STARDATE12252008

Having always been an avid Star Trek fan I was watching the movie Generations last night. While it was not one of my favorites there was scene that particularly caught my attention. Kirk and Picard were talking and Kirk told Picard not give up the Captains seat, not for promotion, new opportunities, etc. He said because in that seat you can make difference. I am not by any means saying that Masters should hold on to the East, what I am saying is that Masters should realize they can make a difference. Too often brothers get to the East and count the days until they are out of office. The year or years in office should be cherished and enjoyed and you should finish your term proud of your name being counted among the select few.


My views on lodge leadership have morphed during my time in the officer line. I used to be so proud of my home lodge having a progressive line with no Past Masters and Masters served one year and were done. While still am a strong advocate of the progressive line I no longer view have a few Past Masters in the line if necessary as a bad thing as long as they don't get locked into a position which deters the development of new officers. My philosophy on the officer line is now the same as that of becoming a member; becoming an officer should be an act of their own fee will and accord. Too often lodges in desperation beg new brothers to join the officer line many of whom are not ready to be there, don't belong there or don't really wish to be there. I have seen the effects of these and now conclude that it is better to fill holes in the line with PM's than to try to force square pegs in round holes.

A NEW BEGINNING

Last week I was installed as Master of my affiliate lodge and even though I just finished being Master of my home lodge for two years I am truly excited about this new opportunity to serve the craft. Being Master is a honor and a position of great responsibility, our fraternity is set up so that Master determines the level of activity of the lodge; hence to set the craft to work and give them good and wholesome instructions for their labors.

Each lodge has its own characteristics and customs. my affiliate lodge is much different than my home lodge and I am trying to take the best of both worlds as I prepare for the upcoming year. They have a full progressive line from JW on down and all the chairs are filled with brothers ready to do the work. This has not been seen in this lodge for many, many years. My main goal will be to continue to build the membership and to keep the new members engaged. We have a very busy year ahead of us as one of our members will be installed as Grand Master in March.

I was fortunate to have the Past Master who served my home lodge the year before me affiliate as well and will serve as SW this year. We are both solid ritualists and will be able to set the example for the junior officers. He however has no interest in serving as Master so I will be in the East for two years. I am confident that if the lodge continues along its current course in two years they will be one of the strongest lodges in the district and my work will have been well worth the effort.

Then I will be looking for my next new beginning..........

Masonic Management 101

Both the local and state lodges are set up as progressive lines in that, in a fully functional lodge, you start at the bottom of the line and progress one chair each year. In the local lodges that means you serve six years before you are Master and then one year and done. As much as you anticipate your "year" it is hard to learn the new position and accomplish much in that short period of time. Most of the time the Master simply survives his year everyone pats him on the back and its time for the next Master.

Although this system has worked for hundreds of years you have to ask; does it really ? Would you expect your favorite sports team to change Managers every year and get good results ? Does GE change CEO's every year ? Do we change Presidents every year ? You get the point, it often takes time to establish a direction therefore continuity is important.

Lodges often have a hard time filling the chairs and are willing to put any one in regardless of whether they will do a good job or not and often allow them to progress upward without doing the necessary work. It has come to the point where Masters now need to be certified to open and close, a basic duty because we allowed so many non-functional Masters to progress that the Grand Lodge said enough. Often brothers fly through the line, two or three years and bam they are Master another reason for poorly prepared leaders.

I have served as Master for two years since one of our officers dropped out and we did not want to throw a Past Master in the hole. I started out at the bottom and served in every chair and did all the duties, rituals associated with each chair. I have enjoyed my second year much more since I knew what to expect and could
focus on what I wanted to get done. During my year as Senior Warden I affiliated with a neighboring lodge and I will now head to the East there next year.

So I will be a recycle officer which if you asked me five years ago I would of said it was bad. I was proud of our lodge having a progressive line with no Past Masters in the line. At this point I am more convinced that the weak lodges need good leadership regardless of the source. While the need to develop new leaders is essential, we should be careful to select brothers who truly want to do the work. The rule of thumb should be the same as when one joins a lodge; becoming an officer should be of their own free will and accord.

BACK UP AND RUNNING

The first month of the masonic fall season is now almost over and the batteries are recharged. Two CHIP programs, a major construction project, a degree and a Blue Lodge council, busy, busy month but that is what gets the old fires burning. I now have five meetings as Master before I head off to my affiliate lodge and serve there. I had the pleasure of serving for two years as Master of my home lodge and I feel my term was very successful. We will have raised twenty two new brothers and did some major construction projects around the lodge. The construction projects showed me that there are some great leaders coming through the line behind me so I am confident that the lodge will continue to be a leader in our district.

My affiliate lodge continues to make progress as the new young officers continue to develop. There s much work ahead of us but slow steady progress shall prevail.

CORNERSTONES

Unfortunately every once in a while we get a call, letter or an e-mail regarding the passing of one of our brothers. The fraternity is full of so many brothers that have been members for decades and of these brothers there are a select few brothers who have been cornerstones for their respective lodges. The brother that you know will always be there and does all the little things behind the scenes. I received an e-mail this past week regarding one such brother from a lodge in my district. Even though this brother was not a member of my lodge I felt obligated to attend his masonic service. The brothers from his lodge were truly saddened by his sudden passing and appreciated the support.

On the way home my SW and I discussed this topic and it was clear based on the age of a few of our cornerstones that we were in for some sad occasions of our own in the coming years. The dedication and devotion to the craft by some of these brothers is simply amazing. Although I feel I make an impact, I ask myself if I can sustain the effort as many of these brothers have.

So I ask, are you a cornerstone ?

ONE LUMP OR TWO

As we have now reached the point of summer break and I am now preparing my fall Trestle Board I have been reflecting on being Master for a second year. Our lodge has had a progressive line for ten years however last year we had an officer who was unable to continue so we held the top three officers the same and moved everyone else up a chair. This gave me the unique opportunity to serve a second year.

Any one who has ever been Master probably will agree that as much as you plan and anticipate your year as Master nothing can truly prepare you for the task at hand. The year goes by so fast that next thing you know it is over and you say to yourself I wish I had another year knowing what I know now. Well I have had that chance and it has been much more relaxing than my first year. I think I have learned to expect the unexpected in a volunteer organization and to go with the flow better. I know also that there are many Masters that are happy when their year is over, one lump is fine by them

Next year I will move up the street as we say to my affiliate lodge and serve as Master for that lodge, if elected of course. I will face new challenges and hopefully provide steady leadership as they develop their junior officers. Being Master is a privilege and I only hope that I do well by the brethren and I don't mind taking a few lumps for the good of the craft.

ANSWERING THE CALL

In my last post I recalled how I was asked to join the officer line and how I answered the call. Having not been active in the lodge I knew nothing about lodge function or the ritual, it might as well been my first year in the lodge. Each year in the line I did a little extra, I learned extra ritual parts and eventually the charges as well. Now in my second year as Master I think most brothers would agree that I am a solid ritualist. I can also say that my time in the line has been one of the most positive expriences of my life.

Once again I have been asked to answer the call and under very similar circumstances. After I became active in the officer line of my blue lodge I decided to seek further light by joining the appendent bodies of the Scottish and York Rite as well as the Shrine. Since I have dedicated my time to my work in the blue lodge I have spent very little time in the appendent bodies. The other day I was asked to be appointed Grand Custodian which is the equivelent of DD for the blue lodge in York Rite Chapter. The brother recommending me knew that I had not been active in this body and yet felt that I was the right man for the job, despite my agruements otherwise.....so I accepted. So I laid the first stone upon which to build a new chapter in my masonic journey.

THE FIRST STONE

I joined the fraternity when I was 21 as the male members of my family were Masons for four generations and it was the thing to do. At 21 I had little interest but still respected the tradition and paid my dues and donated to the various activities of the lodge throughout the years. I came to awards nights for other family members and some dinners but never attended any degrees or regular meetings for my first fifteen years in the fraternity. After one of the awards nights I was asked if I wanted to help out on the fellowcraft team for an MM degree and I agreed. After working on the degree team I started attending once in awhile when I had the chance, Then in the fall of 2000 I was asked if I wanted to be a Steward by the incoming Master. After great personal debate I finally agreed and thus the first stone.

In our lodge it is a progressive line so you spend six years progressing through the chairs until your year as Master. So I became Master in 2007, the first of my family to do so.

MEMORIAL DAY

Today we marched in the local parade as has been the custom of our lodge for generations. This year we had a nice new banner out in front of us which seemed to make a big difference instead of a bunch of guys marching in suits they actually knew who we were and we received greater applause. We have been fortunate in that we have a nice mix of young and old so we have enough guys willing to march to look respectable. Events like the parade and Saints John Day celebrations are important since they are one of the few times that the public gets to see who the Masons in their community are which may create interest.


This memorial day I'd like to take this time to remember all the brothers of the lodge who were members of our fine lodge for centuries now. My Great Grandfather and Grandfather were members of this lodge as were many of my other relatives, long my their memory live on in the hearts of their fellow brothers.

TURNING THE TIDE

I recently did an in depth evaluation of the our lodge membership going back 50 years, yes 50 years. As an engineer by trade I tend to want to look at the numbers. What I found was that our lodge had reached its membership high of 327 members back in 1958. Since that time it has been a steady decline of about 50 to 60 members per decade until we reached a low of 127 members in 2005. Yes the 60's, 70's, 80's and 90's were not kind to our lodge.

However in the last three years we have been turning the tide, 2006 we gained 9 new members, 2007 we gained 12 new members the largest single year gain since the 50's and in 2008 we will have gained 9 new members through the first half of the year. If we maintain our current pace this decade should easily be the first decade in fifty years that we have net positive growth. This is my second year as Master and it is my hope to finish my term having 25 new members in my two years.

How...........well momentum is a funny thing, again as an engineer it is all a matter of physics. it takes great energy to turn the tide. If you as Master believe, others will believe, energy is contagious, you can't just "try to make it through your year", you have to embrace it, enjoy it after all you have put in many years to get the East. Set the craft to work, most lodges are old and need maintenance, updating, painting, cleaning, etc this gives the members a chance to work side by side and get to know eachother better. Maintain the programs that work and add to the social atmosphere of the lodge and maintain good ritual practices no body enjoys watching sloppy work.

Remember things don't happen over night but as long as we keep adding one stone at a time....

TRAVEL AND WORK AS SUCH

Are you a Master Mason...are you able to prove yourself as one and work and travel as such...well this is by far my favorite aspect of the fraternity. I recently had the pleasure of traveling and working at St John's #6 in Norwalk.

I had recently took the time to check out the local lodge in Norwalk where I a few months ago I had taken a new job. Although this lodge was typical of many of the struggling lodges I have seen in my travels I saw some glimmering hope. They were bringing in new candidates, had active Past Masters and a group of non-past Masters were active and did impressive work. They mentioned that they were doing an EA degree the following month and I told them if my schedule allowed I would be happy to attend and it would be my pleasure to do the second section lecture for the degree.

On the night of the degree I found that three brothers from Southington Lodge, Friendship 33 had also came down having meet the acting Master at the Grand Lodge session. Two of the Southington brothers served as Stewards and I helped as a third escourt. The degree went well and everyone had a fun time performing the work, the Southington brothers did an impressive lecture and I am looking forward to visiting their lodge. There was strong fraternal feel to the evening and everyone left feeling good about the work done.

As an officer in two lodges my free travel time is limited and I look forward to the day that I am able to travel and work as such....

THE CHALLENGE OF SOLOMON

As you progress through the officer line you are beset with many mental challenges along the way. In your first few years the utmost proficiency of the first section lectures torments the mind as you try to keep your cool while all eyes watch for the slightest stumble... As you reach the mid-point of the line you face the rigors of the Middle Chamber an obstacle not for the faint of heart and a dead end to many journeys in lodges where this is a requirement. For this reason many lodges do not require their members to learn this lecture and designate brothers who have mastered it to perform it when required. Right, Wrong, Indifferent, Undecided.....

In the final stations we master the three degrees or do we ? The first stumbling block is an ackward little piece called the letter "G" which again I have seen delegated away. Then the ultimate challenge, one of both endurance and mental toughness, the Challenge of Solomon. Any Master who has conducted both sections of the sublime degree know they are in for a long night. Again for this reason many lodges have one Master do the first section and another Master do the second section. I choose this path my first year as Master, I figured I had enough to deal with learning to run the lodge. So this year as I have had a second opportunity to serve I decided that this was the year to take on this challenge.... So last night I took my seat with a nervousness that I had not experienced since I mastered the Middle Chamber. All in all I was happy with my performance especially knowing that I will have two more opportunities to perform it. With five candidates in waiting, yes five, it was going to be a long one....and it was.

My second reason for taking on this task goes back to first blog "BUILDING A LINE"...since my new lodge has not performed this degree for decades I doubt there are many Masters who took the time to learn it and are also active, someone has to meet the challenge. I have always believed in being part of the solution and not part of the problem. Therefore by learning this part I now can be the cornerstone for the performance of this degree by my new lodge.

Always remembering everything is built one stone at a time.....

REBUILDING THE LINE

A couple of years ago as I was reaching the end of my journey in the officer line of my home lodge I decided to affiliate with a neighboring lodge. I had found my years in the line to be a positive experience and was not quite ready to sit on the sidelines again. The contrast between the two lodges is pretty dramatic and a lot of the things that I simply took as a norm in my home lodge are not so in my new lodge. Primarily my home lodge has a progressive line which has been working effectively for over ten years now. My new lodge had all Past Masters in the principle officer stations and very little participation by non-officers. Fortunately in my first year as an officer (SD) in my new lodge we raised several good candidates who immediately took an interest in the lodge. Now in my second year as an officer (SW) we now have new members in the line as junior officers and are raising more good candidates.



Recently we began discussing a MM degree, the lodge had not done a MM degree in many years having relied on a local degree team to perform the degree or by outsourcing our candidates to other lodges perming the degree. As the JW was wise to point out we cannot develop an effective line only performing two degrees. But how....the lodge does not have enough participation to conduct a degree with the level involvement necessary. I have always been a firm believer that the needs of the candidates comes first and foremost. Now I find myself trying find a balance between the needs of the candidates and the need to develop new officers effectively.

For years my home lodge has helped my new lodge on their degree nights and that was one of the reasons I affiliated. I think the best plan is to try to perform the MM with the help of the Past Masters and my home lodge. I'll let you know how this works out.........