This evening I attended the last meeting of the calendar year at our Lodge; since it goes dark in July and August and starts up with new officers in September.
I had already volunteered to be the Senior Steward, a minor office that is a typical chair for a newly initiated brother.
However, this evening something surprising happened. The newly appointed Worshipful Master came up and asked me if I would mind taking a different chair. The officer who previously held it could no longer continue his duties due to other committments.
Of course I said yes, since you are obligated to help out the Worshipful Master when asked.
Drum roll please.....
So....you are now speaking to the Chaplain of the Wentzville Masonic Lodge, #46.
I am responsible for all of the prayers to Almighty God, the Grand Architect of the Universe, during our ceremonies.
Is that sweet or what!?
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Tonight my nephew Charlie was raised to the sublime degree of Master Mason at our lodge. It was an awesome ceremony! Tomorrow night we are going to Wright City so Charlie can watch a 3rd degree performed as an observer.
This weekend we have a few activities lined up.
On Friday evening we will be attending someone *elses* party for once. My wife quite likes that idea. On Saturday around noon I will be going to Troy Lodge to have a fish dinner, the money going towards a good charity. Saturday is Terry's birthday and in the evening I am going to get dinner from a nice resturant and take it out on the boat to eat. After dinner there is a street dance at Windjammer marina where we will hang out and chat with our neighbors. After the street dance, once it is dark, I am going to show a 16mm movie on my boat.
Sunday, which is fathers day, will most likely be spent hanging out with the kids doing dad/kid things like boating, swimming, tennis, etc.
That's the news du jour.
I had already volunteered to be the Senior Steward, a minor office that is a typical chair for a newly initiated brother.
However, this evening something surprising happened. The newly appointed Worshipful Master came up and asked me if I would mind taking a different chair. The officer who previously held it could no longer continue his duties due to other committments.
Of course I said yes, since you are obligated to help out the Worshipful Master when asked.
Drum roll please.....
So....you are now speaking to the Chaplain of the Wentzville Masonic Lodge, #46.
I am responsible for all of the prayers to Almighty God, the Grand Architect of the Universe, during our ceremonies.
Is that sweet or what!?
---------------------------------------------------
Tonight my nephew Charlie was raised to the sublime degree of Master Mason at our lodge. It was an awesome ceremony! Tomorrow night we are going to Wright City so Charlie can watch a 3rd degree performed as an observer.
This weekend we have a few activities lined up.
On Friday evening we will be attending someone *elses* party for once. My wife quite likes that idea. On Saturday around noon I will be going to Troy Lodge to have a fish dinner, the money going towards a good charity. Saturday is Terry's birthday and in the evening I am going to get dinner from a nice resturant and take it out on the boat to eat. After dinner there is a street dance at Windjammer marina where we will hang out and chat with our neighbors. After the street dance, once it is dark, I am going to show a 16mm movie on my boat.
Sunday, which is fathers day, will most likely be spent hanging out with the kids doing dad/kid things like boating, swimming, tennis, etc.
That's the news du jour.
Comments
Yes, this is true. And I do believe in a Supreme Being, otherwise it would be awkward for me to be either a Freemason or a Chaplain. However, the point here is simply that my personal belief in diety is my own and quite distinct from the views held by most followers of the various Judeo-Christian faiths. My views more closely match those of the gnostics or neoplatonic thinkers in history. For example, in general, my personal beliefs are more Buddhist in flavor, though not in specifics.
The point here is that Freemasonry allows me to honor my own personal belief in diety without requiring conformance to the strictures of any particular dogmatic religious organization. The principles of freedom of religion are as deeply ingrained in Freemasonry as they are in the Bill of Rights. That fact, by the way, is hardly a coincidence...
Exactly correct. The fairly neutral term that Freemasons use for deity is 'The Grand Architect of the Universe'; a phrase I am quite comfortable with.
I am cross posting the reply I made on the forum.
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As another forum member pointed out already, I am not an atheist. In fact, I feel as though I believe in God much more strongly than most of those who belong to religions founded on Judeo-Christian mythology claim to be.
While those who prescribe to dogmatic religious control systems based on ancient documents have to constantly resort to 'faith' to shore up their belief in deity I, in contrast, require no faith whatsoever.
The common deist looks for some hypothetical 'creator God' that is somehow responsible for 'creating' the Universe. They postulate an imaginary 'first cause' that created creation. Additionally, they postulate this on faith without any particular evidence to support this fiction. Moreover, they never seem to even be bothered by the question that "If God created the Universe then who created God?" This is a form of infinite regress that is silly and makes no sense. Who created the God that created the God that created the Universe?
We do not need an imaginary hypothetical creator God as 'first cause' when the Universe, which last I checked is quite well in evidence, is a most worthy candidate as first cause and well deserving of all of the awe, worship, glory, and accolades we normally reserve for deity.
This notion of mine is hardly new. It was shared by many great thinkers and philosophers throughout the ages and remains strong today. One philosophical movement that expressed it well can best be identified as 'neoplatonic' thought.
The idea that I am an 'atheist' is actually a bit of a farce. I happen to be a huge believer in relativity; most especially when it comes to relativistic belief systems.
For most Christians, an atheist is any person who doesn't believe in their definition of God. To most Christians I am an atheist, since the concept of deity (first cause) I hold is seemingly so contradictory to their own.
However, in the end, this doesn't make me any less religious than they are. In fact, I might argue that, in a sense, I am more religious, since I need no faith to find my God and have the convicition of direct experience to reassure me. I see my God in the Sun, the Earth, the Moon, the Stars, and everything that the eye can behold. I see God in DNA, evolution, love, beauty, and the laws of physics revealed through the scientific method. Freemasons use the letter 'G' to identify deity because the letter 'G' stands for geometry and it is through geometry, math and science, that we best come to understand the nature of God.
Of course, I don't feel that God is nothing more than a mass of lifeless matter. Since God most assuredly includes everything in reality, both material and immaterial it is truly all encompassing. Some might suggest that this vision of God has no room for consciousness, self-awareness, or intelligence. Meanwhile, last I checked, I am myself conscious, self-aware, and at least modestly intelligent. Taking into account some rather basic set theory it follows that since I am a child of the Universe, this in turn makes me a part of God. Am I an important part of God? Well, I am certainly quite important to myself.
And, you might ask, what powers have I been given? I have been given the power of free will. This is a remarkably powerful gift that can produce great change for both good and evil. Choose wisely my friends because God is not some external creature you are subservient to. God is within your own breast and you have been blessed with this important privilege and you should think long and hard about how you choose to exercise your free will, self-awareness, and intelligence in this great Universe we are blessed to be enmeshed within.