Freemasonry is Serious Work

Many of us have experienced what I may call lethargic Freemasonry. We are in the middle of conferring a degree and look to the pews only to find half of the members in attendance hypnotically scrolling on their phones, looking for something more interesting to them than the solemn ceremony taking place before them. We show up to Lodge to find coffee-stained "pure white aprons", a half-hearted ritual, and many of the brethren seem like they may have something better to do.

For a young ambitious man entering Masonry an experience such as this can be quite disheartening. He has read the historical narratives of how Freemasons organized themselves to free America from the grip of Tyranny, he has studied the poetry and artwork of the countless numerous Masonic writers and artists that fill our rosters, he has read the literature which esteems Freemasonry as the spiritual and civic bastion of the Western World.

Now he is ready to dedicate his own life to the beautiful work of our craft and he comes face to face with something quite different from what he has read about. The members performing his degree seem to have not spent much time memorizing anything, he is rushed through his lecture without ever truly grasping what any of it means, and 3 months later like a man coming out of a coma he is a Master Mason and he has no idea what he really did to earn that esteemed title which graced the names of Earth's most influential men.

While the above commentary paints a picture of a Blue Lodge experience, this narrative gets even more serious when we approach the body that is our Scottish Rite of Freemasonry. This is not a playground, our reunions are not weekend vacations, and this is not a place for unserious men.

The Scottish Rite of Freemasonry is a place where we engage in very serious, deeply spiritual, & philosophical ceremonies that reach into the farthest realms of human thought and present a complex picture of the world to men who choose to subject themselves to such rigorous instruction. It is called the "University of Freemasonry" for a reason.

The instructions of the Scottish Rite, when studied with the same solemnity with which it was originally written, have the very real power to alter the thinking patterns and inner world of the Brethren engaged in such study. Few things in the life of man will ever have the same impact on him as this course of instruction, so graciously compiled and packaged by our Masonic forefathers who came before us.

Those forefathers wandered realms of darkness, fought the follies of humanity, and fortified this doctrine in a way that continues to transmit light to us hundreds of years after its inception. Yet now we all too often take that reality for granted. We come to reunions as we please and show up to meetings if it's convenient.

My brother, this must end. We must hold this Rite in our hearts as the esteemed institution that it is. We must take this great work seriously, soberly, and diligently. We must hold ourselves to a high standard in our appearance, our ritual, our attendance, our instruction, and most importantly our ability to listen and pay attention.

God, the artificer of fate, has placed you by his divine grace into the Scottish Rite of Freemasonry. Let us never again take his preferment for granted.