal work used in the construction of window frames, door frames and stair rails is composed of bronze. The building is adorned by many stained glass windows.

It is not a church, a city or college library nor any part of a university.  Neither is it an exposition hall, a function hall nor a restaurant.  It is the Grand Lodge of Iowa building with its Masonic Library taking up a good portion of the building. Over its front door are human figures etched in the marble with these words:

Behold The Lord Stood Upon A Wall Made By a Plumbline

With A Plumbline In His Hand.

And on another of its exterior walls is inscribed:

The Spirit Of Masonry

“Gentle Gracious And Wise, Its Mission Is To Form Mankind

Into A Great Redemptive Brotherhood, A League Of Noble

And free Men Enlisted In The Radiant Enterprise Of Working

Out In Time The Love And will Of the Eternal”

Joseph Fort Newton

It is here in Cedar Rapids, Iowa on one afternoon, taking a few moments out of a business trip, that Past Master Kazar LaGrone of Pride of Mt. Pisgah #135, PHA Texas passes through the portals of this beautiful building to discover some of the treasures inside. And what brings him here specifically is the little known fact that this Mainstream Masonic Library houses Grand Lodge proceedings from many different Prince Hall jurisdictions across the USA that date back into the 1800s and a good sized collection of Prince Hall Books and periodicals.

Grand Master Wilbert M. Curtis of the Most Worshipful Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Texas informed us that Iowa has Texas Prince Hall proceedings from 1876, 77 & 78.

I had the opportunity to talk to Iowa Grand Lodge librarian Bill Krueger on the telephone recently and I asked him how what lead to the Grand Lodge of Iowa’s long association with Prince Hall Masonry and the storing of Prince Hall proceedings from many different PHA Grand Lodges as well as a large Prince Hall esoteric collection.  He could only go back so far in his reply but it was his strong belief that the previous librarian, William R. Crawford’s close personal friendship with Joseph A Walkes, Jr. certainly cemented the development of a long term Prince Hall relationship.  Walkes, you will remember, was the founder of the Phylaxis Society and a prolific Masonic author in his own right.

Brother Alton Roundtree, editor of the Prince Hall Masonic Digest and a Fellow of the Phylaxis Society himself had this to say about the resources of the Iowa Masonic Library which he calls a research Mecca.

“The Iowa Masonic Library played a major role in writing “Out of the Shadows.” Seemingly, all needed materials (proceedings, books, periodicals, and collections) are in the Iowa Masonic Library.  The Library collection of proceedings pertaining to Negro or Colored Grand Lodges (today’s PH Grand Lodges) and information concerning allied and appendant bodies were imperative in the research effort.  I could not have written Chapter Four (National Grand Lodge) without visiting the Iowa Masonic Library. Five trips were made to the Library over a period of three years.  Two of the trips were for one week. One cannot talk about visiting the Iowa Masonic Library primarily to review Prince Hall Grand Lodge proceedings without telling the truth about the lack of a central repository of proceedings and other documents pertaining to Prince Hall Freemasonry.”

But the Iowa Masonic Library is not all about Prince Hall.  It has extensive works of Mainstream Lodge material and a large section of religious writings.  It is reputed to be one of, if not the largest, Masonic Library in the world with over 100,000 volumes. The Library website tells us:

“There are books upon every conceivable phase of Masonry, from the time of the organization of the premier Grand Lodge of England (1717) down through the years to the present. Its history, traditions, symbolism, moral teachings, ritual, jurisprudence, Masonic conditions abroad, anti-Masonic propaganda, histories and proceedings of grand lodges, both foreign and American, including those of many individual lodges which have attained age and prominence.  In addition to these may be found many volumes dealing with the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite, Royal Arch, Council, Knights Templar, and other rites in Masonry, some of them little known to history.”

The Iowa Masonic Library has bound annual proceedings from all Mainstream USA Grand Lodges and most of them are full and complete from each Grand Lodge’s very first Communication.  In addition it has the same for all York Rite and Scottish Rite Bodies. It carries almost every Masonic journal from every English speaking country plus a goodly number of foreign language publications. And it has a large collection of rare books, such as a copy of Franklin’s reprint of Anderson’s Constitutions (1723).

Over the years The Iowa Masonic Library has been gifted or purchased prized private collections.  The first was the Bower Collection which was the largest private Masonic collection of its time. The Grand Lodge of Iowa bought this collection for the paltry sum of $4,000, well below its true value, in 1882.  Later was added The Arthur F. Waite Collection formerly owned by Masonic scholar H.V.B. Voorhies. Waite was a well known English Mason and mystic whose original works are highly prized. Some of these rare books and collections are housed in a temperature controlled “vault room”.

And it isn’t all Library.  The building also contains two museums and a number of special collections.

Past Master LaGrone spent only a few short hours at the Iowa Masonic Library but he was duly impressed and was greeted and received with a very warm reception.  He recounts his visit:

“This past Wednesday while traveling for work in Cedar Rapids I had the opportunity to visit the Iowa Masonic Museum.  It was truly an enjoyable experience as I had the chance to look through an 1958 issue of Ebony Magazine that had a 8 page spread on Prince Hall Masonry.  I looked through an original pamphlet by GM Upton on Negro Masonry dating back to June 15th 1898 as well as Grand lodge proceedings from the state of Mississippi dating back to the early 1900’s.  While there I also had some fairly enlightening conversations with one of the Grand Lodge officers that works at the library (his name escapes me) and the collection of Masonic material and the subject of mutual recognition. “

Upon returning home he brought with him the lovely pictures you see here and a report that has many of us interested in forming a group trip back to this wonderful Library.  He also communicated with Grand Master Curtis about sending copies of some recent Texas Prince Hall proceedings to the Iowa Masonic Library and with his blessing has mailed the same to them.

If you have some serious Masonic research to do, The Iowa Masonic Library should be at the top of your list of research sources.  Make a vacation trip of it and spend the time to take it all in. And if you can’t go at least visit the Grand Lodge of Iowa Masonic Library.

Here reprinted with permission is a piece by PGM Terry Tilton of Minnesota.  It is an article with which I am not totally in agreement.  Some of it I heartily endorse while other parts I do not.

But that is precisely what gives Freemasonry its strength, Brothers of different backgrounds, different experiences, different lifestyles and different views coming together in peace and harmony to learn from one another and bless each other in shared endeavors.

Brother Tilton’s article is powerful, thought provoking and inspirational and needs to be heard.  And so here’s to you Brother Tilton.  Long may the Craft rejoice in your presence!

MORE LESSONS THE CHURCH CAN TEACH MASONRY

I want to begin by expressing my gratitude for being invited to address this bi-annual meeting of the  Iowa Research Lodge No. 2.  Every couple years my family makes a pilgrimage down to Gowerie and Jefferson Iowa for family reunions and like tonight the hospitality and warm reception is outstanding. As many of you know, I hail from the state of Minnesota – the state with the largest per capita Scandinavian population in America. I was delighted  to learn that when some of my native Minnesotans come to live in Iowa they are addressed as Iowegians. (Iowa Norwegians).

Though very politically incorrect I thought I might begin with a short story about some of my northern Scandinavian neighbors.

LARS WAS STAGGERING HOME AFTER A NIGHT IN THE TAVERN. But this night a Lutheran minister saw him and offered to help him get home safely. As they approached the house, Lars asked the minister to step inside for a moment. He explained, “I vant Lena to see who I have been out vith tonight.”

For over 32 years I have been proud to be [associated] with my friends in the Masonic fraternity. For 35 years I have served under appointment in the Minnesota Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church as a pastor to the local church.  I have often commented that the church and the lodge share many similarities.  For example, both are volunteer not-for-profit associations and both acknowledge faith as foundational to their teachings. Both have long histories as significant institutions which have helped shape our society and values. Both are person-centered in their services and outreach.  Both have enjoyed a peculiar place of honor but occasionally disrepute and indignation  in their histories. I think it is equally accepted that the lodge and church no longer shape the character of our nation as in former years. Both are also struggling to find relevance in a post 9-11 world.  And both have found issues of membership and renewed vitality as the most vexing problems to their continued existence.

Here’s a little story that rings all too true in some churches and will serve as an introduction to my talk.

THERE WAS A FEUD BETWEEN THE PASTOR AND CHOIR DIRECTOR of the Hicksville Southern Baptist Church.  It seems the first hint of trouble came when the Pastor preached on “Dedicating Yourselves to Service” and the Choir Director chose to sing: “I Shall Not Be Moved”.

Trying to believe that it was a coincidence, the Pastor put the incident behind him. The next Sunday he preached on “Giving.” Afterwards, the choir squirmed as the director led them in a hymn: “Jesus Paid it All.”

By this time, the Pastor was losing his temper. Sunday morning attendance swelled as the tension between the two built.

A large crowd showed up the next week to hear the sermon on “The Sin of Gossiping”. Would you believe the Choir Director selected the song: “I Love to Tell the Story”?

There was no turning back. The following Sunday the Pastor told the congregation that unless something changed, he was considering a resignation. The entire church gasped when the Choir Director led them in: “Why Not Tonight”?

Truthfully, no one was surprised when the Pastor resigned a week later, explaining that Jesus had led him there and Jesus was leading him away.  The Choir Director could not resist: “What a Friend We Have in Jesus”.

LEARNING FROM THE CHURCH

Tonight I want to share a talk titled  “More Lessons the Church Can Teach Masonry.” The genesis for this title came from a presentation I made at the 59^th Annual Midwest Masonic Education Conference held this past March in [Omaha.] But there is so much more which can be said about the Church and the Lodge and that is the subject this evening.

Perhaps of all the institutions in America none have been more studied and evaluated as to their effectiveness and program design than the church.  And some truths have emerged which I think can be directly applied to lodge.

For example, it has been known for many years that on average it is seven times more difficult to revitalize a dying church than it is to start a new one. Seven times more effort will be used to find the way forward than to begin over again new.  That seems like a startling statistic but it shows just how difficult institutional revitalization can be.

Or perhaps have you ever wondered why it seems so difficult to find a successful lodge program? The answer comes directly out of studies from the church.  If you put up a  new program each year for four years, statistically there will be only one that is deemed successful – successful being that it will be repeated a second year.  If you know that you realize you have to try more and different ideas before you will find the one that works for you.  And of course the kicker is that it is not possible to predict which one of the four will be successful.

Resistance to change is fundamentally a part of all tradition-bound institutions but I would argue more especially the church and the lodge. Each is struggling with issues of outreach to a younger generation. Each finds the vast majority of its buildings in small cities and rural settings.  Each has an aging population base (at least from a main-line church perspective) and is having extreme difficulty in reaching out to the new population centers in our increasingly more urban society.

I hope that I might point out to you some of the significant findings from the institutional studies of the church in our society and ask the question, “Does this not also help us to understand and demand the attention of the lodge as well?”

CHANGE, CONFLICT AND COMPETITION

I want to being by introducing you to some C-letter words which are necessary to help us understand where we are at today.  The words are: change, conflict, and competition.

“….the natural side effect of change is conflict,” reflected Dr. Robert Sloan as he announced his resignation from the office of president of Baylor University. “We moved quickly and boldly to implement the vision (of a new era for the university) and found that Baylor is not immune to the discomfort and insecurity generated by change.” (January 21, 2005)

The central theme of Dr. Sloan’s reflections could be used by dozens of parish pastors every month as they explain their decision to choose early retirement or resign from the ministry. In my own Annual Conference with over 320 ministers under appointment,  it is one of the reasons that I (at age 58) have only less than one dozen colleagues who have been in ministry longer than myself.[1] Church, 2007, 321-366. Change resulting in conflict could be cited  by any public school superintendent or the chief executive officer of any profit-driven corporation or the chief of police in any large American city or a church denomination executive or a city manager or the spouse who is explaining to his or her parents the shock of an impending divorce. A common consequence of change is conflict!

None of us in the lodge have been immune to the tensions which are caused when change takes place.  The resistence of Lodge Secretaries and Past Masters to change is proverbial. From a macro perspective of change, I am reminded of the gut-wrenching story of the guest speaker at the Annual Philalethes Feast and Forum in Washington D.C. this past February.  Most Worshipful Brother Frank J. Haas, Past Grand Master of West Virginia (2005-2006) was summarily expelled from all the rights and privileges of masonry this last November without trial by the current sitting Grand Master.

What were the changes Most Worshipful Brother Haas brought to the Masons of West Virginia? Essentially they were all clarifications or enlargements to the existing Grand Lodge Constitution to bring it more in line with mainstream masonry. All were overwhelmingly voted into law at the 2006 Annual Communication.  West Virginia masonic law did not allow masonic youth organizations to meet in lodge rooms or lodges to give financial support to these organizations. The Brothers voted to change this. Language was voted in declaring it to be unmasonic conduct to refuse to seat a visitor in lodge if race was a reason.  The brothers voted the option of saying the Pledge of Allegiance at lodge meetings and also allowing handicapped candidates to petition for degrees.  Being the only Grand Lodge in the United States not to recognize the DeMolay, Rainbow Girls or Job’s Daughters;  the only grand lodge which are not members of the Masonic Service Association;  the only grand lodge not belonging  to a regional conference of grand masters; and the only grand lodge to order the Scottish Rite not to perform the Washington/Arnold 20^th degree; the brothers voted to accept all these changes, none of which were precedent-setting among Grand Lodge jurisdictions in the United States. The consequence of change – conflict.  In this case a concerted effort by a few determined Past Grand Masters to go back to the future.[2] Glass© The Philalethes Society, 2008.

DR. LYLE E. SCHALLER, pastor, sociologist and author of more than 60 books on religious life in America, has summarized the theme of what he sees going on in American religious life today in the title of a new book, “From Cooperation to Competition” (Abingdon Press, Nashville, 2006).  He puts into context the changing dynamics of the institution of the church (and I would argue the lodge) in ways which help us to understand what is happening and what responses are most helpful for us to act creatively.  He writes, “A common consequence of change is conflict! But rather than focus on whether that conflict can and should be avoided, a more useful discussion can begin by expanding the subject from these two C-words to four. One common consequence of change is conflict. A second common consequence is change frequently alters the range of choices available to people. When change reduces the range of attractive choices, that may generate feelings of resistance, hostility, alienation, and anger. That is one reason, whenever feasible, to introduce change by adding to the range of attractive choices rather than proposing changes that will reduce the number and variety of choices. Make change by addition, not subtraction.”[3]

In the church, this change by addition, has seen the rapid rise of more non-denominational or independent churches, often tailored to reach out to a younger generation.  The concept of mega-churches did not exist before the 1960’s.  Today there are more than 7,000 churches in the United States which have average worship attendance of over 2,000 and many with over 3,000.  Fully twenty percent of all church members in the United States belong to these churches. Perhaps, no greater conflict over the  number of choices has been brought to the church than that of worship styles – coffeehouse, contemporary, traditional, or blended to name only a few.  And speaking from my own main-line denomination, this range of choices (which my own denomination has found difficult to embrace) has been the reason why the average age of our membership continues to climb, the average worship attendance continues to fall and total membership has continued to decline at a rate of one to two percent each year for the past forty years.  Does that sound a little bit like North American Freemasonry?

And still, overall the average worship attendance in American churches  has been growing each year. Weekend worship attendance in American Protestant congregations sets new records year after year. ….part of the answer is in the 50% increase of population in the US from 1965 to 2005.  And another part has been described as the fourth great religious revival in American history.

This is the trend of larger non-denominational  mega-churches, thousands of new churches reaching out to serve immigrant communities, and the even larger total impact of American religious bodies including the Southern Baptist Convention, the Assemblies of God, the Baptist General Conference, the Evangelical Free Church in America, the Seventh-Day Adventist, the Church of Christ, and scores of other movements, associations, conferences, conventions, and denominations that have opened new churches and multiplied worship opportunities.  “Come and help us pioneer the new” often has more appeal than “Come and help us perpetuate the old.” As Methodists, Lutherans, Presbyterians, Congregationalists and others cut back sharply on organizing new congregations, the resulting vacuum in the ecclesiastical free market was filled by others. Sam Walton and his colleagues invented a new way to do retail trade with younger generations. These non-traditional religious bodies have been inventing new ways to do church in an exceedingly competitive ecclesiastical marketplace. The fourth C-word then is competition and this competition has brought conflict, conflict has brought change, change has increased the number of choices available today.[4]

Though it is my observation that Freemasonry in America is much slower to react to change than the local church, the reality is that we are seeing the nascent pangs of a revival as there has come this increased competition in our Fraternity.  Right Worshipful Brother Tom Jackson, Past Grand Secretary of Pennsylvania and Secretary of the World Conference of Grand Lodges, has stated that the greatest threat he sees to regular mainstream Freemasonry today is the dramatic rise of irregular or clandestine grand lodges. He obviously sees these irregular and clandestine grand lodges as being in direct competition to  historic mainstream masonry.  In the United States today there are more than 200 grand lodges operating outside the regular mainstream and Prince Hall grand lodge system.  Many of these, of course, have been breakaway groups of Prince Hall Freemasonry but increasingly we are seeing attempts to form new grand lodges or groupings of breakaway constituent lodges into new organizations.[5]

Being the Vice-president of the Philalethes Society, America’s oldest premier research and education group, it was with some concern that their came the announcement last May of a new education and research group called The Masonic Society. Their first publication of The Masonic Society magazine just came out last week.   This is a new movement which says it is “interested in education, research, and fostering the intellectual, spiritual and social growth of the modern Masonic fraternity.”[6] I personally know many of the founding members and many already have membership or are Fellows in the Philalethes Society.  Quite frankly many are unhappy with the direction of the Philalethes Society and have decided that they cannot wait for changes to be made.

How are we to react to these developments?  As an officer of The Philalethes Society, a knee-jerk reaction would be to say that they are in competition with mainstream masonry and the historic and venerated  traditional venues of communication.   Is this competition? Does it give more choices?  I think there can be no doubt!  Whether they will be in conflict depends on how we see them.  If we believe they are simply taking resources from an ever shrinking pie then these new groups and programs represent a direct threat to our existence.  On the other hand, if they spur us to be more pro-active, tailor our message to a well-defined audience and encourage us to improve our methods of outreach and communication, they may just be the impetus for change that will bring about renewed vitality.

There is no doubt that changes in the ways our Grand Lodges have responded to the pressures of a different economic and work environments for men in North America have brought dramatic conflict to Masonry.  Even twenty years after of the first mid-west Grand Lodge allowed one-day classes we have not reached a consensus on their value to masonry. It is evident that they are not the panacea to remedying overall membership losses.  But on the on the other hand, survey after survey has shown that these masons are no more likely to demit from the lodge than those brought in by the conventional ritual degree system and some studies have even indicated these “one-day” masons have taken a more active role in leadership.  No doubt, this is because they represent an untapped segment of men in our society who share the values of masonry but were unable to join through our traditional degree programs.

We live in a world of increasing competition.  Just think back to when the discount stores arrived in the 1960’s, they created new competition for the five-and-dime variety stores on Main Street. But when Wal-Mart began to sell clothing, shoes, auto supplies, jewelry, prescription drugs, and groceries, that created a another level of new competition for many other retailers on Main Street as well!

Last year’s Midwest Masonic Education Conference focused on some of the new North American recreations of masonry in the traditional practices or European-style lodge model. Though my initial reaction was to write off this “philosophical” model of masonry as be too narrowly exclusive with its pre-requisite high level of commitment, membership standards and defined size, I am becoming increasingly convinced that it serves an important niche in American Freemasonry. Quite frankly it offers another choice which we can either view as competition to our historic low-commitment membership model of declining  North American Freemasonry or as a catalyst for needed changes, perhaps, being the leavening which will help to leaven the whole North American system.

As the church has learned ever so dramatically the level of competition for the time, attention, energy, money, allegiance, and participation of Americans stands at an all-time high. The level of the quality of our programs must be competitive with the secular world.

THE PLACE OF TECHNOLOGY

In the church one of those areas of competition has increasingly been in the useof technology.  To reach out to a new generation who has grown-up in a mediasaturated environment we must use every means of making a connection.  In many of our churches this has meant massive investments in audio-visual projection equipment, computer-generated graphics and sophisticated sound and light systems.  It has also meant the use of the web in advertising and giving access to a generation who would never consider buying a newspaper or reading a printed book.  Historically, I suppose we could liken this development to the popularity of the Scottish Rite in the late 19^th and early 20^th Centuries whose degrees which were staged in some of the most expensive venues and theatrical trappings –  the media of their day.

I mention this because just the other day I was reminded of the significance of mass communication through the internet in helping us to draw the attention of new members.  Some estimates are that easily half of all new candidates for masonry come to our lodges today through interest and research of our fraternity over their computers.   Here is a typical note from a prospective candidate picked up on the masonic-ed blog.

Thank you so much for getting back to me.  I want to just learn more about the history of the masons. I first got interested in the masons after seeing a show on the History channel. Very interesting, and after seeing that I knew I wanted to be part of something very historical. Then after talking to some masons and after reading the Freemasons for Dummies book  I was even more shocked on the history and the brotherly love and fellowship of the masons. I am so excited about starting my journey.   John[7]

In John’s case it was a two-hour History channel program produced with the cooperation of the Grand Lodge of Washington D.C. that peeked his interest.  When “National Treasure” was released in 2004 the Masonic Information Center and many grand lodges reported a 30% rise in hits by persons seeking more information about Freemasonry.[8] at a meeting in February 2005  I have personally talked to many new brothers who joined Masonry because of this communication tool.

I want to quote an article published in the May 18^th issue of Los Angeles Times titled “Freemasons in midst of popularity, membership boom”

IN LOS FELIZ, across from a 7-Eleven on North Vermont Avenue, a few dozen men in their early 20s to late 80s share a dinner behind closed doors. Some wear full tuxedos with bow ties and jeweled cuff links, some have shoulder-length hair, and others wear open-collared shirts that reveal the slightest filigree of tattoo arching across their chests.

Meet the millennial Masons. As secret societies go, it is one of the oldest and most famous. Its enrollment roster includes Louis Armstrong and Gerald Ford, and it has been depicted in movies such as “The Da Vinci Code” and “National Treasure.”  Once more than 4 million strong (back in the 1950s), it has been in something of a popularity free-fall ever since. Viewed with suspicion as a bastion of antiquated values and forced camaraderie, the Masons have seen membership rolls plummet more than 60% to just 1.5 million in 2006

For a time it looked as if Masonry was going into sharp decline, if not the death throes,”said UCLA history professor Margaret C. Jacob, who has written extensively about the fraternal order. “But it looks like it may be making a comeback.”

That’s because the Freemasons, whose tenets forbid soliciting or recruiting members, have enthusiastically embraced the Internet as a way to leverage curiosity about an organization with its roots in Europe’s medieval stonemasons guilds. Freemasonry today sees itself as a thinking man’s salon, a learned society with a philosophical bent.

“We had a record number of new members last year,” said Allan Casalou, Grand Secretary of the Grand Lodge of California. “We added 2,000 men, which is the most since 1998 and our seventh straight year of membership increases.”

The article goes on to speak about Santa Monica-Palisades Lodge No. 307, one of the youngest and most diverse lodges in the state (the average age of active brothers is just 33). The lodge’s senior deacon, Jim Warren, calls it ” ‘Star Trek’ without the chicks.”  He goes on to say, “We have every possible national origin, ethnicity and religious denomination you could imagine.”

Warren credits the Internet. “We were one of the first lodges in the state to have a website up,” he said. “That led to a huge spike in membership.”

Other lodges followed suit, putting up their own sites and drawing a crowd. That’s how prospective Mason Johnny Royal ended up at the door of Elysian Lodge No. 418 last month.  “My generation wants to be part of something beyond itself,” Royal said. “I want to learn; I want to participate.”

THE INTERNET hasn’t only made it easier to learn about the Freemasons, Casalou says, it’s changed the type of men coming forward.  “There is so much information on the Internet that by the time someone comes to a lodge to seek membership, they already know a lot about Masonry.  Which is a big departure from previous generations. And it means they are more likely to be active participants.”

The article concludes by saying that California’s contingent of Freemasons is expected to grow, as the average age of its members, once 71 is now 65, and is expected to drop.  The Grand Secretary predicts that in ten years the state will be  awash in 55-year-old pre-retirement Masons.[9]

At a recent meeting of the Masonic Information Center in Washington D.C. we discussed the proposed third film by Disney’s Dreamworks Films in the National Treasure series.  Although National Treasure Two: Book of Secrets did not nearly have as much masonic history as the first film interestingly it grossed more income and was seen by more people than the first film.  The Scottish Rite Southern Jurisdiction assisted in some publicity for this second film by opening up the Scottish Rite Temples in six  locations across America for a geocache scavenger hunt promoting the film.  It is anticipated that they will be requesting this help from all the Valleys in the United States this coming year hoping to piggy-back on the geocaching craze among young men and giving them an opportunity to learn  more about Freemasonry by visiting their buildings and talking to the Masons who are sharing the story of our Craft, through its symbols and meanings.

Being more welcoming. Being intentional in your outreach efforts to attract new members. The mainline church, like the lodge, is learned that it is not enough to open the door and expect new members to come in.  Internet, and new media venues, can attract and piggyback on the interests of today’s generation. Programs of education and outreach into the community intentionally seeking persons of color, differing ethnicity,  creed or life-style are basic to any successful program today.

RELATIONSHIPS AND MEASURING SUCCESS

Here is another set of statistics from the church that I believe have a direct bearing on our lodges. In the 1950’s life in America was still organized around functions and respect for authority. Today far greater value is placed on relationships.  For example, in the church we have known that longer pastorates tend to show the greatest growth and stability – longer pastorates being at least ten to twenty years in length verses those of only 2-7 years.

But the pastor cannot do it alone.  The church has had to learn and relearn the importance of personal invitations to build the bridges to get new members.  The most effective inviting-bridges happen between people who already know one another, not between church members and strangers.

If you were to ask the last ten or twenty people who joined your church this question: “Through whom, or by what means, did you first visit our church? What got you on the property for the first time?”  You will discover that in the average church 75 to 90 percent of all new members say they came because someone invited them.

Yet, research indicates that, on the average, only 46 percent of church members say they have invited at least one person to a worship service during the last twelve months.[10]

What would be the average if Masons were asked, “When was the last time you  discussed with someone or invited someone to learn more about Masonry?”  I would propose that this is the single greatest reason we have seen a nearly 50-year decline  in our membership rolls. Every lodge and every Master of his lodge must at least once or twice a year challenge his members to invite and reach out to prospective new members. I do not know any growing lodge who does not utilize this formula.

As a corollary how do we foster those relationships when lodge leadership changes each year?

Here is another interesting statistic. After a quarter century (some will argue no more than 40 years) of meeting in the same address the natural tendency of churches is on taking better care of the current constituency and their children, than on evangelism. In other words if more than one-half of a denomination’s congregations have been meeting in the same building at the same address since before the mid-1960’s, you probably are a numerically shrinking religious body.  Is it feasible for churches to move locations every 25-40 years. Probably not!  So what is the solution?

In Christianity the solution is plant more churches. As difficult as that may be inviting younger generations to help pioneer the new is the only real solution. We have learned that you cannot expect them to be eager to come and help perpetuate the past.

The obvious implication for the masonic lodge is that particularly in those urban and suburban growth communities we need to plant new lodges.  We have forgotten that the  greatest eras of growth in the history of  Freemasonry were also times  when lodges replicated themselves by helping to charter sister lodges.  I predict that when Freemasonry gets back to this model we will then truly see a national resurgence and renewal.

FINALLY I WANT TO ASK, HOW DO YOU MEASURE THE VITALITY OF FREEMASONRY? In masonry as well as the church we measure membership to talk about growth but in the church we have discovered that probably a more useful statistic is average worship attendance.   I find it interesting that in the lodge our annual reports measure number of members, deaths, demits and those stricken from the rolls, the current assets and annual per capita dues, but no where do we measure the average attendance at our lodge meetings. I would like to humbly suggest that the church learned long ago that who is on the rolls is not nearly as important as counting how many show up for worship and participate in the activities during our principle time of gathering which is usually for Sunday worship.   The measure of real growth and vitality in every institution is found in those who act on their commitments, share their time, talent and treasure and experience a sense of worth and well being that helps them make positive contributions to others.  Is this also not one of the foundational principles of our Fraternity?

And so tonight I have suggested to you that in many ways the church and the lodge are really not much different.  As faith-based, volunteer associations dedicated to self-improvement and service they historically have stood side by side in the building of our nation and society.  Today both suffer as whole generations have turned away from the historic values of virtue, integrity, service and commitment. Both have suffered drastic membership and participation declines in this past half-century and both face the daunting task of reaching out to a new generation in ways which attract their loyalty and participation to help these institutions survive.  I believe as Freemasons we do not have to go it alone.  We do not need to invent the wheel. There is much that we can learn from our sister the church.

I have suggested that change, conflict, choice and competition are the operative words in our society today. And I would like to believe that as Freemasons we are approaching the nadir of our membership decline and lodge closings and mergers.  Time will tell if society swings back to us again. But in the meantime we cannot afford to wait for the future to happen to us, we must shape our own future.

As Lyle Shaller so bluntly states in his analysis of the church landscape: “…. the historical record is clear, given the choice between making the changes required to become competitive or gradually fading into obsolescence, the majority of individuals, voluntary associations, religious congregations, profit-driven corporations, and nonprofit institutions find it easier to adjust to obsolescence rather than initiate and implement the required changes.”[11]

Thank you, my brothers and friends, for allowing me be with you tonight.  I think you might agree, surely there are important lessons the church can teach masonry.

Paper Presented By:  The Rev. Terry L. Tilton, PGM-MN 2002-2003, FPS

[1]Official Journal and Yearbook, Minnesota Annual Conference of the United Methodist

[2]Paper by M.W.B. Frank J. Haas, MPS, “Masonry Through the (Rearview) Looking

[3] Lyle Shaller, From Cooperation to Competition, (Abingdon Press, Nashville, 2006) 1.

[4]Lyle Shaller, From Cooperation to Competition, (Abingdon Press, Nashville, 2006) 7.

[5]Paul Bessel, retrieved 04/15/2008  from (All Masonic Grand  Lodges with website links)

[6]Chris Hodapp, an email invitation recovered April 24, 2008.

[7] Recovered from  org on April 21, 2008

[8]Reported by M.W.B. Richard Fletcher, Executive Director, Masonic Information Center,

[9]“Freemasons in midst of popularity, membership boom,” Los Angeles Times, May 18, 2008 story in Lifestyle features.

[10] Herb Miller and Lyle Schaller, Co-editors, THE PARISH PAPER -Ideas and Insights for Active Congregations, “Attracting New People: Are We Building the Bridges?”  July, 2007.

[11]Lyle Shaller, From Cooperation to Competition, (Abingdon Press, Nashville, 2006) 16.