From the Worshipful Master

Fellowship, according to a song I recall hearing in my youth, is “a bunch of fellows, all in the same ship.” I don’t think the songwriter got his definition from a dictionary, however. As someone who loves words (in an entirely platonic way), I will go to Merriam-Webster:

“A friendly relationship among people; the relationship of people who share interests or feelings; a group of people who have similar interests.”

Back in the “old days,” masons often did not often interact outside the lodge. Indeed, in past times, it was common to not mention masonry outside lodge meetings, and two men might go their whole lives not knowing the other was a mason, if they did not attend the same lodge. More than one man entered masonry to find his father was a proud matter mason, unbeknownst to him.

Modern masonry is less secretive. Indeed, we are only required to keep our various recognition signs and passwords secret, and we keep degrees secret to give them weight and make them meaningful to the candidate. Now, brothers often interact outside of lodge meetings, and lodges have events open to friends and family.

A few years ago in our lodge, the year’s Worshipful Matter, George Daggett, began an event called “rough ashlar night,” taking its name from the metaphor of a rough versus perfect ashlar. It was a chance for brothers to meet outside lodge, in months with five weeks, and just be together, without the matters of the lodge to deal with. Brothers gathered and ate, talked, and just hung out, at a restaurant or bar and grill. It allowed brothers to get to know each other outside of lodge and engage in fellowship without ritual or business being involved.

It’s a tradition that had come and gone in the years since. In August, we had our first rough ashlar night of this year, when a handful of brothers descended on the Cornish Pasty Company in Tempe. Having attended this night, I find myself wishing that I had planned more of them for this year.

It is an event I found fulfilling, personally, with no one having any responsibility to plan or conduct a meeting. It meant that the attendees could relax, enjoy themselves, and talk about nothing important, or related to masonry.

It is also an idea that I think needs a permanent place in our lodge, and which I encourage other lodges to take up. Whatever you choose to call it, and however you choose to schedule it, it is a chance for masons to be men together, rather than masons with ranks and duties. A chance for lodge brothers to engage in fellowship without the lodge defining actions and conduct.

Gone are the days that masons conceal their identity even from other masons. We should be proud of our status as masons, and acknowledge our brothers can contribute to our lives outside their position in the line or on the sidelines.

Bryan Bullock
Worshipful Master

From the Senior Warden

H.L Haywood teaches in his book The Great Teachings of Masonry that man by nature is a social creature and that we must learn to interact with each other. As we learn from ritual, we must literally put our trust (or learn to put our trust) in our fellow man. There are times when we may feel like we are blind, and a trusted and good friend may be the only person that can help us circumambulate around the noise and distractions of life. One of the qualities in people that we should bring into our lives, and indeed, one of the qualities we should be aware of and cultivate is secrecy. In Freemasonry, secrecy is something that we aim to practice, but also learn from symbolically. All though many of the “secrets” of Freemasonry can be found in various places in books, disgruntled ex-masons, and the internet. However this may be, a good Mason would never divulge the secrets. This is a kind of person we want to be around us, and the kind of person we should strive to be.

In addition to secrecy, we are reminded from our ceremonies to “meet upon the level,” and “act upon the plumb,” and “part upon the square.” We are lastly taught to “spread the cement of brotherly love and affection.” This brings us to the concept of harmony. Our ancient brethren met in King Solomon’s Temple there did not exist any strive, discord or confusion while building that ancient edifice. As we build our spiritual temple, we must not suffer the same to enter into ourselves or our relationships. This does not mean we have to think the same or be carbon copies of each other. But we can have the similar goal and purposes as we work to take care of ourselves, families, and distressed worthy brethren. Brother Eric Ginette wrote:

“We are taught that in Masonry we must make an effort to exist an d to interact in harmony. Harmony, founded on Brotherly Love: that is the foundation. But how is this possible? By striving for balance. First we must be balanced within ourselves so our minds and bodies are in balance. This means we are in harmony with ourselves, in contact with our deep minds, able to iron out our tensions and rest in the certainty that we are focused and complete. If we are satisfied in our own selves, we are less likely to be dissatisfied by the actions of our Brothers. If, on the other hand, we are a boiling caldron of unsatisfied desires and stunted ambitions, it is sure we will be annoyed by all around us. Here the question is- is it us or our Brothers who are the problem? It is only too easy to project our own problems and emotions unto others and, by rejecting them, seek to distance ourselves from our problems. This is the basic mechanism of the “scapegoat” which worked so well for Hitler and Lenin. We attack the things in others we dislike in ourselves, and thus feel purged and purified. This is about as far from balanced as can be. Walking on the “checkered” pavement” of black and white squares, we insist that all black must be gotten rid of, or all the whites suspended o black balled. After all, it’s our Lodge and what right do “they” have to try to change it. And so on.”

My brethren, as we strive to live with harmony within ourselves, we can also live with harmony with our brothers; and in turn will become a strength and support in our society.

Christopher Huson
Senior Warden

From the Junior Warden

The idea behind fellowship in a lodge is that brothers should come together as brothers, and nothing more or less. It’s common knowledge that we are to leave politics and such at the door when coming to a tiled lodge; as when we are in the lodge proper, partisan politics have no place in Masonry, and among other things, detract from what we hope to accomplish as Masons as a whole.

This, I say, should be our practice towards brothers outside of the lodge as well. Whatever our political or ideological beliefs, when brothers come together for any purpose, we should come together as nothing less than the proud company of men that came together on each other’s first night as a newly initiated Entered Apprentice.

We are who we are, and we’re not always going to agree on everything. Under many circumstances, these differences make us stronger, not the other way around. We can all certainly attest to getting involved in a riled political discussion or two. The principle of fellowship, however, should call on us to use wise judgment in what topics support fellowship between the brothers, and what detracts. If it means the difference between a heated discussion and an enjoyable evening when brothers of any number meet, perhaps the topics that lead to the latter should be chosen.

In short, while there are important topics that bear discussion and focus, I myself see so much of the negative emphasized in conversation. Amongst brothers, let us focus on the positive, and enjoy the qualities that brought us together in the first place. That is fellowship.

Cameron Smith
Junior Warden