Freemasonry has been a significant part of my life, offering fellowship, personal growth, and opportunities for service to my local community but also the wider masonic fraternity.
One of my biggest frustrations with trying to get Masons to interact with society at large and engage in actionable philanthropy is how so many Masons don't interact with the work on an abstract level. I read The Fellow craft degree as a call for Masons to promote music, art, and sciences. Nearly every proposal I give to my Temple board is met with resistance whether I want to promote music education or astronomy camps. It's not "Masonic" enough they tell me. I'm like, Brother have you really given the Fellowcraft degree much thought?
I started in the Degrees of Masonry not having any idea what it was about. My wife wanted to join Easter Star and there were no Masons in her family (or mine).This was in the spring of 1993.
I golfed with two guys I knew to be Masons… in the 10 to 12 years I knew them they never once tried to recruit me. One morning warming up on the first tee box I said to them, “what does a guy do to join Masons?”… and they said in unison “You just did it!”
They didn’t rush me… they took their time… lucky me… I asked the two best guys AND they belonged to the same Lodge! They took me to some social functions and explained many things to me and when it came time they sat down with the Petition and went over it line by line… one was in Scottish Rite and had me do that Petition as well even though I couldn’t begin until I had been a Master Mason for a full year and it took a year after that.
My wife worked with me many, many hours with the memory work (except the symbolic penalties, signs and symbols, etc. which were left out… this was a huge acceptance thing for her and it worked well for me. She worked with me for months and “put down the book long before me!”
Both my wonderful sponsors have passed to the Grand Lodge Above now but I swear they still guide me!
As I was 51 at the time and the average age of my Lodge was under 40 I decided I would not seek the Chairs and went an administration route and after a year as a MM I was elected Secretary/Treasurer for my Lodge and served both seats for 14 years. I recieved a beautiful jewel for that and received Grand Honors in Lodge.
I received Grand Honors two more times in Lodge when I received from Grand Lodge a Honorary Life Membership and a couple of years later The Masonic Medal of Merit at Grand Lodge.
I have tried to improve my Lodge in Mexico with no success over the past 13 years and resently demitted… I am still a member of my Lodge in Canada and the world’s first Chartered Virtual Lodge… Castle Island Virtual Lodge #190 in the Grand Lodge of Manitba in Canada.
There is much more in my beloved Masonic career I will share at another time.
One of my biggest frustrations with trying to get Masons to interact with society at large and engage in actionable philanthropy is how so many Masons don't interact with the work on an abstract level. I read The Fellow craft degree as a call for Masons to promote music, art, and sciences. Nearly every proposal I give to my Temple board is met with resistance whether I want to promote music education or astronomy camps. It's not "Masonic" enough they tell me. I'm like, Brother have you really given the Fellowcraft degree much thought?
I started in the Degrees of Masonry not having any idea what it was about. My wife wanted to join Easter Star and there were no Masons in her family (or mine).This was in the spring of 1993.
I golfed with two guys I knew to be Masons… in the 10 to 12 years I knew them they never once tried to recruit me. One morning warming up on the first tee box I said to them, “what does a guy do to join Masons?”… and they said in unison “You just did it!”
They didn’t rush me… they took their time… lucky me… I asked the two best guys AND they belonged to the same Lodge! They took me to some social functions and explained many things to me and when it came time they sat down with the Petition and went over it line by line… one was in Scottish Rite and had me do that Petition as well even though I couldn’t begin until I had been a Master Mason for a full year and it took a year after that.
My wife worked with me many, many hours with the memory work (except the symbolic penalties, signs and symbols, etc. which were left out… this was a huge acceptance thing for her and it worked well for me. She worked with me for months and “put down the book long before me!”
Both my wonderful sponsors have passed to the Grand Lodge Above now but I swear they still guide me!
As I was 51 at the time and the average age of my Lodge was under 40 I decided I would not seek the Chairs and went an administration route and after a year as a MM I was elected Secretary/Treasurer for my Lodge and served both seats for 14 years. I recieved a beautiful jewel for that and received Grand Honors in Lodge.
I received Grand Honors two more times in Lodge when I received from Grand Lodge a Honorary Life Membership and a couple of years later The Masonic Medal of Merit at Grand Lodge.
I have tried to improve my Lodge in Mexico with no success over the past 13 years and resently demitted… I am still a member of my Lodge in Canada and the world’s first Chartered Virtual Lodge… Castle Island Virtual Lodge #190 in the Grand Lodge of Manitba in Canada.
There is much more in my beloved Masonic career I will share at another time.
So mote it be.