Meteoric Rise to Power
I just got informed last night that this month I’m going to be installed Junior Warden in Sun Moon Lodge #13! It’s really awesome to be recognized for working hard, memorizing the staircase lecture (no small task), and volunteering for everything I can. I really appreciate the brothers for their trust. Word on the wire is I’m slotted for Master of the lodge next year. What a huge responsibility!
The Master of our lodge obviously thinks I’m the right choice, I hope I can live up to his expectations. One of our brothers told me that our Master thinks I’m special (yeah, I ride the short bus) and wants me to be on my way at a younger age so I can do more good when I am older.
I know that I will have to attend many functions, travel to other lodges in SE Asia, and for the most part “be on my best behavior.” Hopefully I can make the grade! I’m a little nervous, but I’m sure I’ll get over it. Hell, it’s a year away! The question is, can my liver handle it?
Does anyone reading this have any experience becoming master of a lodge, perhaps at a young age? (I’m 28) I would love to hear some experiences and advice from you, please comment!
6 Responses to “Meteoric Rise to Power”
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Charles Tirrell on 08 Nov 2007 at 6:09 pm #
Hi Brother Duane,
I was installed as master of my lodge when I was 25. I spent two years in the east, so that our line could get caught up, due to a few past masters in the line. I focused on updating the lodge to modern times and getting more people involved. The funny thing is that it worked
The brother in my lodge that took most notice of my young age was me. I thought that brothers wouldn’t trust in my decisions, because of my age. So, I worked twice as hard at my position and it paid off. The trust of my brothers was quickly gained and I was able to implement many of the changes I thought would benefit the lodge. Now we are a strong, energetic, forward thinking lodge. We raised over one and a half brothers during my two years. We got inactive brothers coming back to lodge. We resurrected many traditions that fell by the way side. I think the key is to take advantage of your youth and infuse the lodge with your youthful vigor.
Here’s a couple of tidbits I tried to remember during my years that helped.
The number one job of a master is cheerleadering, no matter how down or stressed you get, always look happy and excited because it’s contagious.
All masons are leaders. The master is just the leader of leaders. Give your brothers tasks and jobs. You’ll be surprised with the results.
Stress leadership throughout your core of officers. They will be in the east someday and need experience before getting there.
If your brothers wives are not happy about the lodge, they will loss interest soon. Almost all brothers will choose their wives over the lodge (as they should!), so keep the wives happy.
Brothers don’t want to be bored, always have something interesting at your stated communications. Presentations, games, lectures, dinners. Make it different and make it fun.
Don’t be afraid to take a break. If you’re feeling burnt out. Take a week off from lodge. Let you senior warden handle the business and relax, but only for a short time. Everyone needs a short break.
Check out my blog at http://masonicrenaissance.blogspot.com/ where I focus on best practices for masonic lodges. Hopefully, you can get some ideas from it.
Finally, the fact that you’re looking for advice, means that you are worried and being worried shows that you care. Caring is the most important part of being a mason.
Good Luck!
Fraternally,
Brother Charles
Tom Accuosti on 08 Nov 2007 at 7:38 pm #
Congratulations, and best wishes.
The best advice I can give is to remember that
a) You need to draw on the experience of the Past Masters, and
b) Never forget that YOU are the WM, and not the PMs.
Some lodges are practically run by the PMs; this can be a good or bad thing - IME it’s usually not good for the new guys.
If you have an active lodge, then try to plan activities that will appeal to everyone. If your lodge is not active (and if you’re heading for the East after so short a time, then I imagine it’s not), then start now in trying to get some publicity for the activities that you do have.
admin on 09 Nov 2007 at 5:29 am #
Thank you very much, Brothers, for your quick replies. I am always astounded that my blog is even getting readership at all, this is really encouraging.
In Sun Moon Lodge, most of the time together is spent in fellowship dinners, once a month (aside from our normal after-meeting dinner.) This means we meet twice a month. I should come up with activities for us to do to bring the lodge closer together. There is a bit of a divide, because it is a bilingual lodge. Although I’m fluent in Mandarin, I think there will always be a bit of dichotomy, the Chinese brothers will usually chat together and vice versa (of course, there are only a couple of us westerners.) To me, this is a major hurtle that I would like to cross. Of course we are all totally friendly and on the level, but I think the language issue (subtleties, subtleties) is something to work on.
Anyway, I have another year to prepare, so this is all still on the back burner. I will certainly take your advice and apply it as best I can. Tom, I know what you mean about PMs running the lodge. This is what I expect for our lodge, our PM, who is now 2nd time GM of the Grand Lodge of China is the founder of our lodge, and I think I’m being groomed as his protege. We’ll see how that turns out, but I expect I’ll be a bit of a marionette for a while, especially in the beginning.
Let me ask, what actually goes into running a lodge? We have a secretary, treasurer, and other people take care of making appointments such as dinners, etc, so aside from promoting the lodge, morale and “sitting in the east,” what would I actually be responsible for?
Tom Accuosti on 09 Nov 2007 at 6:27 am #
What does a WM do?
In my lodge, he schedules, organizes and plans degrees, dinners, visitations, and events outside the lodge. He sits on all the committees which meet at various times, and is usually involved in the Building Corp and the fundraising club (In Conn, tax laws make the lodge itself a separate entity from the building and funding entities).
I spent a lot of time beforehand planning and scheduling when I wanted to have certain functions. After I was elected, I had exactly one meeting, and then my entire schedule got screwed up, so I spent the next several months re-scheduling things.
If your lodge has a standard set of events and functions, then your job is much easier, and you should probably focus on ritual and degree work, and in getting the other officers to get up to speed (assuming that they are newbies as well).
If you’d like, I can send you a planning guide, along with a copy of our Master’s Achievement Award (Hey Charles, are you gonna apply, or what, bro?), which you can use to get an idea of what kinds of things help to make a good lodge year.
Fortunately, I was 48 during my year, and I’ve been running a business, so I didn’t freak out at the responsibility, nor did I have issues dealing with the older PMs. Also fortunately, they didn’t realize that mentally I’m still 25
admin on 09 Nov 2007 at 7:44 am #
Bro. Tom, thanks so much for your input. I’d really appreciate it if you could send me your stuff! I want to make Sun Moon Lodge THE lodge to be in if you’re in Taiwan
admin on 09 Nov 2007 at 7:56 am #
I’ve got to think of what would be good activities for Chinese businessmen. Maybe a newspaper hat day…