April Kansas Mason Pulse

Time Off or Time to Reboot? By Mikel Stoops - Deputy Grand Master

As we make our way through these uncertain times, we must keep in mind that we are not the first, and we will not be the last generations of Masons who have and will undergo situations like this. On numerous occasions throughout the history of Freemasonry, there have been times when physical meetings were not practical or even permissible. Be those due to war, political persecution, sickness, and so on, yet, through all, Masonry has endured.

It is no secret to anyone that Masonry is not as “healthy” as it once was in Kansas or the United States. To me, the “health” of our Fraternity is not measured by how many members we have. Instead, it is measured by the quality of the experience our members are receiving in every interaction with their Lodges. Having 1,000 or 1,000,000 Masons in Kansas is not relevant until we stop losing members because we are not providing the best Masonic experience possible in every Lodge. This is the measure of “health” that is most important to me.

So, we have choices Brothers. We can become stagnate during this time and let everything slide, with our Lodges becoming worse for it. We can do the bare minimum to come out of this time no better or worse than we went into it. Or, we can use this time to set our resolve, make plans, and implement those plans to come out of this better for having gone through these hardships.

Our Lodges were once places of learning that taught philosophical, moral, and spiritual lessons to our initiates through the teachings, symbols, tools, and apprenticeship structure of the operative stonemason’s guilds. There were high-level intellectual discussions on topics relevant to Masonry and the other Arts and Sciences which we are told to study. Within the confines of our Lodges, Brothers discussed and learned from each other. The mundane business of the Lodge was neither the focus of nor the reason for those meetings.

Today that is simply not what we see in 99% of our Lodges. Lodges are no longer places of philosophical, moral, and spiritual learning with intelligent discussions on the Arts and Sciences. Instead, we fill our meetings with mundane discussions of minutes, bills, and who is going to clean the toilet, sweep the floor, and prepare the next cold-cut meal. This is not the Masonic experience we should settle for, and it is certainly not the experience the men coming into our Fraternity expect.

Instead of viewing our current situation as downtime, let’s use this as a reboot and come back up offering the Masonic experience our lodges should have always been providing. If we do this, our Lodges will once again be places for learning philosophical, moral, and spiritual lessons and where we value and understand the importance of ritual, decorum, and intellect.

We have choices Brothers, and I know which one I choose.