Time Changes Our Duties

by Midnight Freemason Contributor

Bro. Robert Johnson 32°

Some time ago I presented a piece about becoming a lodge officer. I briefly touched on the duties of some of the positions you might find yourself in. However those duties have not always been the same. Many of the duties prescribed to certain lodge officers have been eliminated. 

What duties you might ask? Well how about someone to wipe the floor? In the 1700’s all the way until the early 1900’s there were lodges that met in rented out rooms, after hours which had dirt floors. 

The members would draw the working tools and much of the symbology we use right on the floor in dirt to explain them to new candidates. When the meeting was over, a member, usually the tyler or perhaps the stewards would literally mess the dirt around the floor to conceal any and all traces of things that had been drawn. 

You have no doubt heard the Worshipful Master of your lodge say that “...if sooner specially convened, due and timely notice will be given by summons or otherwise.” In the 1700’s and 1800’s according to many Masonic scholars, the deacons would need to write out these summonses and it was the duty of the stewards to hand deliver them to the brothers of a lodge living throughout the land.

The duties we had to the craft in centuries past may have been different—I don't think anyone has to wipe down a dirt floor or hand deliver summons notes—but we do have brothers in lodge who are charged with managing a social media page for their lodge, managing a call-them-all phone system to advise members of upcoming events or  maintaining a lodge website. Whatever our duties are today and regardless of how time has changed those duties, let's do the best we can. 

Your lodge is counting on you. 

~RHJ

Bro. Robert Johnson, 32° is the editor of the Midnight Freemasons blog.  He is a Freemason out of the First North-East District of Illinois. He belongs to Waukegan Lodge No. 78. He is also a member of the York Rite bodies Royal Arch, Cryptic Council and Knights Templar, and a member of the Scottish Rite Valley of Chicago.  Brother Johnson currently produces and hosts a weekly Podcast (internet radio program) Whence Came You? which focuses on topics relating to Freemasonry. In addition, he produces video shorts focusing on driving interest in the Fraternity and writes original Masonic papers from time to time. He is a husband and father of three. He works full time in the safety industry and is also a photographer on the side as well as an avid home brewer. He is also working on two books, one is of a Masonic nature.

Memorizing

By Midnight Freemason Contributor

R.W.B. Michael H. Shirley

      One of the things I didn’t expect to do when I became a Mason was to devote a significant amount of time
 to memorizing ritual. And I don’t really, although I’m sure I spend more time than some of my Brethren. My days are filled with lots of other things. I spend maybe twenty minutes a day at it, on average. I’ve found that going to stated meetings and degrees regularly takes care of about ninety per cent of what I need to know for stated meetings, at least if I pay attention. I recall going to Workers Club in my second year as a Mason, having only really learned the parts necessary for my office (Junior Warden), and being placed in the West. I protested to our instructor, Jesse Higginson, past chairman of the Board of Grand Examiners, that I didn’t know the ritual. “I bet you do,” he said. He was right. Simply by going to lodge and paying attention I’d absorbed the lines I needed.

      Just showing up worked pretty well with routine ritual, but lectures and degree ritual are another story. I wanted to learn the Work, but thought it a daunting task. I remember going to a Second Degree shortly after becoming a Master Mason, and being amazed at the Worshipful Master’s seemingly effortless and endless ritual. But I had no idea how to start. Jesse did. One evening after a degree, he pointed at me and said, “Next Workers Club you’re going to know First Fellowcraft.” So I went home and learned the ritual, and at the next Workers Club I didn’t have to focus on the words, but was able to concentrate on the floor work. I realized that learning this stuff was going to take time. It wasn’t a big part as ritual goes, but the set speech took a little effort, and the reward was knowing more than I had, and a true feeling of competence. The next part I concentrated on was just a bit larger: the Senior Deacon’s lecture in the second section of the Second Degree. I did that for two reasons: first, there was one line I particularly liked, and I wanted to be able to say it; and, second, I was tired of calling the eighty-two-year-old retired banker who knew the part to help with our degrees. So every evening after the kids were in bed, I sat on my porch and worked on it, one line at a time. I’m not a memory prodigy, so it took weeks of constant effort, reciting it one line at a time, for it to stick. I didn’t take it in order: there are set paragraphs that don’t have anything to do with each other rhetorically, so I’d take one I found easier than another and build it up slowly. I’m not very good at building memory palaces, but I found visual mnemonic devices worked pretty well at getting me over difficult parts in a hurry. For example, if I had to remember a line involving three principal classes of workers, I’d picture the principals of our three local schools standing in a classroom with tool belts. 

      I know one Grand Lecturer whose memory is so good that he’s said to have memorized a ten-page speech in an hour. I can’t do that, or anything close to it. But I can memorize the Work, as others have before me. It’s not easy, but it’s simple, and simply put, it takes hard work, effort, and persistence. I said earlier that I spend about twenty minutes a day at memorizing ritual. That’s every day. I don’t miss one unless I’m sick. I’ll work on it while walking, relaxing on my porch, or cooking. I keep a Book of Standard Work open while I’m doing other things, and try to memorize a word or two beyond what I know. And slowly, slowly, I learn more. Some parts are harder than others (the Tenets and Cardinal Virtues lecture is giving me fits), but I’m getting it. And I will keep getting it, adding more until I know enough to test for Grand Lecturer. 

      I really didn’t expect to do this when I became a Mason, but I’ve found that the memorizing our Masonic ritual enables me to help my Brethren, to feel useful, and to feel competent. It also enables me to keep the ritual with me all the time, to think about it more deeply without having to hunt up a book, and to think of how it applies in my daily life. By internalizing the Work, I’ve become able to make connections I couldn’t make before. Memorizing the ritual isn’t just about making sure our meetings run effectively. It’s about something more. Memorizing the Work enables me to really work at being a Mason in my heart. And that is surely worth the effort.


~MHS


R.W.B. Michael H. Shirley is the Assistant Area Deputy Grand Master for the Eastern Area for the Grand Lodge of Illinois A.F. & A.M.  He is the Past Master of Tuscola Lodge No. 332 and Leadership Development Chairman for the Grand Lodge of Illinois. He's also a member of the Illinois Lodge of Research, the Scottish Rite, the York Rite, Eastern Star, and the Tall Cedars of Lebanon. He's also a member of the newly-chartered, Illini High Twelve No. 768 in Urbana-Champaign. The author of several articles on British history, he teaches at Eastern Illinois University.

The Art of the Shave

by Midnight Freemason Contributor

Bro. Robert H. Johnson 32°

Some standard equipment.

       I was thirteen years old when I had to shave for the first time. I had a little mustache growing, Tom Selleck I was not. Looking back it was comical. But my step-dad, before he passed away, taught me a few things. One of them was how to shave. My grandfather picked up where he left off and my uncle even threw in some tips and tricks.

       I learned on a straight razor, but I wasn't allowed to use it on my upper lip. In it’s place I used a safety razor. Similar to the super expensive systems of today, with the main difference being that it has but one blade and it was two sided. When I got to be about 18 shaving was a daily chore. So, I felt I might as well enjoy it. 

      This is when I discovered the art of shaving. A time honored tradition of taking pride in the shave. Taking care of a blade that takes care of you. Of course by now at 18, I was back to using a straight razor. All of my friends were using pricey refill systems, and there I was with this old badger brush and hollow ground blade. 

      My life became more busy at the end of high school, and I eventually went to those toss away refill blade systems that are so popular today. It was because I could quickly hack away at my face and get out of the house quickly. For some reason I just lost sight of taking your time and getting a good shave. 

      So, when I was surfing the web one day I came across an article completely by chance that was about how much money straight razor shaving saved you. I clicked the link and remembered the “old days” and I thought I should go ahead and start using my straight razors again. But for some reason, I had lost the knack. I couldn’t get the angle down. 

The first time I'd shaved with a blade after
watching Lynn's videos. 

      I did what any 21st century kid does when they can’t tie a neck tie or a bow tie. I looked it up on YouTube. There was this guy, explaining everything, more  than any elder in family ever did. While watching this older gent, I noticed a flash which happened every few minutes when his hand went in front of the camera. Not wanting to be killed by curiosity and also being at that time, a newly raised Master Mason, I said to myself “Is that a Masonic Ring?”. I freeze framed the video, until I could get a clear shot. The answer was “Yes it was!”. Needless to say I contacted the Brother and it turns out he was from a lodge in my county. Who is this Brother? Brother Lynn Abrams, who is behind several projects involved in Shaving, including Straight Razor Designs, The Straight Razor Place, which is a forum for all things involving the “wetshave” and has tons of how to videos on YouTube. It’s truly a small world.

       I started to notice something about Freemasons at that point. We all had a propensity to seek out “Classic” stuff, we enjoy gentlemanly things, and we enjoy quality things. We do things the right way, the smart way and never cut corners (Masonic significance implied). That means taking your time in what you do, and in this case it was shaving. I now have a small collection of straight razors, some of which are even Masonic, two in fact. 

       How many times do we look at the tools of Masonry? How many of them do we all use? Sure some of us use  those tools, but you know what working tool virtually every man uses in some respect or another? A good blade. Perhaps a new working tool to be examined or considered . 

       I contacted Brother Lynn again recently to let him know I was going to write a little something about him. I also will be having him on the podcast, “Whence Came You?” for an interview about all kinds of things. Happy shaving Brothers!

~RHJ

Bro. Robert Johnson, 32° is the editor of the Midnight Freemasons blog. He is a Freemason out of the First North-East District of Illinois. He belongs to Waukegan Lodge No. 78. He is also a member of the York Rite bodies Royal Arch, Cryptic Council and Knights Templar, and a member of the Scottish Rite Valley of Chicago. Brother Johnson currently produces and hosts a weekly Podcast (internet radio program) Whence Came You? which focuses on topics relating to Freemasonry. In addition, he produces video shorts focusing on driving interest in the Fraternity and writes original Masonic papers from time to time. He is a husband and father of three. He works full time in the safety industry and is also a photographer on the side as well as an avid home brewer. He is also working on two books, one is of a Masonic nature.

The CLI Exam

by Midnight Freemason Contributor

R.W.B. Michael H. Shirley

        

                                                                                                                                                                            

I have four graduate degrees, two of them doctorates, and have been a teacher for twenty-seven years. I have taken more than my share of quizzes, tests, and exams in my life, and have some understanding of how to structure them. I say that not to brag, but to give some context to this statement: the Certified Lodge Instructor’s exam I took and passed in May was the hardest and most nerve-wracking exam I have ever taken. The exam covers opening, closing, and the first section of all three degrees in every chair, both ritual and floor work. All nine of us who took the exam that day were proficient in everything we were supposed to know, but an eight-hour exam under the eye of four very nice but very intimidating Grand Examiners was by turns exciting, unnerving, and exhausting. I had been studying for over a year with Right Worshipful Brother Ken McDonald, a Grand Lodge Instructor, and I knew my stuff, but by the end of the day if you had asked me my name I’d have second guessed myself enough that I might have remained mute.


So why do it?

I can’t speak for anyone else, but it’s simply unacceptable to me to be unable to teach something that is so central to my life. I don’t think there’s a man who decides to study for the exam who doesn’t love the Work, but certification isn’t just about love of the Work and exemplifying it properly: it’s about passing it on to other Masons, exactly as that Work is supposed to be. And it’s also a challenge. There’s something about being certified to teach that make it important to keep studying, to refine things even more, to work until you’re nearly as good as you’re supposed to be. There’s always more to learn. 

In my case, that means studying for the Grand Lecturer’s exam. I have more lectures to memorize, more floor work to figure out, more catechisms to work through. Right Worshipful Brother McDonald won’t sign my petition until I’m ready, and I don’t know how long that’s going to take; the rest of my life, both Masonic and otherwise, is kind of busy. But I’ll get there. Failure is not an alternative.

Note: Those of us who are certified by the Grand Lodge of Illinois to teach the Standard Work are not to volunteer corrections. We are to teach only if asked. So if you want to improve your Work, and there’s a CLI or a Grand Lecturer at your next stated or special meeting, ask him to criticize your Work. He’ll be glad to do so, and even happier to help you improve. 


~MHS

R.W.B. Michael H. Shirley is the Assistant Area Deputy Grand Master for the Eastern Area for the Grand Lodge of Illinois A.F. & A.M.  He is the Past Master of Tuscola Lodge No. 332 and Leadership Development Chairman for the Grand Lodge of Illinois. He's also a member of the Illinois Lodge of Research, the Scottish Rite, the York Rite, Eastern Star, and the Tall Cedars of Lebanon. He's also a member of the newly-chartered, Illini High Twelve No. 768 in Urbana-Champaign. The author of several articles on British history, he teaches at Eastern Illinois University.