Blaine C. Clay Lodge # 14

Bros,

     I recently had a difficulty with my family and I wasn’t able to attend the last lodge meeting. I felt torn between my duties to my family and the desire to make the meeting. Fortunately one of my line brothers made it clear that I should stay home and care for my family. There will be other meetings.

     Ok. With that decision made I kicked back and turned on some college football. I got a beer, brand unimportant, and I ordered a pizza. While I was waiting for the pizza I considered the situation at the lodge that night. I knew that fund raising money had been withheld, for whatever reason, and that would be a major situation. I knew that one brother was actively lobbying to start up a class for Masonic instruction. There is the Knights of Pythagoras, fixing up the kitchen, etc…

     As fate would have it, I ran into a WM of another lodge at Pizza Hut. After greeting each other he asked me what I was doing that night. I explained to him that I would have been at meeting but I had a family situation that required my attention. I started talking about these situations and he listened tentatively. When I was done he made one statement. “Ya’ll are probably the richest lodge in the state. Now it’s time to get back to Masonry.” Wow, that’s a powerful statement and so full of truth! It’s time to get back to Masonry.

     As I always say I am a very new traveler compared to most others and I try to expose myself to anything Masonic, whatever it may be. I do a ton of reading and normally I boast about the size of my Masonic library. I have a sizeable amount of info, mostly e-books, and I have read approximately 5% of the books. So when the brother tells me it’s time to get back to masonry, I have to ask what that means.

     I am a Master Mason, entered, passed, and raised to the sublime degree, got the Certificate to prove it. My dues are paid up. I make most meetings and try to turn out at funerals and special events. I hold the chair of Senior Steward and occasionally fill in the other seats when brothers can’t make it. I hold study classes with my “line brothers”, and have built this website. I am on five committees and a member of two other houses. So what does it mean to return to masonry to me?

     What does that mean? I know what the monitor says that masonry is, and that’s a beautiful thing. All the words are right. When you take in all the allegory and symbolism it sounds like the most perfect way to live. I guess I’m wondering when all of these things becomes just words. I don’t know if any of you have ever had a crisis. Any kind, but a crisis in faith would probably be the closest here. I ask because I read a lot of literature about Freemasonry before I joined, the good and the bad. The good was great, the bad was evil to say the least. Obviously I chose to believe the good and that’s one of the main reasons that I joined the organization. I just don’t want to have regrets.

     My experience in Masonry hasn’t been a bad one. I have had a chance to meet new people and I feel like I belong to something that can be great. Once again I don’t know what BCC was like before, but I am not growing in masonry at the rate that I had hoped for. Or maybe I am since I’m not sure what I’m supposed to know versus what I do know. Hopefully that made sense. The funny part about this is that we (my line and I) put on the classes for all the degree work. That may be a perfect case for the blind leading the blind. Don’t get me wrong we have worked hard for the knowledge we have, and maybe we helped turn a corner with getting the next lines more instruction.

     I thought that here I would get into a major discussion about charges and obligations, but instead I think I’ll discuss us and the three principal tenets: brotherly love, relief, and truth.

Brotherly Love. How I have fought to understand how this can be so screwed up. I can’t count how many times that I’ve seen brothers try to change things or try something a little different and get chopped up for their effort. What happened to mentoring and guiding? Why don’t we support each other and if a brother’s idea isn’t quite right help him get it right. Shouldn’t that come over the lodge cliques? I have talked to several former masons about we they aren’t members anymore and I keep hearing the term “false brotherhood”. Of course I hate to hear that but criticism is constructive, especially in this case, and the same names keep popping up. I won’t mention them here.

Relief. I was in a wedding recently with a fellow who I had seen on pictures in the lodge. I approached the guy and introduced myself and asked him if he knew me. He said no so I asked him again and then he “recognized” me. From there I asked why he stopped traveling. He told me that once he was lost and needed help and nobody helped him. He said that no one even called him!! This was years ago and no one has still ever talked to him about his difficulties.

I won’t mention the guys name or his circumstance but this should never happen. We are duty bound as a band of brothers to ensure that all brothers are taken care and it is real discouraging that these things have happened.

Truth. I don’t have the time to touch this one.

     Brothers I have said all of this to say that I agree with the WM of the other lodge. We need to take it back to the building blocks of masonry, the principle tenets, the charge, the obligation. The chief appeal of masonry is to give to others and do no harm while doing it. We should love each other truly and put down the jealousy and hate. Help your brothers, build them up, and be kind and charitable to each other. Get back to Masonry.

So Mote It Be.