Passing the Light

By Senior Midnight Freemason Contributor

Gregory J. Knott, 33°

It was the day we had hoped to avoid, but reality said otherwise, Ogden Lodge No. 754 voted to merge with St. Joseph Lodge No. 970.

The last few years for Ogden Lodge have been a struggle.  Not unlike many lodges right now, our membership was aging, costs to operate the building had risen dramatically and consistently obtaining a quorum to open and meet was a constant challenge.  St. Joseph Lodge was facing similar challenges and members from both lodges began conversations about merging.  

Ogden and St. Joseph are two small communities about five miles apart in east-central Illinois.  We share a long history together.  Ogden Lodge was chartered in 1877 and St. Joseph Lodge in 1914.  When the St. Joseph lodge was formed, most of the original members had been members of Ogden Lodge.

In 1963 our two communities voted to merge our high schools, forming St. Joseph-Ogden High School.  It was a similar story at that time: both high schools were challenged to offer all they could to students, were already sharing teachers and classes and finally the public decided they would be stronger together.  63 years later St. Joseph-Ogden High School is one of the premier public schools in our area.

Our conclusion was also similar for the two lodges, coming together would make us both stronger and ensure that Freemasonry could thrive in our communities for the generations ahead.  Through numerous discussions, we decided to sell the Ogden Lodge building and meet in the St. Joseph Lodge building.   As of this writing the Ogden building was listed for sale and sold quickly to a local business.

At Ogden, we held a short ceremony to pass the light from Ogden to St. Joseph.   Written by PM Steve Guess, this ceremony was a meaningful way to pass the light.  The ceremony said in part: 

Brethren, we assemble tonight not in sorrow, but in reverence.

For one hundred and forty-nine years, the light of Masonry has

burned in this place through the labors of the Brethren of Ogden

Lodge No. 754.

Generations of good men have entered these doors seeking light.

Here they met upon the level, worked upon the square, and

parted upon the plumb.

Within these walls friendships were formed, lessons were learned,

and the timeless principles of Masonry were passed from one

generation to the next.

Tonight, we honor the legacy of this lodge, and we celebrate the

continuation of its spirit as our brethren join with St. Joseph Lodge

No. 970 to make the new St. Joseph – Ogden Lodge.

At the closing, we ceremonially passed the light to St. Joseph Lodge WM Jeff Baine who will carry the light from Ogden to St. Joseph.   We are planning a similar ceremony in the near future that we will receive the light in the St. Joseph Lodge as we welcome our new combined membership.

It was an emotional day for me personally.  I am a member of both lodges, but I was raised in Ogden Lodge and began my journey in Freemasonry at the Ogden altar.  Looking ahead, I foresee a new combined energy for the St. Joseph-Ogden Lodge.  We will be able to better serve our membership and communities. 

The WM said the following words as we closed the work of Ogden Lodge:

Brethren of Ogden Lodge No. 754,

Tonight, we stand at a moment that few lodges ever reach.

For one hundred and forty-nine years, the doors of this lodge

have opened to men seeking light. Within these walls, good men

knelt at the altar and took solemn obligations. Here friendships

were forged that lasted lifetimes. Here we mourned our departed

brothers and welcomed new ones into the fraternity.

Think of the men who sat in these very seats before us.

Farmers… soldiers… teachers… fathers… grandfathers.

Men who came here after long days of work, not for glory or

recognition, but because they believed in something greater than

themselves — Brotherhood, Charity, and Truth.

They lit the lights of this lodge long before any of us were born.

And tonight, we are the stewards of that light.

A lodge is more than a building.

It is more than a charter on the wall.

It is the spirit of the men who gathered here.

That spirit cannot be closed…

and it cannot be extinguished.

The work of Ogden Lodge does not end tonight.

Instead, it continues as our brethren join with the brothers of St.

Joseph Lodge.

The light that has burned in Ogden for nearly a century and a half

will not go dark.

It will simply shine in a new place.

And someday, years from now, when future Masons meet in St.

Joseph - Ogden Lodge… they may not know all our names.

But they will still be working by the same principles.

They will still stand upon the same foundation.

And part of that foundation will always be Ogden Lodge.

So mote it be.

~GJK

Gregory J. Knott, 33° is the Senior Contributor for the Midnight Freemasons.  He is Past Master of both Ogden Lodge No. 754 and St. Joseph Lodge No. 970.   He is also an avid photographer since retiring.  You can see more of his photography at https://whyknottmedia.com/ 

Peggy Sue and the Freemasons

by Midnight Freemason Contributor

Bro. Steven L. Harrison 33˚, FMLR

In the 1986 movie Peggy Sue Got Married, Kathleen Turner plays an adult who attends her high school reunion, suffers from a major case of the vapors, and is transported back in time. She lands back in 1960, when she was a high school senior, with a chance to start anew, correct old mistakes, and perhaps make a few new ones.

During the ensuing do-wop-laced couple of hours, Peggy Sue reassesses her early relationship with her boyfriend-become-husband/ex-husband Charlie, played by Nicholas Cage.  She forms a friendship with an ostracized high school geek and plants his turbocharged brain with coming attractions like the moon landing and gizmos such as microwave ovens, pocket calculators, and digital watches he could invent to become rich and famous. Then, as an inspired young inventor herself, she manufactures the world's first pair of pantyhose.

After her requisite fling with a laconic motorcycle-riding rebel-with-a-cause-poet, she runs off to visit her time-warp resurrected grandparents. There, she comes clean about her time-traveling escapade. The understanding Gram and Gramps believe her. Sort of. She confesses she misses her children and wants to go back.

So, what's a gal to do in order to time-hop back to the future without a DeLorean? I'm glad you asked. Grandpa has the solution. He'll hustle her off to his Lodge where they have just the ceremony for that.

They arrive at the Lodge building which on the outside is a conical structure resembling a Crazy Cup Ice Cream stand, but on the inside is almost certainly a genuine Masonic Lodge, replete with dozens of grayscale portraits of real-life Past Masters… just like the ones in your Lodge.

"What does Grandma think you do at these meetings," asks the wide-eyed Peggy Sue.

"Stag parties and poker games," quips Gramps. Well, there goes one of our secrets.

The Brothers are suited in royal-purple robes with gold-colored fringe and embroidery. Accessories include a cornucopia of hats. What appear to be more lower-ranking Brothers wear black drooping Renaissance hats while others have elaborate royal-purple pyramid shaped headgear. Gramps, probably being something like a Past Poo-Bah, has a purple rectangular block-shaped headpiece with what appear to be four doorknobs on the top corners. 

Peggy Sue gasps, "Grandpa, do you have to wear that hat?"

Gramps adjusts the hat moving it to the perfect position, "Wouldn't be a Lodge without hats." Another secret revealed.

Inside the Lodge room, the head Muckety-Muck sits in a familiar setting behind a podium elevated to a level three steps up. Opposite him, we see the customary sight of two columns. Not surprisingly, an altar stands in the center of the room.

A Brother informs Peggy Sue the Lodge was founded by a time-traveler (as was my own Lodge, but I digress). The ceremony begins with the resident musician playing Beautiful Dreamer on a mandolin. A black-hatted Brother steps to the altar, breaks an egg into a chalice, and completes the concoction with an elixir of red goop. He follows this with the sign of the degree which is thus made: the hands are crossed palm-inward in front of the face with the thumbs touching the nose. The hands are then flapped vigorously with the Brother staring upward, symbolic of a prospective time-traveler flying off to a new epoch. The gesture draws a snicker from Peggy Sue – a reaction we may all have seen from our wives during open ceremonies. Three raps from the symbolic East brings the already standing Brothers to order as he enjoins the "Lord of the Universe, Ruler of Light, King of the Sun" to guide Peggy Sue, clad in a gold robe,  forward in time.

Chaos reigns as the scene fills with thunder and lightning. The Lodge goes dark, Peggy Sue disappears and when the light returns a Brother yells, "Let's play cards!"

Any well-educated Mason would recognize the faults in this rendition of the Time Travel Ceremony – something I cannot discuss in this public forum.  That would lead the Brother to recognize it would not have worked as presented. Instead, when the Lodge was dark Charlie (remember Charlie?) swept in, grabbed Peggy Sue, and whisked her away.

The adventure culminates with Peggy Sue waking up from her fainting spell, securely returned to 1986. In an "aaaawwwwwwwwww" moment Peggy and her ex-husband reconcile leaving the door open for Charlie… a.k.a. Nick Cage… a.k.a. Benjamin Franklin Gates… to go off on his own quest where he discovers the Freemasons are the stewards of a great National Treasure.

~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.

100 Years Of Jobs Daughters and The Gavel - “ Honor your past for a brighter future.”

by Midnight Freemason Guest Contributor

Michael Laidlaw, 32°

This year marks the 100th anniversary of Jobs Daughters. Founded in 1920 by Mrs. Ethel T. Wead Mick in Omaha, Nebraska. They take their teaching from the story of Job and his trials. And in particular to a reference in the 42nd Chapter that says, "And in all the land were no women found so fair as the Daughters of Job." I had the pleasure of serving as the Master of Ceremonies for my Daughter as she took the Chair of Honored Queen. With that comes a speech, and it is a custom to acquire a gavel. Sending out a few requests, one Brother stepped up and had a gavel made. Here is the expert from the speech.

"We have an extra special gift prepared for you, and this gift also has a story, a story of Brotherhood and obligation. I had contacted a few Brothers and ask them if they knew anybody who could make a gavel for my Daughter, who is preparing to become Honored Queen. Without hesitation and on the other side of the country, Brother Brandon Hale stepped up and said, "I will take care of it." He asked what type of gavel I had in mind. Although I left it entirely up to him for style, I did request he incorporate some nuances of Jobs Daughters. Brother Brandon lives in Virginia, and he has a message for you regarding the gavel:

"There is a maker's mark on the gavel from the Brother who made it. It's for Job's Daughters. The JD print is his mark. It just hit me that it was meant for him to make it. His name is Joseph DiPietro. He has a heart of gold, and I love him like family. "

Brother Brandon had this gavel made, especially for you. The man who made it, Joseph DiPietro, is a Mason; the man handing it to you, Brother Brandon, is also a mason. A story of obligation, for three men who have never met in person, could come together and produce a gavel for their Masonic daughter. Never look at the Jobs Daughters as "just a club" or say, "it's just a ceremony." This act proves there is a much deeper meaning to our Masonic family than just a club. Just as every Mason is my Brother. Every Jobs Daughter is your sister. "

Just a few years prior, my Daughter was embarking on a journey, walking in the same steps as her great Aunt before her. Luckily our Aunt with us the day she was made a Jobs Daughter. But sadly, she never did get to see her great-niece take the gavel in her hands, but, her Spirit lives on. Through my daughter's theme, "Honor your past for a brighter future," and through the Spirit of Freemasonry. The legacy of not only Craft, jobs daughters, but sisterhood and Brotherhood will forever live in the hearts and minds of those who attended that event. And the gavel will forever be a testament to Brother Love, Relief and Truth

- A Jobie Dad, ML

Michael Laidlaw was raised to the Sublime degree in 2011 and is a plural Member of South Pasadena 290 and Southern California Research Lodge where he is Junior Warden and Pop Culture editor for The Fraternal Review Magazine. He is also serving as Senior Steward for Arcadia 278. Michael is an active council member for Jobs Daughters Bethel 210 Arcadia (where his daughter is serving as Honored Queen) and serves on the Grand Lodge of California Youth Orders Committee. He is a 32° Scottish Rite Mason from the Valley Of Pasadena Orient of California where he has completed all three Master Craftsman Courses. Michael is also a member of San Gabriel Valley Chapter No. 100 RAM, Alhambra Council No. 25 CM, and Foothill Commandery No. 63 KT. He also holds Membership in Cinema Grotto and Order of Eastern Star.

The Masonic Jig

by Midnight Freemason Contributor

Steven L. Harrison, 33°, FMLR

I stand in the back of the Lodge room, acting as Marshal in this Entered Apprentice initiation. The Worshipful Master turns and walks back into the arch formed by the Stewards' staffs. He stops and stands still. I wait for my signal. After about two seconds – TWO SECONDS – the signal doesn't come. And about five guys start doing the Masonic Jig.

The Masonic Jig goes something like this: the performer raises his hands in the air and then brings them down, almost violently, while flexing his knees downward. At the same time he whisper-shouts "Lights down! Lights down." The dancer performs the motion over and over until the room becomes dark. The astute reader will actually recognize this as a form of K-Pop. Who says Freemasons aren't hip?

The Master, as it turns out, was waiting for his signal to turn which he thought was the room going dark. I was waiting for my signal to darken the room which I knew to be the Master turning. A two second deadlock developed, which was other Brothers' signal to flail like monkeys on a hot griddle, at least momentarily damaging the dignity of the occasion.

I promise, in a couple more seconds I'd have figured it out and turned down the lights. Failing that, instead of the simian boogaloo I would much have preferred a single proctor saying, "lights down, please." Properly delivered the candidate might have thought that was part of the ceremony.

Ahhh… the Peanut Gallery. That ever-present bevy of Brothers ready to spring into action with corrections the instant a speaker says "your" instead of "thy" or "blessings and mercies" instead of "mercies and blessings." This affliction is a corollary to the Masonic Jig known as Masonic Tourette Syndrome.

These disorders are so prevalent in Missouri we must read a statement before each Master Mason degree prompting the Brothers to cool it. Paraphrasing here, the document reminds Brothers the Third Degree is a solemn and meaningful experience, not an opportunity to audition to become a Shrine clown.

When I was Master (Translation: "Back in my day, sonny"), I sometimes appointed a proctor and requested the other Brothers let him prompt for corrections in a more controlled and orderly fashion. This was somewhat effective although I have to admit I always appointed the most offending and disruptive Brother to that position knowing he wouldn't play second fiddle to anyone else, and would jump in anyway. It was cheating but the end justifies the means, right?

So, let's say it's a First Degree and the Chaplain offers this prayer, "Vouchsafe thine aid, Great Architect of the Universe, to this our present convention…" OMG! If that doesn't call for a nuclear Tourette blast I don't know what does. But here's the thing… neither the candidate receiving the degree nor any non-Mason reading this has a clue as to why. Let it ride, people! The words may have been changed but the meaning wasn't. The candidate will walk away thinking, "that was a beautiful prayer," instead of, "I wonder if God was able to hear the prayer over all that shouting from the sidelines."

Y'know, a letter-perfect ritual is great, but if I go to a meeting in Kansas, just 20 miles west of my house, I don't even recognize half the ritual. Again, the meaning is far more important than getting the exact words, in order, letter perfect. Heck, nobody can do that anyway.

I guess each one of us just needs to make sure we're not disruptive and maybe gently remind the Peanut Gallery to dial it down in the ceremonies. A little decorum does not go a long way. These ceremonies require large doses of it, especially when candidates are involved. I think the next time I'm Master (yeah, that's likely) I'll just hang a banner in the east that says, "Masonic ceremonies are not study clubs."

~SLH

Bro. Steve Harrison, 33° , is Past Master of Liberty Lodge #31, Liberty, Missouri. He is also a Fellow and Past Master of the Missouri Lodge of Research. Among his other Masonic memberships are the St. Joseph Missouri Valley of the Scottish Rite, Liberty York Rite bodies, and Moila Shrine. He is also 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. Brother Steve was Editor of the Missouri Freemason magazine for a decade and is a regular contributor to the Whence Came You podcast. Born in Indiana, he has a Master's Degree from Indiana University and is retired from a 35 year career in information technology. Steve and his wife Carolyn reside in northwest Missouri. He is the author of dozens of magazine articles and three books: Freemasonry Crosses the Mississippi, Freemasons — Tales From the Craft and Freemasons at Oak Island.

Honor the Service

by Midnight Freemason Contributor

WB Robert E. Jackson

There is a phrase - all gave some, but some gave all. I was thinking about this as I researched the history of Lieutenant Frederick John Holt Beever, the British Freemason killed in the Dakota War of 1862. While the Nation was ripped apart in Civil War, there were wars on the frontier that were also destroying lives. The Minnesota Regiments were on the border of the Dakota Territory, and were heavily involved in the battle. General Henry H. Sibley of the United States Army was leading the effort to drive back the Dakota Tribes. Among his infantry was Lieutenant Frederick John Holt Beever.

Lieutenant Beever was killed on July 29, 1863, while on assignment from General Sibley. In an effort to memorialize the loss of all Brothers on the Frontier from 1860-1890, the Frontier Army Lodge of Masonic Research included Lieutenant Beever's name in the ritual of the Empty Chair Degree. This ritual was adopted in 2001 by the Grand Lodge of Iowa, and has been used to honor Brothers in the military who never came home.

I’m not going to discuss the merits of the Dakota Uprising, as I believe in nearly every battle, you have supporters and those that disagree. There are certainly portions of our American History that I'm not proud of, but I believe every nation has gone through such dark periods. Regardless, over the years, men and women step forward in an effort to service their Country. Some step forward out of family tradition. Some because they see it as a way to support their family. But I believe that all step forward knowing that they might not return. In a matter of speaking, these men and women gave up their freedoms to be a resource for the country.

My own Lodge, Montgomery Lodge in Milford, MA, includes members that have fought in numerous wars, and was chartered by the Most Worshipful Paul Revere. We are named in memory of Major General Richard Montgomery, a Revolutionary War soldier killed in combat in Quebec, so although we are not a "Military Lodge", we do have strong military ties. As an aside, Major General Henry Knox Lodge would be a good reference for those seeking a Military Lodge. I know there are men in my Lodge that fought in the Vietnam War, and I'm quite sure there are men in my Lodge that protested that very same war. They are still Brothers, however, and treat each other with the respect due.

On Memorial Day for the last couple of years, after marching in the local parade, Montgomery Lodge opens its doors to the public and performs the Empty Chair Degree in memory of Major General Richard Montgomery. This has become a tradition that I hope will continue. Instead of focusing on the battles during this time, I prefer to focus on the men and women that gave their lives in service to their country. They had the bravery and courage to step forward, and ended up making the ultimate sacrifice. Remember them. Honor them. And the next time you have the opportunity to stretch forth a hand to assist, channel their courage, and make a positive impact in somebody's life.

~REJ

Robert Edward Jackson is a Past Master and Secretary of Montgomery Lodge located in Milford, MA. His Masonic lineage includes his Father (Robert Maitland), Grandfather (Maitland Garrecht), and Great Grandfather (Edward Henry Jackson), a founding member of Scarsdale Lodge #1094 in Scarsdale, NY. When not studying ritual, he's busy being a father to his three kids, a husband, Boy Scout Leader, and a network engineer to pay for it all. He can be reached at info@montgomerylodge.org