South Haven MM

On Saturday, May 30th South Haven held a Master Mason degree. There were 15 visitors helping us raise Ron, and the practice and planning really paid off.

We were not letter perfect. Not everyone knew their lines without the book. But thanks to help from Coloma, Lakeshore, Kalamazoo and other lodges we had plenty of people and an extremely successful degree.

I wish we could put on a degree like this with our own lodge, but the fact is we can't. And I wish I could have reciprocated by going to the Kalamazoo Lodge's all degree day yesterday, June 6th, but we gave our grandchildren (1 and 2) a combination birthday party yesterday.

My wife and I spent hours the night before preparing the breakfast and lunch. Even though it was "just" cold-cuts, there was a lot of preparation. I had help from one brother cleaning up afterward.

If I'm in town, and can possibly make it, I will do anything I can to help my brother lodges. The turnout was wonderful.

SH Fellowcraft

We barely have enough regular attendees to perform a degree, and it's a good thing because that's all we had last night -- except JD from Pennsylvania popped in! Our JD had to do double duty as a Steward because no one -- no one -- from a neighboring lodge bothered to show up. I know Coloma had an officer practice because the GM was visiting their lodge during their regular meeting. But Fennville, Allegan, non-officer Coloma, Bloomingdale?

I used to think it was just us -- that South Haven didn't reach out, so no one reached out to us. But we have been reaching out, helping with degrees where necessary, and yet still no one visits.

I'm concerned about our MM on May 30th now. We're going to need a lot of help.

Oh: Ron was passed and Dick, the outstanding ritualist he is, performed the lectures as well as ever. Tim stepped up and did the beginning of the lecture -- he's trying to learn it -- and James stepped up and did the charge. We all know we can't count on Dick forever, as much as we'd love to. I did fine until the end, where I completely blanked. And my wife made brownies. She never makes brownies and swore she'd never cook for the lodge, but she made them just the same.

The Trestleboard

I edit the Trestleboard -- a newsletter -- for South Haven lodge, Bloomingdale lodge and the Shrine club. A few months ago, my wife -- who is better at presentation than I -- took it over. I still edit the text the WM's send me, and help make it coherent, but she spends hours reformatting it and making it look good, then printing it, then folding it, then sorting it and taking it to the post office. Each group spends $200 a year on postage and supplies (I consider any extra costs to be a donation).

This year the WMs are writing a lot, which means a lot of paraphrasing and editing. There's only so much room. The first issue was on 11x17.

There's a lot going on in our lives, and it usually takes a while before we have the time it takes to do this.

The text is due on the 15th, and the Shrine club is usually right on time. Our WM is usually within tolerance of being on time (that is, Friday before the first weekend after the 15th). Last month I had a business trip from the 16th to the 20th. The WM of Bloomingdale never replied to my reminder, but everyone else was on-time. At the Fellowcraft degree on the 21st -- at Bloomingdale Lodge -- that WM assured me it would be there by the end of the day. It wasn't. We began editing and printing on the 22nd -- with only the information he gave me at the degree -- so we'd be done by the end of the week. We got his input on the 25th (Tuesday). So she printed his as written on a separate page of paper, and folded that in. Thanks to her heroic efforts, our newsletter arrived locally on the 31st.

Will this help our tardy WM deliver on time? We'll see.

Religious Tolerance

My parents were raised Southern Baptist. My brother is Catholic and my sister is Jewish. I was baptized in a generic Christian church. My soul, I think, is Jewish. I feel more at ease among Jews than any one else.

I remembered that recently when I went to my nieces' Bat Mitzvah in New York. I felt more like myself there.

The cultural differences between New York and South Haven are vast.

Item: I was having a drink with a couple of brothers and one complained about the prices a local merchant charged, then said "I know that, on Sunday, he goes to Synagogue". I pointed out that Jews celebrate the Sabbath on Saturday. I left the rest of my rant unspoken.

Item: a relative was talking about a big event at her church. It seems that the Jewish family that belongs to the church is going to hold a Seder so that everyone can see what the Last Supper was like. We recommended against bringing a ham.

(I am not making this up)

I explain to people that when I was young, I went to Jewish Community Day Camp, because (according to my Mom) that was the only nearby day camp with swim lessons. My parents were so traumatized by the Baptists that they couldn't bear to take us kids to church, so JCDC became my Bible school. But there's more to it than that. My Mom and Grandmother used yiddish terms like "kibitz" or "meshugga". I didn't realize they weren't English until I moved to Orange County, California, so unless I was hanging out with people who had heard Yiddish, I'd sound odd. I don't use Yiddish much any more, but I miss it.

I'm a goy and my wife is a shiksa, and if I said this out loud here I would get no smiles, no understanding, no recognition.

There have been (and may still be) Jewish members of my lodge. Our lodge isn't as diverse as Ruyrad Kipling's (In 1925, he wrote in the London Times, "I was Secretary for some years of Hope and Perseverance Lodge No. 782, E.C. Lahore which included Brethren of at least four creeds. I was entered by a member of Bramo Somaj, a Hindu; passed by a Mohammedan, and raised by an Englishman. Our Tyler was an Indian Jew"). I am comforted to know that religious tolerance is one of the fundamental tenets of Masonry.

My wife asked me the other day, "why would anyone want to be a Mason?"

I think one good reason to be a Mason is because Masons believe that there are many ways to worship The Grand Architect of the Universe.

Grand Master Visit

The Most Worshipful Grand Master of Michigan popped by last night.

The meeting basically went like this:

We have big charities, please donate to them.

We are really low on money, especially since our reserves were eaten up in the stock market.

We are not gaining members as fast as we need to. We need to raise per-capita, so there are two proposals. One raises the per-capita $50, the other raises it $12.50 over 4 years.. Any questions?

Q: We can't afford raising dues $50 a year.

A: Then raise it less.

Q: We can't afford raising dues at all

A: Then we can't afford Masonry. But don't tell me it's not worth a dollar more a week.

We have had an extraordinary run of good Grand Masters. I know several of them, and in every case, they are more interested in the needs of the Fraternity than the status confered by the title. Our Deputy Grand Master is a good guy. He says, "I'm the guy that is telling you we need to raise the per-capita. So blame me".

Afterwards, cake and ice cream from our lodge (most of the expense was reimbursed by Grand Lodge). We had almost 50 men there, and it worked out great.

Spring Cleaning

Last night we cleaned the lodge from top to bottom -- except for the kitchen, which is fairly clean. There were eight of us and it took about 3 hours. Today the Grand Master is popping in for an area Town Hall meeting -- whatever that is.

20th

We presented the 20th degree yesterday. I had a small part with lines dispersed throughout the ritual (Junior Deacon). I enjoyed this part, and since I introduced the major characters, there was no chance of having my line skipped over accidently.

This degree teaches us that treason is unforgiveable, but that fraternal bonds supercede all conflicts. I think it's unlikely that there are Masons among the current, active enemies of the US, but it wouldn't be hard to imagine Masons among former combatants in North Korea, Vietnam and Iraq, and I wonder if there are any stories of Masonic interest from more recent times. Would returning masonic paraphanalia to an active enemy be considered appropriate, or "giving aid and comfort"?

The festive board afterwards was great. Plenty of food, good fellowship, wine. I sat between two DDI's; I never did figure out who our DDI was (he wasn't at the festive board), and what a DDI actually did. I did hear their pet peeves, and I'd learned to avoid those mistakes already.

In May I'll be stepping up to a new part in the 31st -- Bishop -- where I'll have several speaking parts.

Visiting Coloma

This was a busy week. Regular lodge was Tuesday; Scottish Rite practice Wednesday; and we visited Coloma Thursday.

I'm more comfortable as Junior Warden. First, I made a terrific (if I do say so myself) beef stew. I am struggling with deserts though. I think if I offered fresh fruit, I might be ... impeached. So I stuck to store-bought pie for now. It's still intimidating watching the Senior Warden work, knowing I'll be stumbling through those lines in a year, but at least is seems feasible.

Our Scottish Rite Valley is changing the way reunions are conducted. More degrees will be held in local lodges throughout the year, and fewer during the reunion. We're doing the 20th this month. I have a few lines, and I'm finding it easier to learn ritual as I do more of it. More importantly, there will be a festive board after the 20th. I missed the first practice (business), but I learned the words I have to say before the second practice on Wednesday night.

Six of us went to Coloma, including our new EA, Ron. The WM - Don Baugher -- was a fantastic host. Knowing that Ron was coming, his officers were prepared to open in the EA degree. There was a terrific dinner of corned beef and cabbage, and a presentation from the Food Bank. James from our lodge sat in as Senior Deacon, doing a bang-up job considering his prep time. I missed Survivor, but my wife and I will watch it together this weekend I hope.

We'll be back to Coloma -- those of us in the Scottish Rite -- to do the 20th degree on March 14th. Along with the 20th, our lodge will be passing Ron at the end of the month, and I'll need to learn my part in that degree.

I'm glad we're visiting other lodges and networking this year.

EA in Allegan & South Haven, Scottish Rite Club

Last week several of us went to Allegan to attend their EA degree. Tim was asked to be Marshall, a role he "was born for", according to the BGP representative attending.

I helped as a steward.

There were three candidates that night, and that meant that everyone had their parts down by the end. There was an odd moment where a candidate was prompted when he was having trouble finding the right words, but we moved on. The master of the lodge, Michael, was fantastic, and everyone did a good job with the ritual. I was pretty tired at the end.

It was fantastic for us because we are initiating a candidate tonight. Well, not me -- I've been summoned to Long Island. But I'll be there in spirit; after all, I did attend every practice. I doubt we'll do another EA this year, and I won't get a chance to do that role as Junior Warden for a while, so I'm missing it.

I also hope we've made better contacts with nearby lodges. I know the master of Allegan will be attending a degree in Paw Paw (even though no one from Paw Paw attended their degree, but five from South Haven showed up), but I hope some of the other Allegan brothers pop over to our lodge. The master of Coloma -- who's also the Supreme Commander -- put out an email to his lodge, asking his brothers to attend our degree. That's fantastic.

Tomorrow I'm missing 20 degree practice for the Scottish Rite. We're doing that degree -- alone -- at Coloma on 3-21, and it'll be followed by a festive board (woo-hoo!). I'm glad we're doing more festive boards.

Last Saturday we decided to start a Scottish Rite club for the area, and acquire a couple of small degrees. I hope it's fairly informal; I think the only titles ought to be Director #5 and Director #7, but we'll see.

It's good to be employed. Giving up Masonic commitments for work sucks.

First JW Meeting

Last week was my first meeting as Junior Warden. I noticed some mistakes made by the SD, but only told him, "nice job" -- remembering all the helpful advice I heard last year.

We have an EA this month, so I'll need to learn a new part.

I "made" lasagne from Pizza Hut and a salad for dinner. For desert: pie. ("Do you like it? I bought it myself").

I'm already concerned about the amount of memorization I need to do next year.