Some days you don’t even feel like getting out of bed. Saturday, April 27, 2013 was one of those days and while I slept in I didn’t stay in. Oh no, no way. For there was a rooftop raising to go to and I was to be the Chaplain. So with a cold, muscular-skeletal issues, nevertheless, I persevered because this might be a once in a lifetime opportunity.
Arriving early I was able to take pictures as the rooftop space was being set up and in the light of day. We opened Lodge as the sun set and 6 Fellow Crafts were raised to the sublime degree of Master Mason in the night. We had two sidelights and the lighting of the three lesser lights around the altar. That was all.
This whole idea was the brainchild of Worshipful Jerome D. Lacy, Master of Metropolitan Lodge #146, DeSoto, Texas, a Lodge of the Most Worshipful Prince Hall Grand Lodge of Texas. We gathered on the 5th floor rooftop of a building on the side of a hill in Dallas along I35 just south of downtown Dallas. From this vantage point one could see a beautiful view of the core city of Dallas.
The degree was performed by a degree team comprised of Brothers from many of the Lodges of the 11th Masonic District. All 11 Lodges of the district had representatives present to watch this degree. Both the Grand Master and Deputy Grand Master were present to lend their support.
What a sight it was to see 6 Brothers at the altar taking their obligation illuminated just by the three lesser lights and 75 Master Masons on the right and the left. The Master was on the East side of the altar under the wands and the Chaplain on the West side under the wands.
Only a little bit later these 6 Brothers were raised under the canopy of a true starry decked heaven, the one that God made. Afterward we all sat down for a meal under the stars and fellowshipped only as Master Masons can.
The night was a huge success and when anybody asks me about this “Masonic male bonding thing,” I always tell them you got to see it and experience it to believe it. This was one of many great instances where being a Freemason was proved to be something special!
