We Are All Builders

The 4TH Degree

by PJ Roup, 33˚ Active for Pennsylvania Member, Committee on Ritualistic Matters

“Across the world, Master Masons are raised every day, and every day we are called to live by the principles of our Order: Brotherly Love, Relief and Truth. We live these in our daily lives whether among strangers, friends, or family because we recognize their value in meeting everyday challenges.”

Image from the Supreme Council’s 4th degree video, Builder.

So begins the newest Scottish Rite, NMJ degree, Builder. Members who are familiar with the typical format of formal prologue, allegory, and curtain should immediately notice that this is not your ordinary degree. Here, our prologist is dressed casually in a crisp, white shirt and khakis. He speaks to the audience as a contemporary. He shares the same struggles that you and I do. He feels the same stresses. But then he focuses our attention on the dimly lit scene behind him: men working on the Temple of Solomon. He asks us to think about just how monumental a task had been placed before our three Grand Masters—that of building a home for God on Earth. As our prologist speaks, he dons an apron, picks up his tools, and enters the scene as a workman (as all of us are) on the Temple.

Written and approved in 2019, Builder replaced the previous fourth degree, Master Traveler. This new degree was conceived as a way to both bridge the gap between the Blue Lodge degrees and introduce candidates to the Scottish Rite style of degree communication. The degree was also written with the intention of being portable. We wanted Valleys to be able to take it out to the lodges. There are minimal props, relatively few characters, and no special effects or complicated lighting requirements. The degree is perfect for the Rite on the Road program.

Hiram Abiff, the central character of Builder, is well known to all Master Masons. The story takes place in the hours leading up to that fateful event with which all Master Masons are familiar.

As Freemasons, we are all builders— builders of ourselves, builders of each other, and builders of a more perfect world.

We meet Hiram early on as he patiently answers the naïve but innocent question of an eager Entered Apprentice, Joabert. His thoughtful response immediately reveals his humility. What Samuel, the overseer, thought of as an impertinent question becomes the focus of Hiram as he offers his devotion in the dimly lit Holy of Holies: How does just one man build the Temple of God?

As he communes with the Great Architect of the Universe, he arrives at an answer—one that had been there all the time, but just out of reach. Our Grand Master is pleased with the revelations of his devotion. The bell tolls to call the Brethren back to labor, and he heads toward the south gate to check the progress of the work.

Builder is an uncomplicated, thoughtful degree designed to make each of us feel a part of both the Blue Lodge and the Scottish Rite. It is both familiar and unsettlingly new, and it conveys an important message: As Freemasons, we are all builders— builders of ourselves, builders of each other, and builders of a more perfect world. That is the beautiful message of this degree.

Image from the Supreme Council’s 4th degree video, Builder.