ARE WE THERE YET? MAKING OUR WAY BACK TO THE LODGE Andrew U. Hammer, Deputy Grand Lecturer and Grand Historian
Our responsibility to be responsible is no less than what it was a year ago. We remain on guard. Nevertheless, we are moving forward. Thankfully, we are meeting together. Increasingly, we are eating together. And all the while, we are masked, sanitized, and joyfully doing that work we love again, despite the limitations. The opening words of Thaddeus Mason Harris’ Charge at the Opening of a Lodge, written in 1795, could not seem more timely to us today: “Brethren, I behold you again assembling together, with those complacent emotions of affection which animate the meeting of dearest friends who have been for some time separated. After this interval you must have acquired an increased relish for the interesting exercises of this retreat; and you undoubtedly return with new alacrity to your labors of love.” But are we there yet?
WB Andrew U. Hammer
A
s our Lodges have returned to labor, it would be easy for any brother to take a quick look across our grand jurisdiction and determine that after all of the disruption brought by COVID, we are finally back to “normal”, whatever that may now mean. Yet we all continue to cope with the ongoing effects of a global pandemic, amidst concerns over new variants of the virus, and worries as to whether our vaccines (which hopefully, we have all received by now) will continue to keep ourselves and our loved ones away from danger. The Omicron variant has proven to be less dangerous for the fully vaccinated, but so virulent that the Grand Master has now allowed the Masters of our Lodges to invoke Section 2005.09 of the Masonic Code, allowing them to call off stated or called communications if the situation should become more concerning in the days ahead (Decision No. 2022-2).
Masonic Lodges, particularly larger ones with over 100 members, are well acquainted with the generations-old issue of only about 10 - 15% of their members being present for meetings, and even less of that number being what one might call active members. Masonry has never escaped these kinds of concerns. Coming back from COVID to find that the same brothers we never saw before are not there now is nothing that really worries us. We are always grateful for their financial fealty to the Lodge, but we don’t expect to see them, so we don’t really miss them. What some of us are noticing now, however, is a different kind of absence from the Lodge. Brothers we do expect to be with us, brothers who were fully engaged until the pandemic, have not yet made their way back to the Lodge. Some of us need no reminder of why this may be. But those of us whose lives were lucky enough to not be directly affected by the virus, should be aware that the unseen consequences of this virus—
even on those who have never contracted it— are insidious; they have ripped chasms in the lives of many Masons who are still struggling to find a way to reconnect with the things they enjoyed before. Freemasonry talks to us of faith; of an all-seeing eye; an omnipotent being. The normally remote contemplation of theodicy, which one might previously have reserved for plane crashes and earthquakes, has now become foremost in the minds of brothers we know and love, and they may find it hard to celebrate the praises of Deity that we so revere in our temples. They are not there yet. The psychological impact of isolation for some, and the sad or sudden realization of an incompatible relationship for others, have produced wounds to the soul that do not heal as easily as we would like. So while we do our best to resume our Masonic lives, in some places the quarries are missing some of our best master craftsmen. It is at times like these that the Craft, if we let it, and if we remember its teachings, can seek remedies to the matter. We are fortunate that the Apprentice is taught, minutes after his initiation is sealed, the obligation to relieve the distressed. Four times in this one section of the lecture, it is emphasized that we have a duty to tend to the mental-emotional health of our brethren. Saying that, however, is not as easy as doing it. Some brothers may be unresponsive, seeming to have switched the world off. Reaching out to them with a firm grip is what we want to do; in reality, one must find the line between being seen to be a pest, and letting that brother know that you will not give up on him. Even if he is not “present”, some form of communication, be it text, e-mail, or an old-fashioned card in the mail will likely be appreciated, even if it is not acknowledged. He knows you’re there, and he sees that you care.
ISSUE 1, 2022 THE VOICE OF FREEMASONRY | 3
