Internet Committee
I recently read a piece that included this quote by Grand Master William Sardone of New York. “The Greatest Generation didn’t talk about the Lodge. Baby Boomers never heard about the Lodge. Now, the Millennials can’t find a Lodge.”
Fifty years ago people saw the Square and Compasses every day. Most Masonic Lodges were either on Main Street, the Town Square, or some other busy thoroughfare. Masons bought ads in the high school year book and announced meetings in the local paper. Every year the local paper published a photo of the newly installed lodge officers. There was probably even a sign on the highway announcing the presence of a Lions Club, Rotary Club, and Masonic Lodge to motorists.
A few years ago a gentleman went to the Chamber of Commerce office in my town and asked where the Masonic Lodge was. The nice lady replied that she didn’t think there was one. (My lodge was chartered in 1847. It’s not like we’re a start up.) A friend of mine is active in civic affairs in her town. When I told her I would be in town for a Lodge meeting she asked, “Do we still have one of those?”
As Masons we do have secrets. However, our Lodge address, meeting nights, scholarship awards and the fact that we exist aren’t on the list of secrets.
Let’s tell people we are Masons. Tell them, better yet, let’s show them who Masons are and what we believe.
Let’s wear our S&C lapel pin. Put a medallion or Grand Lodge tag on our cars. Paint the sign at our lodges or put up a new one. Take a photo of our newly installed officers and send it to our local paper. Participate as a lodge in our community functions. Let people know we’re still around.
In Matthew 5:5 we are told “Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.” Candles, like all fire, require heat, oxygen, and fuel. A candle kept under a basket will soon consume all the oxygen and die out.
Let’s not hide our light, and die like that candle. Instead, let’s show our Masonic light in our words and actions and spread some of that light to the world.
Ricky Stevens, Internet Committee
Grand Lodge of Mississippi
