Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Cha-Ching!!!

Image:NationalCashRegister.jpgLast night was incredibly busy at Corinthian Lodge #67 in good old Farmington. As I have reported earlier, it was my turn as Senior Deacon to present the M.C. lecture for the Fellowcraft degree. This was my first opportunity to present this lecture to the Lodge and I think it went really well. However, there was more than my memorization work. Brother Dan did a fantastic job with his Proficiency Exam. I really think that Brother Dan did so well because he and his mentor, Brother Wayne, worked diligently and really "brought the noise". Congratulations Brother Dan and Brother Wayne on a job well done. Also, WBro Joe presented the first lecture without prior notification and did a fantastic job on such short notice.

Ritual is what separates Masonry from every other organization. Ritual gives Freemasonry its charm, mystery and enlightenment. When I joined my Lodge, I really didn't know much about the ritual. I had read some of the information online about Freemasonry in general but really did not fully understand the ritual until after I had to memorize my Entered Apprentice exam. Once I began to memorize Masonic ritual, I couldn't stop. Which led me to take on the extremely challenging task of committing to memory the Senior Deacon's long lecture. After a year of intense study, I was finally ready for primetime. I still have some bugs to work out but I have jumped the hardest bar, the first. Also, I've found out that since I am someone who can recite this monologue, I am going to be in demand. I guess it is time to be a traveler.

I want to thank RWB James McNeely for also being in attendance at our Second Degree and for his kind words about our Lodge. It is really nice to see a Grand Lodge officer in Lodge to see the hard work that the brothers put in each and every meeting. Well, I have set the bar for myself. Hopefully, I can keep up memorizing all the lectures.

Update: RWB McNeely maintains a great blog about his travels in the SE Area of Minnesota (of which Farmington is a member). You can find it at http://seareamason.blogspot.com/

7 comments:

A.C. said...

Congratulations, Nick! It's looking like I'm going to be installed as Junior Deacon for the coming Masonic year, and most of the qualms I had about taking the position had to do with knowing the Senior Deacon's duties (especially the MC lecture) are right around the corner!

M.M.M. from the North Eastern Corner said...

Way to go Nick! It is a great feeling when you have given a good lecture (especially the mother of all of 'em). I also love to hear of candidates taking their obligations seriously, last night I had my good friend over to go over his FC prof. and he was excellent and I am very proud of him and can't wait to raise him to the sublime degree (of which I will be dropping back a chair to perform the SD role!)
MMM

Anonymous said...

I don't know what the J.D. has to do in your jurisdiction, A.C., but my advice is to start working on the S.D. lecture now. It may get frustrating because words may not stick in your head, but you'll be OK if you have the discipline to work on a couple of sentences every day, instead of ingesting it in big chunks. And waiting until the last minute.

Justa Mason

Tom Accuosti said...

Nice job, Bro.

Yes, you can get addicted to ritual, either in the delivery or in the various types that are out there, or even in the study to see what they contain. But that one is a huge hump, and glad to see you're so positive about it.

simon laplace said...

I've often thought the natural progression of officer positions alternates between "easy" chairs and "difficult" ones. You use the easy year to learn the difficult portions for the next year. If you happen to skip a chair- Watch Out! Congratulations!

burntloafer said...

Well, for the record: Nick did a great job!

I was proud to witness his first go at it, and I am proud to call him a friend and brother.

I just finished reading complaints in another, unnamed blog, about the 'bankrupcty' of the caliber of men coming into the craft.

Nick has disproved that theory all by himself. Way to go!

Tom Accuosti said...

Steve -
If you're a newbie to blogs, then it's best that you learn to ignore the nattering nabobs of negativity.