A long Masonic Saturday

I’m an active Freemason, and hold a certificate in the work in my jurisdiction. This means that I know all the parts of our ritual and degrees. I frequently get asked to travel and participate in ritual in lodges in my area since I am certified and can drop in wherever they need me. I also don’t say much about what I do in lodge. If you’re a Mason, skip the next paragraph, just a primer for non-Masons in my audience.

If you’re not a Mason, we communicate our lessons through ceremonies of initiation. These ceremonies are very specific, and (in my jurisdiction), each man passes through the ceremony on his own. There are 3 degrees that we communicate this way — think of them as morality plays. They are Entered Apprentice, Fellowcraft, and Master Mason. Each has a unique ritual the candidate goes through, and you must receive and learn about one before proceeding to the next. Each has a ceremony and a lecture associated with it. The lectures are 15+ minutes long, and completely committed to memory, and are given following the ceremony / drama of the degree to explain what’s going on.

OK – now that we’re all on the same page. I am a member of the Masonic Knights Templar as well. This past Saturday, my Commandery was practicing for upcoming ceremonies at a lodge in the next town over. Their Secretary had called me a couple days before and explained that after our practice, they were doing a Fellowcraft degree and asked if I would be able to stay after practice and deliver the lecture for them. I agreed. He said they would have 3 Entered Apprentice degrees to do later that afternoon, but that they should have that lecture covered (you can lecture all candidates at the same time after they complete the ritual individually). I head down there Saturday morning, and the Knights Practice from 9 until 12. We break for lunch and I’m asked if I can stay and do the EA lecture as well due to a vacancy. These two lectures are VERY different from one another, and even more different from what I’d been practicing all morning in Knights Templar. I agreed as long as I could be done by 4.

So, at 1 PM, we started the Fellowcraft degree. I lectured that degree (I do the extended version with monitorial sections) and it took almost half an hour. We took a short break, and started the first Entered Apprentice degree shortly after 2. By 3:15, I was settling in to begin the lecture for 3 new Entered Apprentices. I’ve never done more than 2 at the same time, and never done two different lectures within the same day. Exhausted, but I’m also excited to see our fraternity grow.

I’ve been traveling our county the past several weeks and visiting each lodge as their meetings come up. Masonry has declined sharply in numbers for the past 5 decades. In the past 6 weeks, I have seen 15 men either petition for membership, be elected to membership, or receive a Masonic degree in 4 lodges I’ve visited. We don’t issue invitations to membership – men have to ask us. It’s a great fraternity, and I’ve never seen it grow like this, but I’m excited to be a part of it and able to be there with so many guys as they take their first steps within the lodge.