Master's Message
March 2008

As Master, my usual routine, on the nights that we have a communication, is to arrive at the Lodge room early, sin in the East and review the work for the evening, and then when Brothers and guests arrive, to step down and welcome them and if they are strangers to introduce myself and make them welcome.

But for some reason at the last communication, I paused at the outer door, then walked over and stood at the West side of the Altar, and looked about the room. I felt there was something different about it, but everything seemed in place so I mused about how some fifty odd years ago I had stood before a similar Altar to take my obligation, and the one thought that has remained imbedded in my mind is being introduced as "coming in the same way and manner as all others who have gone this way before."

And then I realized that over the years the Lodge had not changed, but Masonry as I know it and that was what I was feeling. We now have one day classes. And just recently we have been notified that examinations for the three degrees. Masonry has entered the 21st century and changes have been made to accommodate this and the Brothers coming will follow the rules set up for them and must be accepted as members for our great fraternity. But then, what do we do with our rituals? Do we leave them alone or do we change them also to meet the new criteria? These are questions of importance that I am sure will be answered in the near future.

Change is good and Masonry is improved because of it. But change for the sake of change is not. However, making a change is a lot like throwing a stone into the middle of a pond. There is a great splash which is the change, but then ripples extend out to the shore, and it is the ripples that must now be addressed.

Fraternally,
R.W. Robert James Rawding
Worshipful Master