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.