‘The first law of the lodge’

    

At the Fourth Manhattan District’s Protocol Class yesterday.

You think you know something about Freemasonry, but then attend a Masonic Protocol class.

That’s where the Magpie Mason was twenty-four hours ago, joining three lodge brothers and others from the Fourth Manhattan District at Masonic Hall for instruction in the finer points of dos and don’ts. Actually, I shouldn’t have written “lodge brothers.” It’s lodge brethren.

If you think yourself above protocol instruction because you’ve read Waite, Wilmshurst and whatever, get used to the idea of being wrong about that. Approaching my twenty-seventh anniversary in Freemasonry, even I was very curious about what would be imparted to us yesterday. Sure, I knew most of the material already—even I can learn osmotically over time—but a lot of it contradicted what I had learned earlier in life as a—cough—“New Jersey Mason,” and some of it was new to me.

It was in 1924 when Grand Lodge, at the suggestion of MW Arthur S. Tompkins, made the Bible presentation part of lodge life. ‘I am glad to report that my recommendation…has been adopted by many lodges,’ he said before Grand Lodge in May of that year. ‘I hope it may become a universal custom, one that shall indelibly impress upon the mind of every new Mason the fact that the Holy Bible is the Great Light in Masonry; that the doctrine of the Fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man is the cornerstone of our fraternity; and that our first duty to is to God, and the Sacred Book should be the lamp to our feet and a light to our paths.’ 

“We study Protocol because we are convinced of its powers to help maintain harmony,” said RW Bro. Tomas Hull, Grand Director of Ceremonies. “It is a form of courtesy to the individual and a manifestation of respect to the Craft. Harmony is the first law of the lodge. Where discord enters, Freemasonry leaves.”

In the I Knew That category, for examples:

 - No one may tread across the Master’s Carpet.

 - No smoking, food, or drink is permitted in the lodge room.

 - The Inner Door may be used only during degrees.

In the Contradictions Department:

 - Never say “Blue Lodge” or “Symbolic Lodge,” but say “Master Mason Lodge” or “Masonic Lodge.”

 - Do not say “Worshipful Sir” or any other “Sir.” (I’ll never be able to break that habit!)

 - Do not say “To you and through you.” (I can break that habit.)

Under New (to me) Material:

 - There are no “Open Installations” or other events, but instead are “Public.”

 - Do not say “grace the East,” which I’ve never heard before.

 - Do not say “Sitting Master,” although I never knew where that came from anyway.

There was an awful lot more. As my lodge’s tiler, much of the instruction was idiomatic to my responsibilities. Make sure you avail yourself of this and the other courses offered in your district!