by Midnight Freemason Contributor
WB Greg J. Knott
The impact of the Masonic fraternity in the United States is without question, immense. Attending my daughters FFA banquet tonight, I could not help but notice the similarities in the opening ritual of the meeting, to that of the blue lodge.
Just like in a lodge meeting, the FFA officers have stations about the room. The President, who presides over the meeting, opens by asking the Vice-President if all the officers are their stations. The VP responds “I shall call the roll of officers, determine if they are at their stations and report back to you, Mr./Mdm. President."
The Vice-President then goes through the roll of officers, asking each to recite their duties. The VP ends the ritual with ”…I preside over meetings in the absence of the President, whose place is beneath the rising sun.”
The Chapter Advisor then asks: “Why is the President so stationed.”
The VP responds: "The rising sun is the token of a new era in agriculture. If we will follow the leadership of our president, we shall be led out of the darkness of selfishness and into the glorious sunlight of brotherhood and cooperation. Mr./Mdm. President, all officers are at their stations."
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Midnight Freemason Greg Knott
and FFA Sentinel Riley Knott
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The FFA (formerly Future Farmers of America), is one of the premier youth organizations in the USA and is a student organization for those interested in agriculture and leadership. The FFA has surged in membership in recent years, with new chapters being formed in high schools across the US.
The group was founded in September 1925 by Henry C. Groseclose, Edmond C. McGill, H.W. Sanders and Walter S. Newman, who lived Virginia. Groseclose was an agriculture teacher at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and originally named it the FFV – Future Farmers of Virginia. The program took off very quickly and become a national organization in the years after and was renamed the Future Farmers of America (FFA).
Groseclose developed the ceremonies and instituted 3 degrees within the program through which the students could advance; Greenhand, Virginia Farmer and Virginia Planter. Unique to the organization as well was the office of Sentinel, who guards the door.
Sounds a lot like the rituals of Freemasonry, doesn’t it? Not surprising the founders of the FFA were Freemasons:
- Walter S. Newman Purdie Lodge #170, Windsor, VA
- Edmond C. McGill Hunters Lodge #156, Blacksburg, VA
- H.W. Sanders Glen Allen Lodge #131, Glen Allen, VA
- Henry C. Groseclose Sr. Ivanhoe Lodge #235, Wytheville, VA
I am a proud FFA alumni member myself of the St. Joseph – Ogden Chapter.
~GJK