Your Lodge

Success is achieved and maintained by those who try and keep trying

Support and attendance

seems to be a topic that comes up quite often, particularly among the Brethren that take the time to plan and put together events. The question of how do we get Brothers interested in Fraternal events. How do we get brothers to actually show up to events put together to promote the organization which we are obligated to support?

I recall a discussion at a State level officer's meeting for an appendant body that spent a good amount of time discussing recruiting, but most importantly, retention. How many of you raised a Brother, only to have him totally fade away? I personally came from a group of 6 Brothers, 2 of us still come around on a regular basis to Blue Lodge and only 1 (me) ended up supporting the appendant bodies. Subsequently we raised, well, i cant even tell you how many, because we never see them. We raised several and like I said, never see them. We even had a candidate not show up for a degree, where he was the only one being passed.

Some brothers had the argument that if your lodge isn't active, you will lose your members' interest. But i'm not certain that this is always the case. There are instances where lodges try to be active and hold activities, but no one supports the program. No one attends the event or supports the effort. In other cases, getting a supporting cast to hold the event and assist the planner is a challenge. Something as simple as putting on a degree is an undertaking as no one is willing to step up and learn the parts or lectures, or even attend in support of the degree.

I recall taking an obligation to support my lodge, to answer the summons of the Worshipful Master and to not take away from the efforts of any brother in his laudable undertakings. I'm not sure, but i am guessing everyone else took that same obligation. So i guess the question remains, why did we become Masons?

If life is so busy, why take an obligation to a way of life that requires active participation? You see, as Masons, we symbolically build the Temple of King Solomon. Each one of us represents a stone in the construction of the Temple. We start this way of life as a Rough Ashlar, in our youth. If we take the time to read and study the tenets of Freemasonry we gain knowledge. This knowledge, we should put to use in our every day actions, bringing us to that stage of manhood where we begin to see the importance of hewing the stones used to build the Temple.

Walking the walk, living the obligations we took upon initiation into our youth and passing to manhood. All of this we do, living the life, continuing the learning, teaching and mentoring and setting the example so that once raised, we are truly Masters of the Craft. We can reflect on our lives, ponder our mortality and ensure that we continue on the path of light, doing our deeds which will lead us to a glorious immortality.

Upon our raising, we become a Perfect Ashlar in the construction of the Temple. We become overseers of the work, to ensure that all the other Rough Ashlars in the construction of the Temple become a Perfect Ashlar and find their way into the fabric of the Temple.

But what is the Temple? it is many things, but primarily it is our Lodge, for ourself. For our family, it is our home, for our neighbor it is our community and for our God, it is the world we live in. As Masters in each, we set the example.

In our Lodge, apathy and lack of participation sets the tone and the Ashlars will conform to the tone which is set. If you fail to oversee the work, you create a substandard product. If you construct a Temple with less than desirable stones, the structure will fail and the structure will falter. Your lodge will merely exist and struggle to survive. Is this what we vowed to do when we took our obligations? Even further, for those who have taken oaths of the higher degrees, we must reflect on the meanings of those vows and what we accepted and swore to uphold.

As Masons, we must hear the words of our vows, not merely parrot the words and then say " I do " with out conviction. In days past, the term, watch fob mason was used to describe those masons who joined the fraternity and rarely participated. In the 21st century, i have heard the term MINO used, mason in name only. Is that what we have become?

i have had the opportunity to research the history of my Temple and how in the depression years the Masons were able to raise the funds to keep the Temple solvent. In the years following WW II, they we able to raise the funds, thousands of dollars, needed to pay off the mortgage. Wow! Back then, that was a feat. Now, we can barely raise enough to survive. The Lodges struggle, the appendant bodies struggle as men lose interest due to life or a lack of participation.

How do we fix this?

We take the time to attend at least one Lodge event a month. You knew this going in to the obligation, so make it a reality. Take the time to attend one event, for your Lodge. This is important and I want to focus on the word Lodge. Not another body, your Lodge. Why? because it is the foundation of all Masonry and all the other bodies you have joined. Your Blue Lodge is the base of your Masonic journey. Keep your obligation sacred and inviolable.

For those that do, support your Lodge, well done, you are the core of Masons who keep things afloat. Lets see if we can change the tone and get our brothers back out to the Lodge!

Success is achieved and maintained by those who try and keep trying - W. Clement Stone