End of Year: Rebirth and Regeneration and Other Odds & Ends

My brethren of the jurisdiction of the Most Worshipful Grand Lodge of Texas, another masonic year is winding down here in Texas, and we will join together once again in the symbolic process of rebirth and regeneration as our new officers are elected and installed. It’s an exciting time for every lodge as our newly installed Worshipful Masters set our lodges to labor for the ensuing masonic year. Much to do, much to learn and all of our eyes looking to the east, ready to receive the light and our direction for this next leg of our collective and individual journeys. Spiritual rebirth and the continuation of our lodges, our brethren, and the craft lie at the heart of our masonic aspirations and are necessary for the generations of masons that will follow in our footsteps. As this transition, this annual rite of passage begins, I implore you to pause, ever so briefly for a moment of reflection as we prepare to leave the past year behind. I recently wrote an article that I named “Who Brought You Up?” and in that piece I asked you to remember, honor, and think about those brothers who brought you into the craft and taught you the ropes, showed you around, and introduced you to your brethren and fellow travelers of the craft. As we again follow the sun on its ecliptic as it travels from our last masonic year into the next, I ask you here again to remember those brothers who will not be along side of us as we walk our our paths, those who have entered the Celestial Lodge to begin the next leg of the journey of their immortal souls and who have each claimed their place in the house of the “Grand Architect of the Universe”. It is through our memories that these brethren will live on, creating those important links between the generations of our brethren; those who have passed, and those who are with us today, and those who will follow in the future.

Brother David Countryman

At the moment, I am thinking of one brother in particular who passed very recently; a member of one of my lodges and of three appendant bodies that we both belonged to. I am remembering Brother David Countryman, a brother and member of Helotes Masonic Lodge No. 1429, AF & AM, in Helotes, Texas. Brother David served his brothers, his lodge and other masonic bodies, masonry, his church, his country, and – above all – he served his family; Dave was a man of deeply engrained honor and impeccable integrity. If a brother were to ask me today what it is we seek, what masonry might do to make each of us a better man and what that better man might man look like, I would simply point to Brother Countryman and tell my brother this: the Grand Architect of the Universe has sent a model to use as a rule and guide; he sent us Brother Countryman as the exemplar who lives and walks the ideals so beautifully inculcated through our degrees. Brother David has gone ahead now to prepare the way for us, and he will greet us when we arrive at The Gate – but it is still up to us to qualify ourselves to pass in!

As this masonic year winds down, I have one other item of business to tend to while I am at the keyboard. In late May, I received a truly excellent question through my website about my “Noah” books, and I want to share both the question and my answer here.

Question: “I’ve read your first three ‘Noah’s Quest’ books and I’m curious about the storyline. Specifically, what is the connection between Noah’s experiences in the storyline and the lessons that we’re supposed to learn through masonry? How does ‘Noah’s Quest’ relate to freemasonry?”

Answer: My brother, I appreciate your question and the opportunity it presents for me to explain my thought process as I wrote my “Noah” books. First, please keep in mind that the entire series grew out of an effort to write a short story to illustrate, and even animate the idea behind my original paper on the overlooked symbolism of the ante room or preparation room (as it is called in some jurisdictions), from there it then grew into a book, and then into the series. As I finished that first book, two things became clear to me – first, the storyline that had emerged had a physical (or operative) aspect as well as a symbolic (or speculative) aspect, and second, there was room at the end of “Noah’s Quest: Trial at the Gate” to continue Noah’s journey and that I could use this as a vehicle to lead Noah Lewis through additional experiences, give life to my other papers, and make Noah an exemplar, or candidate of sorts, who would animate my own thoughts and beliefs about our craft. 

Answer continued: Now, having “set the table” so to speak, here’s how I would answer your specific question about Noah’s experiences in the six books of “Noah’s Quest” and “Noah’s Legacy”, and how they connect to our masonic experiences and masonic lessons. When I talk in lodge about our degrees, I point out that the story that has guided our ritual and the lectures was largely written in the early 1700’s and, as most people know, is allegorical in nature with specific references to some historical and biblical events. Our degrees themselves are actually collections of symbols and allegorical references, arranged and ordered in such a way as to convey our craft lessons using the language of our ancestors (symbolism and allegory). Likewise, Noah’s journey through the six books of his quest and legacy is itself also a collection of symbolic and allegorical representations, arranged in such a way as to convey many of our lessons that we as masons inculcate through our meaningful ritual.

Answer continued: When read in order, the storyline in my Noah books takes a brother on a journey that might teach him how to recognize masonry as it manifests in his daily life and how to identify the signs and symbols meant to guide him along his path; Noah’s thoughts represent our questions, his actions represent our reactions to the challenges we face from the Grand Architect of the Universe, and his debates and examinations represent our own internal deliberations regarding our lives, our time here on Earth, and about our immortal souls. Had I tried to convey these things solely through non-fiction papers and articles, I would not have been able to capture the imagination of those masons who may be in search of understanding, but who may not be receptive to reading a series of textbook-style pontifications (thank you Bro. John Deacon). Instead, if you read the series in the proper order, and if you open your mind to the symbolism and allegory of Noah’s experiences, you just may find a new way to recognize and apply our beautiful masonic lessons within your own life and your own masonic journey, just as if you were to receive a collection of symbols and allegorical references, arranged and ordered in such a way as to convey our craft lessons using the language (symbolism and allegory) of our ancestors and packaged as our craft degrees. Here’s a hint, keep track of the lessons Noah learns in each book and how those lessons re-emerge as he continues his journey and his path takes him deeper and deeper into the mysteries of the craft.  

I hope this adequately answers the question because I am afraid if I go much further, I might reveal too much of the plot, and by sharing my response here, I hope to stimulate some curiosity among my brethren who may be reluctant to read a fictional story about a fictitious brother and his fictious journey.

And thus we arrive at the end of this post and this year. As this masonic year winds down, we are about to experience our annual rebirth and rejuvenation. It is a time of anticipation and – for some – trepidation; anticipation of all that is possible, and trepidation about the unknown. As masons, we should ever look to the East and in my case that may be particularly true. I am finishing this masonic year as Senior Warden of one of my lodges and, if tradition prevails, I may be elected to preside over a lodge for a third time. It was never my intention to pass the chairs twice let alone three times, but if I am in fact called by my brethren to serve, I will accept the opportunity that the Grand Architect of the Universe offers to me through the ask of my lodge brothers; it is offered for some purpose known only to Him to satisfy some greater need, a need that is yet unknown to me and to my brothers.

Look to the Light

I wish all my brethren well and if you are under a jurisdiction that will pass this month into a new masonic year, then I bid you good will and the best of luck in the ensuing year; if you are of a jurisdiction that is not beginning a new year, then I wish you all well on your individual and collective journeys! Travel safely my brethren, and by all means, pass on my worthy brothers!

~AMJ