A Message from your Worshipful Master
Brethen,
I have had two months serving as Master, and I am learning every day, how little I know. The one thing I do know, and well knew, before being elected Master is that you are only as good as the people around you. Luckily, I have a great group of ritual instructors and past Masters to call on for guidance, as well as a fine group of officers.
One of our challenges as a lodge, or society of friends and brothers is finding how to best work and best agree. We cross multiple generations, with varying viewpoints and values. When many of our brethren who are of the Silent or Greatest Generation, or even the early baby boomers joined masonry, it may have taken a decade or more to ascend to the East. Today, those of the late baby boomer, Gen-X and Gen-Y generations who join masonry are rushed through the chairs and can ascend to the East in 5 years or so. The challenge this creates is many of the current officers don’t have the same motivation to learn the ritual as those of earlier years. The sense of urgent competition with those who were raised with you doesn’t exist. There is more a feeling of, I’ll learn it when I get the chance, because there is no one else to take the chair. I think this frustrates those who worked hard for the chairs they achieved, as it frustrates those who work hard to learn the ritual now.
In order to spread the cement of brotherly love a affection, we must be able to take what all generations have to offer and choose the tools that unite us toward a common goal of promoting masonry in our community.
Fraternally,
Scott R. Woodward
Worshipful Master