Enlarging your "tent"

Isaiah 54 - 2 says.

Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations: spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes;

I heard a great sermon that was given in Brother Timothy Bonney's Church in Johnston Iowa. Unfortunately I can't find the podcast right now but it used the above scripture.

The Scottish Rite Speech by Brother Davis got me to thinking about Masonry. You have already seen my entry on What do Mason's Do? in which I mentioned several things which take place in a Lodge and connected with Masonic activities. I guess the point I want to make today is that there is room in Masonry for all of that. We can initiate, pass and raise men to the "Sublime Degree of a Master Mason." and even then the Master's words that " I don't know that you will ever become one (a Mason)" are true.

There is something to "do" in Masonry for anyone who wants to do something. It is in that doing that you truly become a Mason.

Iowa Grand Lodge has a program called a Master Builder which you can see here. They have the Ashlar Award for Young Masons designed to get a new member involved. All are well and good. There are some who don't want to do all of that and there is room for them in the Lodge also. Some Masons pay their dues and never attend. They are missing out on a lot. But maybe just having the name is all they want. I will not criticize them for that.

Looking at the picture above you can see a group of brothers who have a great time outside together. They could be on a picnic or a civil war reenactment. In my post about the York Rite yesterday I mentioned Ascension Commandery's Knight Templar Eye Foundation donation. Many of the Knights who help out with that are only involved with the Rite that one time during the year and yet, look what they have accomplished!

There is enough for everyone to do and in that doing they grow together to "become" Masons and if a Lodge is healthy there is a lot going on. Not just ritual and certainly not just business meetings.

John Day writing on the Philalethes list says:

All of Freemasonry is important to a Mason, ritual no more or no less than any other part. Balance is what we need. A balance between the powers of the Grand Lodge hegemonies as they exist now and the eroded powers of the private lodge, a balance between the esoteric and the mundane, …

In some senses Freemasonry as been kidnapped by the likes of Dan Brown, Baigent & Leigh, the Templar proponents, the Rosslyn thrill seekers, Pike and the Masonry as Religion crowd and others. The ones left out in the cold in all this are Nelson and his BAFFs (myself included) who take a view of Freemasonry which is far simpler than many of the conspiracy theorists in our own ranks would have us believe.

Bob Davis said in that speech that

Life is a study and our duty is to learn.

I like that. He also spoke about the College of the Consistory that they have in Guthrie, Oklahoma. It interests me. But, it sounds like a lot of work. There are other, similar, programs around the country. You can google to pick and choose or just set up your own course of study. If that is your thing.

There are a lot of good Masons who are happy and content just participating in what they choose to do. Whether it is the service club aspect or the ritual or the charity work or something else. All are Masons and are have value to our Fraternity.

In the story of Auntie Maime she says. "Life is a banquet and most poor suckers are starving to death." Paraphrasing this I would say "Masonry is a buffet. (I don't go to Masonic banquets if I can help it)  You can diet, have a gourmet meal or stuff (gorge) yourself. It is up to you. The "tent" of Freemasonry is large enough to accommodate us all.

It is there waiting for you and, if you don't find exactly what you want you have the power to add it to the agenda -"enlarge the tent" so to speak. In so doing you may strengthen Masonry (thy stakes). We are limited, Brethren, only by our own imagination, initiative and inventiveness.

Be loved, Big Hugs, jcs

York Rite Meetings.

Ames York Rite held its first meeting after the summer recess. We had a great turnout tonight.

The Ames York Rite is beginning to come back after several years of limited activity. We have always done some things but we have not been growing and the meeting attendance left something to be desired.

We vest all of our heads of the three bodies in one person and meet together for efficiency. I remember when I first joined the Rite we would open and close three bodies and do three separate business meetings and cover mostly the same business three times. Reason has prevailed and we now work much more efficiently.

High Priest, Illustrious Master and Commander David Baker has gone a great job leading us this year. He announced that he had attended the Grand Chapter and Grand Council meetings in August and that we were one of eleven (11) Chapters in the state to receive the Chapter of the year Award.

For the past sixteen years Ascension Commandery returned the most per capita in the state for the Knights Templar Eye Foundation Campaign for twelve (12) of those years. Last June at Grand Commandery we were proud to have received this distinction once again.

We also changed our by-laws tonight so that we will meet on the fourth Wednesday instead of the third Wednesday. This will enable us to visit back and forth with Corinthian Chapter, Alpha Council and Temple Commandery in Des Moines which meets on the Third Wednesday.

Excellent Companion Doug Petty (right) was installed as Grand Royal Arch Captain at Grand Chapter this summer. Joshua Chapter is very proud of his service to Grand Chapter. Doug is an active Mason. Not only does he serve in this office he is a Past Master of Arcadia Lodge, Chairman of the Trustees of the Lodge, serves on the Property Management Board for the Lodge and is active in the Scottish Rite. He also holds offices in all three York Rite Bodies in Ames. Not only that he works a job that is demanding and requires a lot of time. Congratulations Doug, We are proud of you!

A Brief Explanation

Created and copyrighted by Stephen A. McKim, of Lafayette Indiana, USA
used with permission.

Many times I get asked about Freemasonry. People are under the wrong impression that we are a "secret" society and are forbidden to tell about what we do. This is incorrect. We are not "secret" We have secrets but they are personal and individual. Anyone who has ever been to a Masonic Installation knows that the proceedings are not secret. Anyone is welcome to attend. You hear a lot about the fraternity at the Installations.

Freemasonry is a lifelong study of how to be a better brother among other brothers under the Fatherhood of God. You see you must have a belief in A Supreme Being before you can petition the Lodge. You used to have to ask to be a Mason for we were forbidden to ask anyone to join. Thankfully that restriction has been eased and you may now let it be known that if a man wants to join the Lodge he has only to ask.

Freemasonry as we know it today began in the 1700's but it goes back further than that. Our traditions claim that we are the descendants of the Mysteries of Ancient Egypt and the builders of King Solomon's Temple. Our initiating rituals are based on events that took place at the building of the Temple are are designed to teach us how to build our character to fit us as living stones into God's Temple.

We take the builder's tools and learn lessons from them. Thus we are called "speculative" as opposed to "Operative" Masons.

In the Middle Ages the Masons were able to travel to different communities to work on building the great cathedrals. They were free and not bound to the land. Thus the origin of the term Freemason. They taught their apprentices how to build and they met in Lodges to teach these lessons. You see books were not available so the instruction was "mouth to ear."

Eventually they admitted prominent men of the community into their Lodges and these men became "Accepted" Masons. Eventually these Accepted Masons were the ones who wrote the rituals and turned the fraternity into what it is today.

Of course, there are others who will tell you a different story but this is the one I accept so it is the one you get from me. These Lodges of Accepted Masons met in various places and always with a fine dinner and wine and good fellowship. There were many toasts and the events bonded the men together like no other association has ever done.

The Lodges eventually formed into a Grand Lodge in 1717 and for awhile all was comfortable. Then there was another Grand Lodge formed and they became rivals. By this time there was a system of degrees so that there were levels or "ranks" of membership. There were three basic levels or degrees - Entered Apprentice, Fellowcraft and Master Mason. There were other degrees attached to them. The degree of Mark Master was a part of the Fellowcraft Degree and the Holy Order of the Royal Arch completed the Master Mason's Degree. These were separated when the two "rival" grand lodges came together and resolved their differences.

My friend Jerry told me that shortly after the formation of the Grand Lodge there were some 300+ appendent degrees attached to it.

Over time the Lodges spread throughout the world. Each Grand Lodge is sovereign unto itself and has dominion over its own ceremonies and rituals. Iowa's Grand Lodge obtained its charter from Missouri and you can see how the Lodges spread from place to place. With the American Revolutionary War American Grand Lodges also declared independence from the United Grand Lodge of England. We have one Grand Lodge in each state.

The current system has two additional "rites" the York Rite and the Scottish Rite which are co-equal and work together in many ways. In order to join either one of these you must be a Master Mason and have proven proficiency (or in Iowa passed the Master Mason Enlightenment Course) The York Rite has three separate organizations. Chapters of Royal Arch Masons, Councils of Royal and Select Masters and Commanderies of Knights Templar.

The Scottish Rite also has several groups also but effectively operate as one organization. They have 32 degrees that you get when you join and one 33rd which is honorary.

There are a lot of other Masonic Organizations which you can join including some which are not Masonic but which meet in Masonic Temples and include Women and Men. The primary one is the Order of the Eastern Star.

This is a brief explanation. I could say a lot more but to be very honest Desparate Housewives is coming on and I want to watch. As for activities today I read. Newspapers and The Brotherhood of the Holy Shroud by Julia Navarro Beautiful day Be Happy. j

Royal Arch Masons

Tonight I had the honor of taking the part of Jeshua in the Royal Arch Degree. The Royal Arch Degree actually completes the Master Mason Degree and as such it is an important part of Masonry. I have not done the part for about 20 years because I just sort of drifted off and became inactive. But we have a District Deputy Grand High Priest who is also the High Priest of Ascalon Chapter #139 of Des Moines and he has reinvigorated the Chapter. There were six candidates. All of them friends from Acanthus. They were impressed and they will make great additions to the Chapter.

Much better feeling tonight than last Monday. It is late and the boys are pestering me to go to bed. Thanks for listening, Stay warm (It was beautiful today) and Be Happy.