Law and Jurisprudence Committee
“The Lodge just ain’t what it used to be.” “There’s so much discontent…it’s just not worth attending.”
We’ve all heard similar statements. In truth, your Lodge is no different than mine; we all experience the same problems. Many Brothers leave the Lodge for the same reason many people quit attending church. They believe that their Lodge is different and that their source of discontent, disagreement, and downright dissatisfaction is unique to their Lodge…that one person in it. They believe that if they could just escape that one person, perhaps even that group, that their experience in Masonry will be different. So they leave or quit attending. When they demit or visit another lodge, surprisingly, they again experience the same problem. Many times they attribute the problem to the institution itself, Masonry.
I too had a problem with a Brother in my Lodge. Everything that was wrong with our Lodge was attributable to this one member. In fact, I was so convinced that this Brother’s actions were un-Masonic that they were worthy of charges. When this Brother directly challenged my personal integrity, I was done with him. I searched our book of laws, the Williams Digest, to see what offenses I could cite against this malicious, errant Brother. Maybe you’ve done the same.
Instead, what I found said, “check your own heart.” In Williams Digest, no less! Here I was searching the “laws” to support all the errors (I believed) my Brother had committed, when, in fact, Williams pointed the finger right back at me. I was the Pharisee looking for the right law, when I had forgotten about grace itself.
The law which I speak is a Digest Opinion which states, in essence, that it is a Masonic offense to “not ‘fellowship’ with another member of the Lodge.” After this Brother had called me a liar, I assure you I had privately reserved myself to never speak to him again, let alone give him a Brotherly, Masonic handshake. But Williams called me out for this reaction, and, instead, said to me that I should not be part of the problem but part of the solution. While the problem was clearly this Brother, it was my obligation to fellowship with him and, through my own influences, make him a better man. Instead of leaving our own Lodge and its problem members, we are all called to fellowship with them and help them become better men. Who are we but men striving to become better than ourselves? So too is that one Brother, and only you and your fellowship can help him, even if he is an angry old coot.
R. Lane Dossett, P.M.
Petal Lodge #516
Law and Jurisprudence Committee
