The Culture of a Masonic Lodge 8/16/08

Behold, how good and how pleasant [it is] for brethren to dwell together in unity!

[It is] like the precious ointment upon the head, that ran down upon the beard, [even] Aaron's beard: that went down to the skirts of his garments; 

As the dew of Hermon, [and as the dew] that descended upon the mountains of Zion: for there the LORD commanded the blessing, [even] life for evermore.

I got to thinking today about the "culture" of a Lodge. The way the Brothers behave towards one another and towards the community and towards other Lodges. I (currently) belong to two lodges. Each of them is different. There are things I really like about both of them. Over the years I have been involved with and observed many different Lodges.

The scripture above talks about how it should be in that Lodge. It is the place where we open the Bible on the First Degree. It is the Scripture that is read as the Candidate walks around the Lodge Room for the first time. I am sure there are many reasons that this scripture was chosen but I really feel like the first line has special meaning for Masons.

There is a word I like. "Egregore" An "egregore as a kind of group mind which is created when people consciously come together for a common purpose." The Egregore of a Lodge is sort of the way the Lodge thinks together. They have a common purpose. some will tell you that the purpose is character building, others will tell you that it is to make Masons. For some performing acts of service is the reason they participate in Lodge.

An egregore can be positive, neutral or negative. I have seen all three. When I first joined the Masons in another town (far, far away) I was not immediately drawn into the culture of the Lodge. I got the feeling that no one really cared if I was there or not. I didn't attend much, I joined Eastern Star at the same time and that was in Ames while I was in a lodge near Cedar Rapids. I did not do much with either of these bodies and was just a "dues payer" I moved back to Ames and was asked to join the York Rite.

At that time the York Rite in the State and in Ames was an active, viable group with the members truly behaving like the "companions" they were called. The members were "fun" and I enjoyed it a lot. I got involved and enjoyed myself. I attended Arcadia Lodge some and eventually moved my membership here from my other Lodge. I can still visualize the Worshipful Master as he walked into the room. Marched directly to the East, looking neither right nor left, sounded the gavel and began his ritual. Now I knew this guy. He was a good man. He just had the wrong (IMHO) idea of what he was supposed to do as Master.

The whole name Master is something that causes problems. In the installation ritual the Master is told some things about his place and position in the Lodge. The Master has great power but he is not supposed to use it in an arbitrary or dictatorial manner. While he does have that great authority I still remember the words "he that is elevated for a time is to serve" the others (paraphrased). At that time there was a great deal of contention in the Lodge about who could have keys, where pictures would be placed. People kept stirring things up. The egregore was not positive and I chose to put my efforts into the York Rite and Eastern Star where it was positive.

I wrote to my great-aunt in California about what I was doing. Wise woman that she was she wrote to me, "What are you doing for your Blue Lodge?" Wake Up Call! - I decided to get involved in my Lodge. And I did some things for my Blue Lodge. I started the Masonic Newsletter and was the editor of it for years. I started the Family dinners before the Lodge (at that time they were $1 dinners). When I worked my way up to be Master I did something that had never been done before in my Lodge. I pulled the Officers together and talked to them about what we were going to do as a Lodge that year. We planned. I laid out some things I wanted to see happen and way they could be accomplished. I used a "matrix" system of planning and it is described in a Knights Templar Magazine article which I wrote.

I asked my officers to consider themselves as the "hosts of the Lodge" and to mix with the membership and make them feel they were welcome and wanted. I also tried to fight the perception that other Lodges had of Arcadia as being stand offish and we visited other lodges. We started a travelling gavel. We had activities such as a Teacher's night. I started a "Mason of the year and Person of the Year (now dropped) award and had special dinners to honor them.

The biggest thing I did was to get rid of some of the arguments about what was in the By-laws by going through the minutes and gathering all of the By-laws and putting them together and then bringing the officers and others who were interested together to completely revise them. One of the things I put in was an annual review of those by-laws (not always followed) to keep them current and up to date.

I had seen Brothers so upset in the Lodge in the past that they had taken their aprons off, thrown them on the Secretary's desk and stormed out of the Lodge. One other time a Senior Warden was not elected on to the East. That was the most tense night I had ever spent in Lodge.

Thankfully the culture of my Lodge has changed. Currently we (mostly) get along and treat each other with respect. Once in awhile there is a "glitch" but they have corrected themselves and for the most part the Brethren are "dwelling together in unity."

We seem to appreciate each other and if there are problems they are generally in the thought of the person who thinks there is a problem rather than being an actual problem. Every organization has problems but we seem to be able to get past most of them.

The new Lodge I belong to in Des Moines has not been in existence long enough to really have its culture fully developed but I will say this. After the first two meetings and the brotherhood there it is developing into something very special. We are about doing great ritual and we have some great ritualists as evidenced by last night. We are a little more formal than other Lodges but it was very nice to see the Brothers all dressed in dark suits and white gloves. The time we spend after the meetings is a part of our "culture" and the leadership of our Lodge is excellent. I am very proud to be a part of it.

I have been in other lodges where the Brethren do not "dwell together in unity." I don't have to tell you the tension in the room when the officers snipe at each other and do not treat the members with respect. They aren't fun places to be.

Grand Lodge has great programs in place for a Lodge to develop a "culture" which will be a positive "Masonic" culture. The Lodge Service Committee has a web site which has great resources for any Lodge who want to develop and grow.

All of the various activities of a Lodge are important. The most important feature of any Lodge is how the Brothers treat each other and how they welcome guests. The hospitality of a Lodge is, to me, the defining feature of the "culture" of that Lodge.

A word of advice I used to hear on the radio in Cedar Rapids sticks with me. "It's nice to be important, it's much more important to be nice.