The Meeting

by Midnight Freemason Contributor
Steven L. Harrison, 33°, FMLR


The Lodge room looked better than I had ever seen it. Magnificent, actually. The officers' chairs were solid walnut with gold filigree inlaid designs of the working tools. An Italian marble podium sat in front of each of the warden's chairs with an intricate swirling design that matched marble insets on the walls around the room. New deep blue wall-to-wall carpeting covered the floor. A crystal chandelier illuminated the altar and an ornate Letter G hung above the Master's chair in the east.

I was encouraged by the size of the crowd at the meeting — probably over 100 Brothers. I couldn't help but think how great it was that the Grand Lodge had voted to change things to allow lodges to make every use of the technology available, a move I was certain had everything to do with the large number in attendance.

I saw Joe, an old friend, across the room and went over to greet him. "Wow," I said, "I haven't seen you in years. When did you get back in town?"

"I didn't, Brother Steve." he replied.

"Me, either," I said and we chuckled at our little exchange.

The Master called the meeting to order and we all took our seats. Some things change and some don't. After the opening ceremonies the Secretary read the minutes and the Treasurer gave his report. During the business part of the meeting we discussed the sad state of our Lodge furniture, something which seemed inconsistent with the gorgeous view I had of my surroundings. Based on the Treasurer's report we decided we didn't have the funds to do anything about it now, but with participation up under the new rules, maybe we could do something next year.

The reason I go to meetings these days is the Masonic education, and that meeting did not disappoint. We took a walking-tour of the Loge des Neuf SÅ“urs as it appeared during the time Ben Franklin was a member. Then, the main speaker, Brother George Washington, spoke on his thoughts about the fraternity, a presentation based on his writings and experiences during his lifetime.

The Master closed the Lodge and I greeted several more old friends before leaving. Conversing with them after the meeting we agreed it had been an inspirational evening and would look forward to more of this kind in the future.

A great evening at an end, I popped the Virtual Reality contact lenses out of my eyes, and re-acclimated myself as I looked around the bare VR room surrounding me. "I'd really like to go back home and visit that Lodge," I said to myself, "Gosh, I don't think I've been back there since about 2025." Then, I leaned on my walker and slowly made my way back to my room at my retirement home in Florida.

~SLH

Bro. Steve Harrison, 33° is Past Master of Liberty Lodge #31, Liberty, Missouri. He is the editor of the Missouri Freemason magazine, author of the book Freemasonry Crosses the Mississippi, a Fellow of the Missouri Lodge of Research and also its Worshipful Master. He is a dual member of Kearney Lodge #311, St. Joseph Missouri Valley of the Scottish Rite, Liberty York Rite, Moila Shrine and a member and Past Dean of the DeMolay Legion of Honor. Brother Harrison is a regular contributor to the Midnight Freemasons blog as well as several other Masonic publications. His latest book, Freemasons: Tales From the Craft & Freemasons at Oak Island. Both are available on amazon.com.

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