Masonry: Learn by Doing

 

Masonry is a wonderful thing, but the best way to understand it is to become involved in it. The various officers' roles each have symbolic meaning, as well as actual duties. For example, the Tyler not only guards the entrance to the Lodge room, but also reminds us of the need to guard ourselves in our personal lives from undue outside influences.

I can show someone how to shape a stone with a hammer and chisel, but unless they pick up the tools and try, they will never cut one block, let alone erect a Temple.

It falls upon us, the Brethren with experience and knowledge, to help teach those who wish to learn and grow. We cannot do it by direction, but by involving them and letting them learn by doing. Let us remember this little tidbit that came by me today:

"I want some Masonic work to do!" announced the newly raised Master Mason. "I don't think I should be a member of this great fraternity and stand around idle."

"That is very praiseworthy," responded the Old Past Master. "What would you like to do?"

"Tell me and I will forget. Show me and I may remember.
Involve me and I will understand"

Confucius; 450 BC ♦

Wisdom finds its way to us in many ways...

Fathers: A Life-Long Influence

For operative masons, building in stone requires great and skillful labor. The material must first be separated into managable blocks, transported to the work site, then carefully shaped and polished until it is ready for use. It requires the application of working tools, constantly referring to the master plan while using other stones to gauge their measurements and finishes, making adjustments as needed.

As Speculative Masons, we are each brought up from the quarries as a rough-hewn stone, striving to shape and polish ourselves that we may one day be of suitable use to the Great Architect. We work to follow his plans best we can, limited only by our skills and the material itself.

As men, our task in life is not always an easy one. We must overcome our base nature by the strength of our hearts and minds, we can only work to the Master Plan as far as it has been revealed to us, and only as we can best understand it. We constantly check to see if we "measure up," comparing ourselves to our fellow men- our friends, associates, and mentors. For many of us, our fathers fit into one or more of those categories. We look up to our fathers as children, even as we enter adulthood and have children of our own. We look to our fathers as friends, sharing activities and discussing life's issues big and small. We look to our fathers as a source of strength, support and guidance. Our fathers are often the most important man in our lives, though we sadly ever realize it, or hesitate to admit it when we do. And we never do quite realize just how much they affect our lives.

When a man loses his father, it changes him. He no longer has that stone, that point of reference to measure himself against. He is left to continue his work on his own. Sometimes he does so haphazardly, other times with renewed strength and determination. Often, for a while after our father's passing, it is a combination of both. Yet we recall that stone, reflect upon it in our hearts while it reflects upon us in our lives, and the Wisdon, Strength and Beauty of it will continue to influence our own Work for the rest of time.

Recently, a friend and Brother lost his father. We are part of another brotherhood now, I having lost mine several years ago, a brotherhood where men continue the work of our lives, forever the sons of the men they still call Dad. Father, friend, mentor, the lessons continue, and we have yet to discover what we have learned and will yet still.

To our fathers everywhere, here and beyond, Thanks, Dad.

The Lambskin Apron

I wrote this after a Masonic funeral service was held for a Brother. I hope that the reader will develop a deeper understanding for the significance of the Lambskin Apron, and what it means to wear it.

*****

Today, I led a Masonic service for a fallen Brother. There were two other Brothers with me. We did not know him, for he was a Sojourner, Initiated, Passes and Raised elsewhere. To us, though, that did not matter- he was still our Brother, and we were needed.

Born in 1933, our Brother’s life and travels had brought him to reside in our area. Somehow his journey had taken him from his Ohio home, where he was Initiated, Passed and Raised in 1965, to Florida, where he owned a carpet and patio store as well as a commercial fishing camp, to an area of New York just north of NY City. It was there that he would find his final resting place, there that he would lay down his Working Tools, and there that a request would go out for a Masonic funeral service.

Calls were made, emails were sent. I first received word just three days ago, as he had only passed the day before that. Many Brethren were going to be out of town today, others could not rearrange their schedules on such short notice. I was available, though, and was glad I was, for I hold the attending of a Masonic service to be one of the highest and most solemn parts of our Masonic Obligations. I was prepared to conduct the service alone, if I had to, but I was glad two other Brethren were able to attend.

There is one emblem, one badge, that above all others represents what our Fraternity is truly about, one that the public all too seldom sees, and less often understands- the Lambskin Apron. In times past, it was worn at the laying of Cornerstones, at dedications of public buildings, in parades, and at Masonic funeral services. Nowadays, the latter is the only time most people will ever encounter it, but it is there that its meaning is most profoundly expressed.

We all mark the making of a Mason with joy and solemnity. We welcome the new Brother into our Fraternity and pray he will grow with his coming knowledge of Masonic Light, and that he will someday become a source of that Light for others. He is given a Lambskin Apron, told that it is our badge, the very whiteness of it standing for purity of life and rectitude of conduct. It is his to wear throughout an honorable life, and to accompany his remains in death.

But why lambskin? In part, because the lamb has long been associated with innocence and purity. However, it has a deeper, more sublime meaning. It is, in the very essence of its use, a defining symbol of our Fraternity, one that welcomes all men who believe in the Supreme Being and immortality of the soul and bestows upon them the title of Brother. The donning of a Lambskin Apron binds us all, unites us as Brethren, reminding us that despite our different backgrounds as men, we share a common Fatherhood. For it is found in that Greatest Light in Masonry, the Holy Bible,

Know ye that the Lord he is God; it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

                                                                        Psalm 100:3 KJV

The Lambskin Apron is therefore not just an emblem of innocence and purity, but of the Fatherhood of God, the Great Architect of the Universe, and of our bonds as Brethren one of another, in mutual dependence and support. Its ties are the Mystic Ties of our Fraternity.

So it is now that we are called upon, for a Brother is in need one last time. He has laid down his Working Tools, never again to wear his Apron. It is for us to comfort his family when he cannot, to reaffirm his faith as well as our own, and to bid a final farewell to our Brother.

After our service, I took a seat in the back of the funeral home. I wanted to learn a bit more about my Brother, a man whom I never had met, and never would, but I knew what he believed in and stood for. I saw and felt some of his Light as I listened to friends and family speak of their loved one, telling tales of his generosity, his love of NASCAR racing, and of fishing. They spoke of his good-natured kindness, always ready to help someone, of his handiness at repairing a child’s broken doll years ago, of reworking a chipped salad bowl by giving it a scalloped edge so it could be used again. Most of all, I heard stories of a man who was loved, who loved others, who enjoyed life. I had a chance, after all, to get to know him a little bit and not just know of him.

I accompanied the family to the gravesite, where a military service was conducted in honor of his time in the Navy during the Korean War and we recited the Lord’s Prayer. As I left, I bid my Brother peace, knowing that I, too, am on a journey, as all Brethren and Fellows who have donned a Lambskin Apron before me.

So what is this blog about?

A Setting Maul is an instrument used by operative masons to adjust the position of a stone block once it has been set into place. The block is hit with some force, seating it into position and aligning it with the others while maintaining a strong bond with the mortar that was previously applied. Great care must be used, for too little force and the block doesn't move enough before the mortar sets. Too much and it will shift too far, requiring it to be removed, more mortar applied, and the block reset. Sometimes the blow is so severe it caused adjacent blocks to shift, requiring much work to be redone, perhaps even damaging the stone beyond use. Consequently, the Setting Maul requires great skill and judgment in its use.

I see it also as an unwritten Working Tool of Speculative Masonry, aka Freemasonry. As we are symbolicaly building King Solomon's Temple, with each of us a stone, we work to take ourselves from our rough, natural state to one befitting the Temple walls. This is done by removing the rough edges, squaring and leveling the surfaces, and making sure the work is plumb, all through the emblematic use of various tools. Lastly, the cement of Friendship and Brotherly Love is applied with the Trowel, uniting the work into one solid, cohesive mass. But the stones must be set properly, nudged and coaxed into position, and this is where the Setting Maul comes into use. It is the force of our words and actions in dealing with each other, in offering support and guidance, or in correcting and criticizing. How we practice our Masonry will affect the work, and we must use great care and discretion to not damage or destroy what we work so hard to build.

This blog is primarily geared towards Freemasons and Masonry as we practice our Craft both in Lodge and in life, with consideration given to the general public. Many readers will already know how the indiscriminate use of the Setting Maul nearly destroyed the Temple for all ages. Hopefully they will understand its use as I do, that our words and actions can do harm, sometimes irreparably. My goal here is to speak on issues relating to life and Freemasonry, but to do so in a constructive and instructive manner, and for both of us to grow in the process.