The purpose of a Line - Being the MASTER! 9/15/07

I have been thinking about all of the Masonic meetings I have attended in my 41 and a half years as a Mason. I think I have seen it all and then I see something else.

In Masonry there are (basically) three types of meetings. The stated meeting where we do business and the degree meeting where we put on a degree to either Initiate, Pass or Raise a Brother. There is also a festival meeting which is purely for the purpose of enjoyment.

Of these the ones that are the most enjoyable are the festive meetings. They may include families or the public and they are usually just for the purpose of entertainment. The degree meetings can also be entertaining. They are not intended to be, but they are and it is enjoyable to attend them and watch as a group of 12 to 17 Brothers do their best to make the degree an enjoyable, learning experience for the new member.

The one that should be enjoyable and generally isn't is the stated meeting. Masonic tradition rules that these should be lengthy and boring with minutes read for every meeting held during the month and then the minutes at the end of the meeting to correct the minutes for the evening's meeting. Most of the time the secretary drones on and on and on and the members turn off. Then there is the business portion of the meeting. The Master, if he is inept, allows discussion to go on forever with no progress being made and frustrations growing on the part of members who are there out of loyalty or duty and would really rather be somewhere else. Every word of every communication is read and little is accomplished. When the meeting is over members are ready to leave they are tired.

It doesn't have to be that way. We have a line. People in that line are supposed to progress through the chairs and move up doing new parts each year until they eventually can do most of the parts. In some Lodges it used to be that you had to confer degrees before you could move into the Master's Chair and in face, in some Lodges you had to study to learn the entire ritual before you could become the Junior Warden. I don't necessarily agree with that but that is the way they do it.

Another purpose of the "line" is to give the Brother experience and knowledge about how to run his Lodge. Notice that I said "his" Lodge. It really isn't "his" it belongs to the craft but the ritual and tradition leads one to believe that it belongs to the Master (and in some Lodges it is done that way) and to no one else. As he progresses from Junior steward through Senior Warden he is supposed to pay attention and learn about all of the aspects of Masonry so that by the time he steps into the Master's chair he is capable and knowledgeable about the working of his Lodge.

(Now just a note here. This is written from the perspective of a Lodge. You may choose to interchange, Chapter, Council, Commandery and High Priest, Illustrious Master, Commander with any of these comments. It applies to all of them. It doesn't apply to the Scottish Rite because the government of the Craft in the Scottish Rite is not in the hands of the Brethren. In fact I don't think the Scottish Rite wants most of the membership involved but that is another story and who is to say it isn't a more efficient method of working.)

Not back to my main topic. Unfortunately, it just does not work that way. Time after time I have watched men progress through the line and pay absolutely no attention to what is going on around them. They have no idea about the government of the Lodge or even how to successfully conduct a meeting. They have just taken up space for the past 6 years and when that all important 7th year comes when they are in charge they do not even have a basic idea of the rules and regulations governing Freemasonry. They have no idea how to plan, inspire or accomplish their goals (if they even have them.)

Some of them think that successfully reciting the ritual to open and close and banging the gavel at appropriate intervals is all they need to do. They have not read the by-laws of their Lodge or the Code of the Grand Lodge. They have no idea of the history of their Lodge and they seem to have no desire other than to "get though" their year. Sad!

We have a by-law provision in our Lodge (since 1980 when I was Master) that there be an annual review of the by-laws. This is so that they will be read. And yet for years this by-law, along with the by-law that required an incoming Master to produce a budget, was ignored. They aren't being ignored now but for a long time they were.

The purpose of the line is to learn so that you will be able to govern well. There are other resources out there that will help with this. Our Grand Lodge (and I am sure that every Grand Lodge does something like it) has many resources for the incoming Master. We have a Warden's Handbookthat

"has been specially prepared for the Wardens of Iowa’s constituent lodges to assist them in preparing for and serving as Worshipful Master of their lodge."

Of course, they have to be read to be of use. The Grand Lodge in its role as servant of the Lodges (yeah, right) does other things. They hold Lodge Service Committee Area Education meetings that can be quite useful. (They are too short and should be held for an entire day and be mandatory but that will never happen.) Texas holds a Warden's Retreat for their member Lodges. I'm not sure of the specifics of how it works but have heard good things about it. The point is the programs are in place if the incoming Master will take advantage of them.

Worse than all this is the Master (High Priest/Illustrious Master/Commander) who is not engaged. He shows up at one meeting and then disappears until the next. He may have plans on his trestleboard but he does nothing to see that those plans are met. He sometimes does not even act as if he knows what is going on at his meeting. Sort of sits there like a "bump on a log." He does not listen to the discussion in Lodge and lets people go on and on until people are tired. He has no idea of how to run a meeting. I think that is the bane of the stated meeting

Many times this does not happen and I am not speaking about the many fine Masters who are out there - engaged with their Lodge and participating actively in helping the Lodge to make progress. I am speaking of those who do not assume the responsibility (and it is a big one) of being Master of the Lodge - to "rule and govern with regularity." There is nothing regular about them, and the Lodge suffers because of them. Members do regularly question why they are there wasting their time and suffering through a long boring meeting.

What can be done? First of all those going through the line can become engaged and actually pay attention and learn something. They have 6 years to learn and think about that all important 7th year and, most importantly, to plan what they are going to try to accomplish. They can learn the unique way that a Masonic meeting is conducted. (There is a new book out which I have not read yet called "Robert's Rules of Order for Masonic Lodges") Most important they can build a "constituency" of the officers and members who will actually participate and do the "work" during the year they are presiding.

They can look at the way meetings have been run in the past and see what turns them off (long meetings, boring discussion, no education, divisive brethren, negativity, etc., etc., etc. then they can devise ways to make changes. Notice I am not talking about the degree meetings. Those don't fit under the category I am speaking about. However they can be made more interesting by using engaging, dramatic, accomplished ritualists. I am just talking about the stated meeting here.

Meetings can be shortened by eliminating some of the boring parts. We no longer have to listen to long recitations of minutes. In Arcadia Lodge I prepare two notebooks and the minutes are passed around to be reviewed. I also send them out by e-mail to the Brethren. Both of these practices have been approved by the Grand Lodge but we were doing it before they put their imprimatur on the practice. Reports of a financial nature are also placed in the pass around book. I don't read every word of every communication and for some of them I just reference them and give the gist of what they are about.

In one of my Lodges we have a (short) education speech on some aspect of Freemasonry at every meeting. These are always timely and interesting. They add to our knowledge of Masonry and break up the meeting a little.

While I have been writing this post I have been having an e-mail conversation with Brother Jason about Halycorn Lodge in Ohio which has just broken off from the Grand Lodge of Ohio. He mentioned an article about this very subject which I recommend to you. My post has gone on long enough and I am sure most of my readers are ready for this (stated) meeting to be over.

My point is that as a man progresses through the line (for 6 years) he should be a sponge - soaking up information and knowledge and growing so that for that (all to short) 7th year he can be the best Master he can be and lead the Lodge progressively.

There is a lot that can be done. No one should ever have to sit through a meeting that is boring and goes on forever with nothing of substance being accomplished.