Enlarging your "tent" 9/20/07

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.