The Worshipful Master’s New Clothes

the emperors new clothsAn updated version of “The Emperor’s New Clothes” by Hans Christian Andersen

Once upon a time there was a Worshipful Master who was so fond of his Lodge that he spent most of his time rehearsing degrees and attending meetings. There was plenty of fun going on in the Lodge where the Master lived. Bills and minutes were read time and again, and the Brethren thrived on hot pasta dishes.

Visitors occasionally visited the Lodge. One day there came two representatives from Grand Lodge. They said they wanted to help the Lodge, but first the Master would have to hold fundraisers for the Grand Master’s charity and support his agenda. The Master found the GL representatives hypnotic, especially when they promised to increase membership, offset the Lodge’s growing financial burdens, and simplify the operation of the Lodge. Not only were their promises unusually attractive, but their programs had the peculiarity of being invisible to anyone who was not fit for his post or who was hopelessly stupid.

“I say! These must be wonderful ideas,” the Master thought. “If they are true, I would have the best Lodge in the jurisdiction. Yes, I must implement these programs all at once.” And he set the Craft to work under the guidance of the GL representatives.

And so it came to pass that the programs were implemented immediately. Spaghetti dinners, pancake breakfasts, and fish fries became the norm. The Lodge dug into their pockets and produced handsome sums of money for the Grand Master’s charity. Lodge delegates attended Grand Lodge functions and followed the party line unquestioningly.

“Well, now, I wonder how everything is going?” the Worshipful Master said to himself. But there was one point that made him feel rather anxious, namely, that a man who was stupid or quite unfit for his post would never be able to see the benefits that had been produced. Not that he, the Master, need have any fears for himself – he was quite confident about that – but all the same, it might be better to send someone else first, to find out how things were going.

“I’ll send my honest old Secretary to check on the results as promised by the Grand Lodge representatives,” the Master thought. “He’s the best one to see what is going on, for he has plenty of sense and experience, and nobody fills his post better than he does.” So off went the honest old Secretary to a meeting with the Grand Lodge representatives who assured him that everything was going well. “Lord, bless my soul!” thought the Secretary, with eyes staring out of his head.

“Why, I can’t see any improvements in the Lodge.” But he was careful not to say so.

The two Grand Lodge representatives begged him to take a closer look – wasn’t the Lodge running just fine? Although the poor old Secretary opened his eyes wider and wider, he couldn’t see a thing, for there wasn’t a thing to see. “Good Lord!” he thought, “Is it possible that I’m stupid? I never suspected that, and not a soul must hear of it.” “Well, what do you think of it?” one of the representatives asked.

“Oh, it’s excellent! Things couldn’t be better!” the old Secretary said, looking through his spectacles. “I shall certainly tell the Worshipful Master how pleased I am with it.”

By and by, the Worshipful Master sent another honest Brother to see how the Lodge was running. The representatives accompanied him on his journey. As they traveled throughout the Lodge, the representatives made sure that the Brother saw only what they wanted him to see. He saw the Craft working on obscure projects, money being collected for the Grand Master’s Charity, and attendance at Grand Lodge workshops. “But our membership is still in decline, apathy among the Brethren is getting worse, and our financial situation is becoming dangerous,” the Brother thought to himself. And then he praised the programs, which he knew were compounding problems for the Lodge. “Yes, it’s quite sophisticated,” he said to the Worshipful Master when he got back.

The splendid programs became the talk of the district. And now the Worshipful Master himself said that he would check into the new programs himself. Quite a throng of select people, including the two honest old Brothers, went with him to where the Grand Lodge representatives were overseeing the programs.

“Look, isn’t it magnificent!” the two honest Brothers said. “What’s this?” the Worshipful Master thought. “I don’t understand a thing – this is appalling! Am I stupid? Am I not fit to be Master? This is the most terrible thing that could happen to me…”

“Oh, it’s quite wonderful,” he said to them. “It has our most gracious approval.” And he gave a satisfied nod. All the courtiers who had come with him looked and looked, but they made no more of it than the rest. Still, they all said just what the Worshipful Master said, and they advised him to discuss the programs for the first time at the next Lodge communications that was to take place shortly.

On the eve of the meeting, the Grand Lodge representatives sat up all night preparing a report for the Worshipful Master to read on the results of the programs.

Then the Worshipful Master went to the communications with the representatives and explained the programs to the Craft. Not wanting to appear unfit for their positions or to seem stupid, they all praised the Worshipful Master for the programs. “Marvelous! Sensational!” they all said. Never had the Worshipful Master’s programs been such a success.

“But you still haven’t solved your problems!” a young Entered Apprentice said. “Our membership is in decline, Brothers are staying away from the Lodge, and our finances are diminishing rapidly. At this rate, we’ll have to close our doors soon.”

“Goodness gracious, do you hear what he is saying?” the Craft whispered from one to the other. Then they all shouted, “But you still haven’t solved our problems!” And the Worshipful Master felt most uncomfortable, for it seemed to him that the Craft was right. But somehow he thought to himself, “I must go through with it now. I have too much invested in it already.” And so he drew himself up still more proudly, while the Grand Lodge representatives chased after him with him with more new ideas, even in spite of the obvious.

Keep the Faith.

Freemasonry From the Edge

Freemasonry From the Edge

by W:.Tim Bryce, PM, MPS
timb001@phmainstreet.com
Palm Harbor, Florida, USA
“A Foot Soldier for Freemasonry”
Originally published in 2008.

NOTE: The opinions expressed in this essay are my own and do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of any Grand Masonic jurisdiction or any other Masonic related body. As with all of my Masonic articles herein, please feel free to reuse them in Masonic publications or re-post them on Masonic web sites (except Florida). When doing so, please add the following:

Article reprinted with permission of the author and www.FreemasonInformation.com

Please forward me a copy of the publication when it is produced.

To receive notices of Tim’s writings, subscribe to his Discussion Group.

Copyright © 2010 by Tim Bryce

vintage sanka ad

Always Been Good Enough – The Emblematical Instant Coffee of Refreshment

vintage sanka adA budget debate in Excelsior Lodge focused on memorial contributions for deceased brethren.  In the jurisdiction, it is customary for Lodges to remit a nominal amount as a memorial contribution to the state-wide Masonic charity, and I may reliably report that since time immemorial, that amount has been ten dollars.  I know this because several brethren of Excelsior Lodge have been Masons since time immemorial ;  one of them – Roy Mantooth —  was even Past-Master of Antediluvian Lodge No. 1, before he transferred, and his membership number, barely visible on his faded dues card, is four.

You read that right: Four.

Mine is 127598.  His is 4.

So the story goes, when they decided they ought to assign membership numbers, Solomon took number one, then Hiram King of Tyre, then the other Hiram, and then Mantooth because he was the one who always filled the coffee pot. With Sanka.   Anyway – so since forever Excelsior Lodge has sent ten dollars as a memorial, until this year’s  sitting master – a dangerous and revolutionary firebrand, not to mention a financial daredevil  – decided to make the contribution twenty-five dollars and chaos ensued.

As discontent is concerned, it was pretty mild, like most things Masonic. No shouting or anything (that’s for The Elks, or worse: The Eagles). No, it was more like watching dandelions taking over your garden, slow, inexorable, and not really noticeable, but you wake up one morning and think,  wow – where’d all those weeds come from?  But like discontent everywhere, it was deeply rooted.

“We need to lower that memorial contribution back down to ten dollars,” Mantooth was saying in his forceful manner, “it’s been ten dollars since I’ve been here and that’s always been good enough in the past.”

Always been good enough in the past.  You run into this sentiment a lot in Masonry.  In fact, I think it’s a Masonic motto: Is est satis pro habenae opus. A few nods from some of the older fellows and Mantooth started gathering more steam, “ I mean, if we were going to send flowers to the funeral – instead of sending a memorial to the Charity – we wouldn’t spend more than ten dollars, anyway…”

To be fair, Mantooth is not a florist, but one of the younger fellows piped up at that, saying  “that would be a pretty lame bunch of flowers for ten bucks,” but  it didn’t register.

And the problem is, it usually doesn’t register, because the divide between the older and younger members is very deep.  We’ve all noticed them in a hundred small ways – the emblematical instant coffee, for example, which, with a plate of day-old snickerdoodles from Albertson’s, is the Alpha and Omega of a typical Masonic fête.  Our meetings are slack, our regalia tattered, and our dress codes are either from 1974, or would shock the staff at the City Rescue Mission, take your pick. But more alarmingly, our lodge halls are crumbling.  In some halls this occurs because the members have fled the instant coffee for the latte house, but in others it comes not from penury but from pure parsimony, and heaven help the master who suggests raising dues.

These are all symptoms of  doing Masonry on the cheap, and its effects are insidious.  It means not paying proper attention to good form because it’s easier not to, and it means that the way things were in the past is not only good enough now, but for the foreseeable future.  This is why members think that flowers still cost ten dollars, that instant coffee is an elixir, and that red Bee Gees jackets present the image of the fraternity that will attract members in the critical 25 – 40 age group.  Because it’s always been good enough; no further analysis required.  If the goal of the fraternity was to rival the AARP in members over 65, we’d be in fine shape.

If not, it’s time to unplug the percolator. Go digital instead of analog.

I don’t pretend knowing how to pry the dead hand of the past off the steering wheel, but a good place to start is your officer line, you incoming masters.  Pack that sucker as full of young brethren as possible, giving yourself a coterie of men who share your priorities and who can withstand the insistence that the old way is the only way. With a young line, you still might have an antediluvian secretary (or treasurer), but with no voting bloc of his own, that’s a majority of one. Too often, the young men are sidelined because they don’t know the work, or because the master wants “seasoned” brethren in line to help him out.  This can be helpful in the short term, but it will defer our younger members assuming the mantle of leadership for as long as it continues.

And if you hate Sanka as much as I do – the sooner you start, the better.

This was originally published under audevidetace

Walking the Walk

euphratesbanner

walk the walkEvery once in a while, I’ll meet someone that asks me “So what is a Freemason?”

Like most Brothers, I want to tell them how great of an organization is, how it is so important in society, and how much it has enlightened me personally, and usually I do. However, sometimes I feel a bit apprehensive about giving give these inquisitors the old Masonic sales pitch: “It’s the world’s largest and oldest fraternity. It is a group of men with good morals that gather to improve themselves through a philosophical education, fellowship with like-minded people, and improve the world through charitable acts.”

Now most of you are probably asking “What’s wrong with that?”

Well…nothing if you are encouraging men to join the fraternity, but there might be something wrong with it if you feel that it is very important to tell the truth. It is easy to use some flowery language and an impressive description to sell the fraternity, but to be truthful about what really goes on within a Masonic lodge can be difficult.

Would you really want to explain to a prospective Mason what really goes on at a typical lodge meeting? Let’s imagine how that conversation would play out.

Inquirer: So what do Masons do?

Mason: Well, we have a couple of lodge meetings a month.

Inquirer: What do you do there?

Mason: We read the minutes of the previous meeting and make any necessary corrections to them. Then we pay the bills, read any correspondence, and vote on any new petitioners. Then we proceed to discuss business for about an hour. Like, last week we were discussing how we were going to put on a spaghetti dinner. Our Junior Warden had it all planned out and then one of the older Past Masters told him how he ought to do it. We also discussed how we might go about making the necessary repairs to the building. Then we closed the lodge and went downstairs to eat some generic-brand cookies and drink some coffee before going home.

Inquirer: I thought you had philosophical education.

Mason: We do when we perform the degrees.

Inquirer: How often does that happen?

Mason: Sometimes once a month. Sometimes we will go several months without doing any degrees.

Inquirer: What about the fellowship you were talking about?

Mason: That’s what the coffee and cookies are.

Inquirer: What about the charity?

Mason: Well, that’s why we’re doing the spaghetti dinner, so that we can raise money in order to write a check to the Grand Lodge’s charity.

Inquirer: That sounds kind of boring.

Mason: Want a petition?

Freemasons view the organization in the proper light, but they don’t always run the organization with that same philosophy. Freemasons need to take all of the great things that they have to say about the fraternity and actually accomplish them in lodge.

We need to walk the walk, not just talk the talk.

At your next lodge meeting, take a chance and walk the walk. If someone talks about the greatness of Masonic charity, stand up and make a motion to go visit a sick Brother or provide some service for a Masonic widow. Read a paper on Masonic teachings and discuss it with your lodge. Go out to dinner with your Brothers and have some real fellowship.

That way, the next time someone asks you “What is Freemasonry?” you can answer them with a clear conscience.

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My Lodge’s Type of Charity

My Lodge, Pride of Mt. Pisgah #135, Dallas, Texas prefers to do its charitable/community outreach with programs that takes them directly to the people to actually perform a service or provide relief in some manner to those in their own community who they can meet face to face.  In other words we are not big on Institutionalized Charity nor do we desire to turn Freemasonry into a Service Club.  As Masons we are called to help those in need if within the length of our cable tow.  But my Lodge wants a direct connect with those who they aid.

Thus we do Thanksgiving and Christmas baskets which we present directly to the people who are receiving them. Our latest venture is involvement in the Keep Dallas Beautiful program sponsored by the City of Dallas, whereby we enter a section or area of the community and clean up, fix & repair and make attractive areas of the community as well as individual private property.  Last Saturday was our second work day in the community which we have now adopted.  Past Master LaGrone explains the program and what we accomplished in more detail.

“On September 26th along with the Keep Dallas Beautiful program the Pride of Mount Pisgah #135 P.H.A. successfully completed phase one for our adopted community, Cedar Oaks.  When I first brought this idea to the lodge to increase our community service and visibility, we unanimously voted to participate in 4 events throughout the year to help communities identified as needing assistance.  We later voted to adopt Cedar Oaks as our own and in the past have picked up trash and last week painted a retaining wall.”

“The Cedar Oaks community was phase one of the pilot program of Keep Dallas Beautiful (KDB).  As KDB is a city funded program, each year the city of Dallas  moves to a new phase and  adopts new communities while  dropping  the communities from the existing year after providing a year of support.  Speaking with W.M. Williams the decision has been made to continue to support Cedar Oaks as a community providing whatever assistance we can within the length of our cable tow. “

“I wanted to thanks all the brothers that have participated and wished to participate as well as our W.M. for his commitment to the community.”

Memo

To: Fran Phillips, President, KDB, Jim Hobbs, KDB

From:     Joy McBeth, Community Projects Manager, VCNT

CC:       Dan Fitzgerald, Chief Financial Officer, VCNT

Shari Hicks, City of Dallas

Date:     September 28, 2009

Re: Pride in Your Neighborhood Cedar Oaks Beautification Event

Event Date: Saturday, September 26, 2009

Event Time: 8am – 12 noon

Total Attendees:           19

KDB Board Members:    1

(External) Volunteers: 7

City Employees:

VCNT Staff: 1

Residents: 10

In-kind donations:       Water, Gatorade

Total Expenses: $17.72

Overview:

The residents of Cedar Oaks and volunteers from the Mt. Pisgah Masons group were involved in a neighborhood beautification project this past weekend.  Mr. Taylor, HOA leader, identified a retaining wall at the entrance of the community on Marsalis Ave. that needed re-painting.   Residents and volunteers painted over graffiti as they gave the wall a fresh coat of paint.

Next Steps:

Cedar Oaks has completed its second beautification event and is now ready to begin the home improvement incentive.  We plan to conduct site visits and begin the work this week.

blunders in the masonic world

Seven Blunders of the Masonic World

blunders in the masonic world

What are the most common blunders that occur in the Masonic lodge?  They might not be as uncommon as you think.

Ritual Without Meaning

Too many times, we are more concerned about performing the ritual perfectly without understanding what it means. I know many men that give great lectures, but will confide that they don’t even know what something means. Ritual for the sake of tradition is worthless. Ritual for the sake of enlightenment is valuable. An understanding of the ritual’s meaning is far more important than just memorizing it.

Fellowship Without Frivolity

Whenever Masons decide to hold a function for fellowship, a discussion typically ensues about how to make the function have the smallest impact on the lodge’s coffers and the wallets of the members. This results in paper plates, meager meals, and boring events. To spend money wisely in order to make fellowship a grand time is wise for the lodge that wants to be successful.

Quantity Without Quality

A lodge with seven great men that believe in the Masonic ideals and actively labor to improve themselves—and therefore the lodge—is far better off than a lodge with one hundred men that show up to lodge just to show up to lodge.

Education Without Philosophy

Many times, we think of Masonic education as being a lesson on the local lodge’s history, a famous Mason, the history of the world wide fraternity, or how to do the ritual properly. But if no philosophy is covered in Masonic education, then little self improvement is accomplished. Discussing Masonic lessons in terms of philosophy, ideas, and a man’s conduct is what truly transforms men into Masons. It is important to discuss topics that are foreign to a lodge’s membership and it is sometimes even necessary to challenge our preconceived ideologies through Masonic education.

Charity Without Connection

Big institutional charities often require that fund raisers be conducted and large checks written to the people that actually perform the charity. This type of charity is devoid of self improvement because it has no real connection. If we extend our hands to our needed Brethren and devote our own skills and time to their problems, then we are engaging in true, meaningful charity.

Frugality Without Discretion

Frugality is not a tenet of Freemasonry, a cardinal virtue, or a Landmark. It is okay for the lodge to spend its funds on worthwhile activities that will enhance the Masonic experience of its Brethren. Not everything should be done in the cheapest way, a habit to which we have become accustomed.

Leadership Without Competence

A man does not deserve to be Master of the lodge solely because he has spent a certain amount of years in the lodge. We elect leaders without any regard for the skills that they possess to function in that capacity. Only competent, qualified men should be elected to preside over the Craft.

Masonic Charity is a myth.

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to participate in a Multiple Sclerosis 5k Walk-A-Thon here in Los Angeles.  My family worked to raise a modest amount of money for the fight against MS and we wanted to walk to show our dedication to the cause.  We walked because we cared.

The event was early with a 9am check in and a 10am start. There were a lot of free bagels, free t-shirts, and participants, a lot of participants.  I thought I overhead the number as 16,000 participating in the regions events and with a column of people nearly a mile long where I stood.  It felt like a big event.

Being amongst such a large group allowed me to make some mental notes and draw parallels to other aspects of my life that I find myself in the company of people of similar ideals.  The event gave me pause to stop and contemplate the awesome power of Masonic Charity.  That in amongst this retinue of walkers, with their team shirts and color coordinated bandanas, that to see a troop of Masonic walkers with a banner in the air to rally the team spirit of the crew and lead the fellowship of the dedicated would be a sight to behold.

But, then I started to think about how asking for charitable contributions in lodge for Non Masonic recipients is against our rules, and that the measure of Masonic charity is in the volume of monies raised to beat another lodge in how much was given to the homes fund.  That the idea of Masonic Charity is the institutional brand of what that charity means… not in what worthy causes we find or believe we should levy our oratory skills to convince others.  That, unless it’s an “official” charity, its not of value to elicit the help of our local lodge.  And, I don’t even know how to approach the changing of the will of the lodge to even contemplate doing something like this.

It started to occur to me that Masonic Charity was a myth.  That we are told to be charitable, and then guided in what works to be Charitable towards, but to leave our specific cause or need at the door so as not to offend the membership in yet another request of money.

Thinking about Masonic charity as a myth started to open up the whole field of Masonic education.  Is it something we were taught or something we do because we are told to?  What was Brotherly Love, Relief, and Truth anyways?  And, in the early morning hours of the Walk with so many others who obviously were expressing their idea of “relief”, what made my Masonic ideal any loftier than theirs?  Obviously they were up, and out, and had raised a sum of money to help fight to relieve the illness of M.S.  Was my conception of “Charity” any better than theirs?  Was it just different?

How do we envision our aspect of Charity?  I can go into the argument of our charity truly being an agape form of loving others rather than the expression (giving) of it, but we measure the giving today not the volume of how much we love.  Is it fair to hold Masonic Charity up to be measured against the temple?

Is Masonic Charity a Myth?