Bringing Back The Light Part 6: Elbow Grease

by Midnight Freemasons Founder

Todd E. Creason, 33°

Homer Lodge No. 199 had meetings amid the mess of renovation

Part 6 of the Bringing Back the Light Series

The final job at Homer Lodge No. 199 was the biggest--renovating the Lodge room. This is no small Lodge--it's approximately 2,500 square feet with an 18 foot ceiling. The last time it had been painted we think was in the early 70's. That's a lot of walls that needed paint. And upon closer inspection, we had need of some plaster work to be done as well. Obviously, it was too big a job for our dedicated crew of Master Mason handymen to handle. We needed a professional with the right equipment and scaffolding, etc.

After one of our work days, the furniture was glowing after being cleaned and oiled down.

So we hired one, and he went to work on the Lodge room about Thanksgiving and finished a little after the New Year. He patched and plastered, he painted the walls, the ceilings, and decorative medallion that houses the light over the altar. Although he had a lot of experience, it turned into a lot bigger job than even he had anticipated. But the results were worth the effort. He did a fantastic job.

And while he was working on the plaster and the paint, our dedicated Master Mason crew went to work cleaning and resealing the floors, wiping down and oiling the woodwork and all the furniture, cleaning all the glass, washing down all the picture frames. We finished cleaning out the closets. We even rearranged the seating in dining room.

And when we finally finished and took a step back, we realized that Homer Lodge was now ready for another generation of Freemasons. The difference we saw due to all that hard work and toil was stunning. We posted pictures on our Facebook page as we went along, and everyone wanted to see it when it was finished. And believe me, the building has seen more use in the last few months than it has in decades.

Homer Masonic Lodge No. 199 before the renovation . . .

And after . . .

Not only has Homer Lodge No. 199 enjoyed our newly renovated Lodge, but the new Admiration Chapter I wrote about previously has been meeting there, the Allied Masonic Degrees asked to hold a meeting there and did, and just a few days ago, the Knight Masons conferred their degrees on a group of candidates at the Homer Masonic Temple--in fact, I'm sure the Knight Masons will ask to use our building again as they work at building up their new council.

 

Irish Sea Council No. 98 of Knight Masons recently conferred degrees at the Homer Masonic Temple

The building has been brought back again. It's created a stir in the Masonic community and has become a central meeting place for a number of groups. It demonstrates what can be accomplished when a group of Master Masons put the time and effort into something they really believe in. 

But that still leaves one thing remaining. The final and perhaps biggest challenge of all--bringing the Lodge itself back to health. But we seem to be heading in the right direction. You know that painter we hired to renovate our Lodge--not only did he do a great job on painting the Lodge, but he decided he wanted to join it as well. He's now our Brother.

~TEC

Todd E. Creason, 33° is the Founder of the Midnight Freemasons blog and is a regular contributor.  He is the author of several books and novels, including the Famous American Freemasons series. He is the author of the From Labor to Refreshment blog.  He is a Past Master of Ogden Lodge No. 754 (IL), and currently serves as the Secretary, and is also a member of Homer Lodge No. 199 where he serves as Senior Warden.  He is a member the Scottish Rite Valley of Danville, the York Rite Bodies of Champaign/Urbana (IL), the Ansar Shrine (IL), Eastern Illinois Council No. 356 Allied Masonic Degrees, Charter President of the Illini High Twelve in Champaign-Urbana (IL), and a Fellow of the Missouri Lodge of Research.  He is a charter member of a new Illinois Royal Arch Chapter, Admiration Chapter U.D.  He was named the 2014 Illinois Secretary of the Year Award by the Illinois Masonic Secretaries Association.  You can contact him at: webmaster@toddcreason.org

Suspended NPD — for Twenty-Five Years!

by Midnight Freemason Contributor

Steven L. Harrison, 33°, FMLR

Over the years I've seen my Lodge and other Masonic bodies deal with members who don't pay their dues in a variety of ways. It seems there has been a progression of sorts requiring less and less of a financial effort for a Brother to return. Years ago I recall the NPD Brother had to pay the dues for each year missed, plus the current year's dues, to become a member in good standing once again. Then there was a period when the member in arrears had to pay just last year's and current year's dues. Now, for one of the bodies where I am a member, a Brother can re-join just by paying the current year's dues. If things keep going this way I guess we'll have to pay them to come back.

Of course, these men are our Brothers and we do, in fact, want them back; and there are good reasons why some don't pay — hardship and illness being at the top of the list. Every Masonic body I belong to always takes that into consideration and I have seen many meetings where understanding members remit the dues of a Brother who simply cannot pay.

Still, I think we're pretty lenient with NPD. My personal opinion is we probably should be. I mean, how many times have we heard it... "It's easier to keep the members you have than to go out and get new ones." 

With all that in mind, I ran across something that really made me do a double-take — make that a triple-take.

I was going through records kept by a 19th century Grand Secretary in Missouri when I came across a list of suspensions for Missouri Lodge No. 1. The first half dozen entries were for a group of Brothers suspended July 2, 1868, for non-payment of dues. The first line made note that Brother William Stewart was suspended NPD for a period of five years.

"Wow," I thought, "five years — that's pretty stiff."

No, it turns out Brother Stewart got off easy. The next four entries were for members suspended for periods of 20 or 25 years. Twenty-five years for NPD! Now, that sends a message.

The sixth entry was for Brother Maximilian Eller, suspended for a period of 10 years. This line also contained a note that Brother Eller came back after the 10-year suspension ended and paid his dues.

In those records there were other Brothers suspended for 25 years, which seemed to be more or less the standard; but beginning in 1872, with only two exceptions, NPD suspension penalties were: "until paid." 

So apparently, "until paid" became the new standard. One of those original six Brothers, Charles Eager, may have heard about this. Originally suspended for 20 years, the records indicate he returned in 1876 and made restitution. It's not too much of a stretch to imagine he went back to Missouri No. 1 and said, "Hey, look, I got a pretty harsh suspension for NPD but today you're letting guys off the hook if they just pay up. How about cutting me a little slack, too?" 

I doubt he used that exact phraseology but they did, in fact, let him back in.

I have to conclude somewhere along the way Missouri No. 1 decided its penalties for NPD were excessive, and backed off. It's also possible the Grand Lodge somehow stepped in with different standards. Whatever the case, at that point those standards became more closely aligned with those we have today. We may never know why they made that change but it's possible they, too, discovered "it's easier to keep the members you have than to go out and get new ones." 

~SLH

Bro. Steve Harrison, 33°, is Past Master of Liberty Lodge #31, Liberty, Missouri. He is the editor of the Missouri Freemason magazine, author of the book Freemasonry Crosses the Mississippi, a Fellow of the Missouri Lodge of Research and also its Worshipful Master. He is a dual member of Kearney Lodge #311, St. Joseph Missouri Valley of the Scottish Rite, Liberty York Rite, Moila Shrine and a member and Past Dean of the DeMolay Legion of Honor. Brother Harrison is a regular contributor to the Midnight Freemasons blog as well as several other Masonic publications. His latest book, Freemasons: Tales From the Craft & Freemasons at Oak Island. Both are available on amazon.com.

Bringing Back The Light: Introduction

by Midnight Freemasons Founder

Todd E. Creason, 33°

Homer Lodge No. 199 (IL) has many of the common problems Masonic Lodges struggle with today, but it's how the members of this lodge came to deal with these issues that make it an extraordinary story.

It's an old Masonic Lodge in a small town.  The membership aged, and hadn't brought in any new members in a long time.  As a result, it was suddenly faced with some very grime realities.  The Royal Arch Chapter of the York Rite that had met there for more than 150 continuous years lost its charter.  In fact, so strong was the Royal Arch in Homer, that it was the York Rite that had financed the building in Homer.  But they were no longer able to make quorum, and the Chapter's long history in Homer ended.

The members of the Lodge saw the writing on the wall, and fearing the same demise as the Royal Arch Chapter as it struggled to get enough members to a meeting to make the quorum.  Without new members, the Lodge would inevitably face closure as well.  There were enough dual members from another local Lodge, Ogden Lodge No. 754 to prop up the lodge--that bought time, but wasn't a permanent solution.

To make matters worse, during the annual District Deputy visit, the Lodge got a very bad report.  The work wasn't up to par.  The lodge was dirty, disorganized, and not in the best state of repair.  Of course the members knew the building issues well.  The roof needed to be replaced.  The plaster and paint hadn't been attended to in decades.  The floors needed work, the furniture was in bad shape, the entrance door needed to be replaced, some electrical work, carpet, insulation, windows . . . you name it the lodge needed it.  It seemed pretty hopeless.  There was a difficult decision that had to be made.  Do we try and bring it back, or do we let it go?  The conventional wisdom is to let lodges like that go--merge into a stronger lodge.

But Homer Lodge had a few things going for it.  Like three businesses on the first floor dutifully paying rent each month--including a United States Post Office.  The lodge had some money.  And while the membership problem was difficult--the town for the most part didn't even know they were still there!  It made them wonder what might happen if the town knew they were still there.

As I said, the problem is pretty ordinary--we've all heard stories like this before.  But three years ago, it was the decision the lodge made, and all the things that followed that makes this story extraordinary.  And that's the story I'm going to tell you over the coming weeks, with the hope that you'll take something from it. 

~TEC

Todd E. Creason, 33°, FMLR is the Founder of the Midnight Freemasons blog and is a regular contributor.  He is the author of several books and novels, including the Famous American Freemasons series. He is the author of the From Labor to Refreshment blog.  He is a Past Master of Ogden Lodge No. 754 (IL), and currently serves as the Secretary, and is also a member of Homer Lodge No. 199 where he serves as Senior Warden.  He is a member the Scottish Rite Valley of Danville, the York Rite Bodies of Champaign/Urbana (IL), the Ansar Shrine (IL), Eastern Illinois Council No. 356 Allied Masonic Degrees, Charter President of the Illini High Twelve in Champaign-Urbana (IL), and a Fellow of the Missouri Lodge of Research.  He is a charter member of a new Illinois Royal Arch Chapter, Admiration Chapter U.D.  He was named the 2014 Illinois Secretary of the Year Award by the Illinois Masonic Secretaries Association.  You can contact him at: webmaster@toddcreason.org

You Say You Want A Revolution…

by Midnight Freemason Contributor

WB Adam Thayer

I suppose I should start by telling you how Masonically lucky I am. At the perfect place in my life, I stumbled into Freemasonry, and have found something to commit myself to. I’ve established close friendships with my brothers, first in my home lodge, then later across the state, and finally worldwide. I’ve been blessed with a platform to write on, with like-minded brothers who teach me more than I could ever hope, and a great base of readers who encourage me to ever work harder. Thanks to brothers like Robert Johnson, I’ve expanded into audio, and I get to tell people around the world some of the cool articles I’ve found.

I love this fraternity, and am continually blessed by applying its teachings in my life.

Lately, however, I’ve noticed a growing trend towards.... let’s call it “dissatisfaction”. Maybe it’s been there all along, and I’m just now noticing it. Maybe, as some have said, the “honeymoon period” is over.

In some, it is pretty light and good natured (Hey, these minutes sure are boring). In others, it has become the kind of unhappiness that leads men to leave for good. In a few cases, I’ve even seen it becoming self-destructive, leading to ever more outlandish acts to voice their dissatisfaction.

The membership of our fraternity, in short, is suffering a crisis.

The issue of homosexuality in Freemasonry has become a lightning-rod for these problems, with brothers choosing sides, and vehemently digging in and defending their positions, but it is not the root cause of the problem, just the hot-button of the moment.

I’ve seen some men calling for a revolution, of sorts, similar to the rift that occurred between the Antients and the Moderns.

"You say you want a revolution, well you know we all want to change the world. But when you talk about destruction, don’t you know that you can count me out?"

I know, it’s rather trite to quote The Beatles in a piece on social change, but sometimes you just can’t write it any better than they did.

While I’m not afraid to fight for improvement in our fraternity, it’s important not to allow our passions to lead us into the destruction of those values we hold so dearly, and it’s equally important that we not allow our arguments to bubble out into the public view where it starts to hurt our reputation.

I don’t have any right to tell you that, because if you’ve followed me online, you’ve seen me speak vociferously regarding some of our issues. Had you asked me a week ago, I would have told you that it was important to fight the status quo, because the status is not quo. (Yes, I frequently quote Dr. Horrible in my daily life)

This week, I received feedback on another piece I had written from a non-Mason. It’s usually pretty cool when you get to hear from someone outside the fraternity on things they have picked up on from reading through our writings here, except this time the message wasn’t as great; he told me that he’s been thinking about joining for a long time, but that he keeps hearing about all the troubles we’re having in the fraternity, and he is reconsidering where his search for light is going to take him.

Reading it, I felt like I had been kicked in the stomach. In my zeal to seek improvements for our craft, I’ve contributed to scaring away the very men we’re trying to attract!

Gentlemen, I want to see a better tomorrow for Freemasonry, but I realized something important: it isn’t going to come from me. Or from you. The future of Freemasonry is going to come from the men who haven’t joined yet, and it’s our job to protect the fraternity until they get here, so that they may find in it all of the things we ourselves were searching for.

Because after all, don’t you know it’s gonna be alright?

~AT

WB. Adam Thayer is the Senior Warden of Lancaster Lodge No. 54 in Lincoln (NE) and a past master of Oliver Lodge No. 38 in Seward (NE). He’s an active member in the Knights of Saint Andrew, and on occasion remembers to visit the Scottish and York Rites as well. He continues to be reappointed to the Grand Lodge of Nebraska Education Committee, and serves with fervency and zeal. He is a sub-host on The Whence Came You podcast, and may be reached at adam@wcypodcast.com. He will not help you get your whites whiter or your brights brighter, but he does enjoy conversing with brothers from around the world!

That's Not the Way It's Done

by Midnight Freemason Guest Contributor

Bro. Guidon Sobecki

My career as a Masonic officer began like many others. I was a new member who had been to a few meetings since my third degree, and the Steward’s chair was empty. I was asked if I could sit in so we could have a full slate for opening, and I walked over figuring it could be fun to hold a staff and wear a jewel for the evening. Ten minutes later, I was jolted by someone yelling to “un-socket your rod.” Bewildered, I pulled the staff out of its base next to my chair and held it. As we stood up to give the sign, the ritual was halted as someone told me I was passing the staff to my other hand the wrong way. As we sat down for the business meeting and members brought out their phones and planners, I went to put my rod away, and was instantly told to un-socket it again until the Master gave permission. The Master overheard this and casually said we could put the rods away. But first, I had to uncross my legs and keep them planted firmly on the floor at all times. I looked around the room at the sideliners who were comfortably leaning back in their pews with their legs crossed. “So this was what it feels like to be an officer,” I thought. 

Six months later, we were conferring a degree, and they needed me to take the Steward’s chair that night. A Brother from another lodge walked up behind me, grabbed my arm and forcibly walked me through the Steward’s floor work without a word of introduction of explanation. I didn’t know who he was, and still don’t, but I remember his hand leaving a mark on my arm. As I circled the lodge room behind the blindfolded candidate, voices would randomly sound off from the sidelines that my pace was off, I was ahead or behind, or that someone else was similarly out-of-spec. The candidate, hoodwinked and undergoing a transition into our ancient fraternity, heard every word of their commentary tossed in between the prayers and sacred obligations.  After the last gavel sounded, I was told not to leave until I had been given a refresher on the proper way to turn ninety degrees. 

One year later, I was at a district ritual class. The sidelines were packed with members from several lodges, gathered to review the latest ritual instructions from the experts. I was twenty-two at the time; the next youngest Brother in attendance was in his sixties. As the instructors filled the chairs, someone volunteered me for a position. The usual voices were now amplified and multiplied because there wasn’t a candidate to distract them. After completing my segment, someone in the corner seated in the corner raised his hand to tell the instructor that I should be run through the section one more time for practice. The instructor obliged, and it all happened all over again. At the coffee and donut session afterwards, I sat alone for a while and left without anyone noticing. 

Not long ago, I served as Junior Deacon for a First Degree. Someone whose name I didn’t know, sitting by the door in jeans, crossed his arms and announced that I wasn’t having the candidate knock on the door at the right moment. Later, as the newly initiated Brother was handed off to me for the grand exit, the same Brother near the door yelled from behind us that I had to switch my rod to the other hand.   I ascended the East to give the last lecture of the evening. At various points of my memorized speech, I could hear the casual conversations from the sidelines about the temple board meeting and the restaurant on First Street that just closed. It took me an hour and a half to get home, which was a relief compared to the two hours it took to drive from my office to the lodge. 

The other day, I was enjoying a rare night off. My desk was cluttered with my blue ritual book with the pages wedged open to a lecture another lodge asked for help with, a red York Rite script because I had a feeling someone would cancel and I’d need to change parts, and printed copies of a Scottish Rite degree and the Shriner initiation lectures. As I pushed my dinner plate aside and picked up the blue ritual book with the bent corners, I found myself skimming the degree for what seemed like the thousandth time, double-checking the second half of the sentence in paragraph six just in case I’ve been saying  “therefore” to myself instead of “hence.” It matters. No one has ever told me why, but it apparently does. 

That first night in the chair being told to un-socket my rod, I suspected that it was all a part of the journey. Hidden amongst all these awkward dance classes was a true reflection of something grander than all of us. There would be a time when it wasn’t just casual rehearsal, and perfect ritual would truly make an impact. And on that day, when I turned ninety degrees just right, an old past master would summon me to a candlelit room and tell me the true power behind all this “wax on, wax off” hazing. I would finally be included in understanding these ancient mysteries and could someday pass them on to those who would seek them after me.  As time went on, I realized that this would never happen. If the officers all truly achieved ritual perfection within our year, the sidelines would be silent, and the candidate would only hear the ritual and his own thoughts. That is, there would be silence until an inexperienced Brother would take a chair, and the uninvited chatter and correction would start all over again. 

I have been duly taught that these words and movements, which have been passed down verbatim for generations, must be preserved in their true form at all costs. However, I don’t know who wrote them, what inspired them, or what some of these words even mean. Neither do many of those Brothers on the sidelines watching out for infractions. But I do know when to socket my rod during meetings, even though some jurisdictions have no rod instructions, and some don’t even use rods at all. I can draw out the Steward’s movements with enough detail to put John Madden to shame, but I didn’t know what the word Steward meant until Jon Snow became one on ‘Game of Thrones’ and I looked it up. I’ve asked the ones correcting me what these words mean and how all this started. At best, I’ve been told that they do ritual, not education. At worst, I’ve been told to just read it again. It’s all right there in my dog-eared blue book. 

I first walked into the lodge looking for reflection, tradition, and moral contemplation. I keep going back to that lodge because I know that if I don’t sit in that chair and walk the gauntlet of ritual corrections, there may not be anyone else willing to sit in that chair when it’s time to perform our duties. While I was being taught how to walk and talk, new members came and went like phases of the moon, and the officers and those on the sidelines remained in their chairs. I’ve slowly become a better ritualist and hopefully a better Mason over these last few years, but the lodge room seemed to grow emptier and emptier. 

I don’t know much about this fraternity. I’m often told I know even less about ritual. But I may just have an idea why the new members never came back, and why it so often seems that no one wants to walk up and sit in those chairs. 

~GS

Guidon Sobecki is a Master Mason out of DeKalb Lodge #144 in DeKalb, IL. He is also a member of the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite, Valley of Chicago, NMJ and is also the current King of Keystone Chapter #281 of the York Rite.