We have no work! Here is the most pitiful admission a Mason can make. Particularly if he be the Worshipful Master of a Lodge. And if it is the most pitiful admission a Master can make, it has also been, during the depression year; one of the most frequent. Masters, sometimes make the admission to me as an excuse for what they believe I will regard as poor ritualistic work at a District convention. Or they may give it is a reason for poor Lodge attendance. And, of course, it is the old threadbare for a lack of interest on the part of the members.

After several years of observation and experience I am convinced that when we attribute any of the ills of a Lodge to the absence of work we are on the wrong trick entirely. Regard for a moment the situation in which Masons would find themselves with no work for their Lodges to do:

A community with its churches filled at their service. A community in which harmony and brotherly love fill the hearts of all the citizens, and evil gossip and envy and distrust unheard of! A community in which heartaches, discouragement, and loneliness are unknown! A community in which poverty has no place, with jobs for all of its people, and decent living wages paid to all, and in which children are in school instead of at work, or, worse still, upon the streets! A community which has no civic problems whatsoever, and where a friendly hand clasp and a word of cheer are commonplace. A community, in short, in which life drones on in a placid, uneventful sort of way, with nothing to mar its serenity!

Who would want to live in such a place? Frankly I would not, nor, I believe would you! Here, without work of the kind that Freemasonry is so peculiarly fitted to do, we would miss all the warmth and glow of human living. Nor in such an environment could we grow in the things of the spirit and mind. It is the effort - things to do and the doing of them - that makes us strong and toughens the fiber of our character.

There is, of course, no community so happily situated that it affords no work for the Masons within its borders. As I see it, here is the trouble: through the years we have built up, unthinkingly of course, the idea that unless a Lodge is busy conferring Degrees it has nothing to do. Time and again I am asked the question "Are the Lodges busy?" Meaning, of course, busy with Degree work. And in asking the question we seem wholly unable to comprehend that the conferring of Degrees is not the whole business of a Lodge. Heresy, do I hear someone say? Well, if that be heresy I challenge our unfortunate ways of thought.

You see, many a Lodge, during the depression and before, found itself in a state of chronic discouragement because of the indifference of the members. For this condition a lack of candidates was lightly blamed. And right here we were in serious error, for I am thoroughly convinced that the real reason for a lack of interest in our Lodges is a lack to discover opportunities to minister to human needs. There is the first obligation of the Craft. And it is a task we cannot afford to sidestep if our Lodges are to function as they should.

Ritualistic work is necessary, of course. And it is important that it be done accurately and with expression. Every Lodge ought to find the quality of it Degree work a source of satisfaction. And yet when we have no candidates to initiate, we should be eager in those things of human service that are so essential a part of our legitimate work.

We must acquire that habit of seeking and finding work to do. . . and then of doing it! The friendly smile, the encouraging word, making our communities better place to live in - here in such things is to be found the work of a Mason, work no less important than the performance of the ritual

Yes, we have work! The advancing foot, even the bare foot, emblematic of unselfishness, always ready for the errand of mercy!

Yes, we have work! The bended knee in the unselfish prayer - thought of the wants of others before our own!

Yes, we have work! Within the faithful breast the hidden things, secrets vouchsafed us in hours of stress, all the never-to-be-divulged concerns of others, burdens of the anxious heart!

Yes, we have work! The pressure of a sustaining hand for support in time of stress!

Yes, we have work! The kind word, the comforting thought, the needed advice, the kindly admonition to warn of approaching danger!

Here is the Mason's Trestleboard, the true business of a Masonic Lodge. Let it never be said, "We have no work!"

Back to Our Stations and Places  Previous Next