So a long time ago Frank St Francis of Ace once said that all the darkness in the world cannot extinguish the light of a single candle I’ve personally always enjoyed using real candles in Lodge I think that the flame just gives off an entirely different vibe than the old uh electrical bulbs
Do you know Freemasonry itself was was once a a spark that in my opinion lit a fire under the the entire world the entire civilized world and it’s my goal that one day we can get back to that part of that is uh leaning into our Traditions it was
Once said that tradition is the preservation of fire and not the worship of Ashes and when you think about that there’s a saying that is often said in masonry I don’t know if I’ve ever actually heard anyone say it but it goes uh anytime someone proposes a
Change we’ll say well that’s not the way we’ve always done it while that may not be said I do think it’s often thought and when we’re talking about tradition tonight when we’re talking about preserving this Flame and not worship the ashes I think we need to think about the fact that
Tradition and what we need to to look at is not simply the forms and routines that we’re used to going through but the lessons learned the wisdom gained we need to focus on that which uh makes us better not that which no longer serves our purposes tonight we’re going to be talking about
A pretty broad topic which is Masonic fellowship and I know that some of the things I might say you may disagree with that’s fine Masons ought to have discussions and we ought to be able to talk about things that we don’t necessarily all agree on P Grandmaster Charles Fuller uh back in the
1850s said that differences of opinion will undoubtedly exist it cannot be otherwise it is natural for men actuated by the same upright motives and governed by the same desire for the good of the craft to differ in opinion were all men to act think and feel alike be moved by the same
Influences life would be one unvarying changeless monotony so it’s my hopes tonight that this Sparks some thought and some conversation and maybe even some disagreements but knowing that just because we disagree that doesn’t mean we have to be disagreeable tonight I’m going to be talking about preserving tradition and
That tradition of masonic Fellowship we’re going to talk about feast and toast and songs and festivals and why that tradition is important you know as I mentioned earlier tradition doesn’t mean that you can’t change or adapt uh tonight we’re using some pretty modern technology we’re live streaming I’ve got
Uh an entire Lodge in Memphis that is gathered together in per in person to watch this live stream and they’re sitting here just like we are in this room and then they’re going to go Fellowship in person afterwards and while we may use this modern technology
I have a feeling that if our brothers from 200 years ago 300 years ago or to walk into this room they would still recognize what we were doing and be at home because we’re still preserving what matters and that’s our fellowship with one another that’s our education it’s
Getting together as brothers and working together towards common goals and the technology and the buildings and the modernity that we add to things do not change that they only enhance it and I know they’d fill it home because I found back in the day they were doing the
Exact same thing with technology in 1888 uh Phoenix and Cumberland Lodge got their first St and in the papers it says this exhibit of the Masonic imbl by stereoptic views is very popular in various parts of the country and will doubtless find a permanent foothold in The Lodges of
Nashville it should be the duty of every Lodge to make its meetings as attractive and pleasing as possible to every member and visitor present and the steps taken by Phoenix and Cumberland lodges should be held as one of the efforts to render masonry ornate in every degree I’m sure whoever introduced the
First stere optin con got a little bit of push back from the guys that wanted paper slides or whatever it was they were using before then but the Masons at that time used the top technology of their day to put on the greatest experience for their members moving on to 1963 Phoenix Lodge
Held a uh film presentation in color that was very important we showed a short film about the deay in color advertised it to the community brought in non-masons to watch a movie at our lodge again using modern technology to achieve uh essentially the same goals you know when you think about
Fellowship from from campfires to dining Halls men have always gotten together to break bread and fellowship with one another around those campfires they they built the bonds of of Brotherhood and around those tables and in taverns uh they carved friendships and when I think about all these different groups throughout history specifically
Male oriented groups um from the Spartans to pretty much any society you can think of tribal societies they always met and they had some sort of ritual some sort of uh you know way that they not only just got together and quote unquote hung out but they had meaning they had purpose
Behind their Fellowship and it’s you know probably the most famous dinner of all time that I think of been thinking about these of course is the Last Supper when Jesus got together with his disciples one last time to break bread together um it’s a very powerful image to think
About I thought a lot about where to go with this and and there’s a brother HL Haywood in 1948 that said it way better than I ever could so when talking about masonry and the fellow Fellowship practices of old he said in 18th century lodges the feast bulked so large in the
Lodge that in many of them the members were seated at the table when The Lodges were opened and remained at it throughout the communication even when the degrees were performed the result was that Masonic Fellowship was good Fellowship as in warm and fruitful soil acquaintanceship friendship and affection could flourish there was no
Grim and silence sitting on a bench staring across at a wall out of this Festival spirit flowered the love which Masons had for their Lodge they brought gifts to it and only by reading of old inventories can any present day Mason measure the extent of that
Love what business has any Lodge to be nothing but a machine for grinding out the work it was not called into existence in order to have the minutes read even a Mystic tie will snap under the strain of cheerlessness repetition monotony and dullness a lodge needs a
Fire lighted in it and the only way to have that warmth is to restore the lodge Feast because when it is restored good fellowship and Brotherly Love Will Follow and where good Fellowship is members will fill up an empty room not only with themselves but also with their
Gifts when thinking about this idea of fellowship and getting together in person I can’t help but think about Modern Times And just what we’re dealing with as a society and I think that these Modern Problems require Masonic Solutions uh if Co taught us anything I don’t think human beings are equipped to stay
At home all day and not see each other and look at screens I think half the world gone crazy over the last two years because we weren’t able to get out and do things in person uh you see a continued attack on masculinity I think uh a lot of young
Boys are taught that masculinity is toxic there’s an extreme lack of Role Models within popular entertainment if you’ve noticed you know most of the fathers on TV are just dumb ignorant brutes um we’re also suffering from an extreme lack of loneliness there’s there’s tons of uh research out there that loneliness reduces your
Lifespan and they even took uh some rats I know we’re not rats but uh they gave these rats water and one vial was just water the other vial was cocaine and when the rat was isolated they flocked towards the cocaine and consumed it basically until they died but when they
Did that same experiment and they put them amongst other rats in a larger environment where they could socialize they did not use the drugs they only chose the water I think that you know in a lot of ways we’re we’re seeing that played out in a terrible terrible way in
America today in 2020 we had 93,000 Americans die of drug overdose and suicide is the second most common cause of death for men under 45 the number one is just accident but if you think of you know other than accidents um more men within my age range are dying out of suicide which
Often comes from loneliness this lack of social interaction lack of true Community with that I think Freemasonry is needed now now more than ever you know there’s uh knowledge is everywhere if you want to learn something you can get on the internet pretty easily and figure it out there’s a uh speaker many
Of y’all are probably familiar with Jordan Peterson he um is a philosopher of sorts that got his start on YouTube and built an incredible following so much so that he was able to sell out the Rhyman Auditorium in like 30 minutes and if you look at a lot what Jordan
Peterson says it’s essentially masonry he’s there’s I like the guy but he’s really not saying anything new there’s nothing within his philosophy that’s not contained within our ritual yet he’s got New York Times best Sellers and is selling out Arenas and we’re struggling to get
Membership when I think of why that is I also think of well what can we provide that someone like him can’t and while he’s got this massive following online someone like him can never provide the in-person experience the community the network that Freemasonry can what we’re doing here tonight and what we do
Hopefully every week if not more is we get together in in person can never uh be replaced by a screen you know social media phones all these things that supposedly tie us together that supposedly connect us uh in my mind pel in comparison to True real life human action and
Connection studying history I think is the best way to fellowship with our brothers of old a lot of what I’m going to say tonight or none of these are my ideas is we recently started a large history project and just going through looking at Old minutes reading old
Newspaper articles I got a real taste of of what the brothers of old used to do and it’s fascinating to to see how similarly similar they are to us uh you can read Grand lot proceedings and see that they’re essentially arguing about the same things 100 years ago that we are you about
Today but there’s also a lot to learn there and I think that one of these Traditions that we clearly see is lodges used to meet in taverns and when I think about your environment I think about our pillar of beauty why is beauty a pillar of Freemasonry well I think it’s because
Aesthetics influence your environment and you think about the Aesthetics of a Tavern some taverns might not necessarily be beautiful but they are definitely designed to build those bonds of Fellowship it’s hard to not have that aspect that mentality of G gathering together as friends if you’re in a Tavern it’s just a natural
Environment that shifts that psychology towards Fellowship uh probably the most famous Tavern in 1717 was the Grand Lodge of England was formed in the goose and grid iron L house uh a fascinating thing I found was why that Grand Lodge was founded to begin with one of the main reasons
Giving for forming a mother Grand Lodge in London was to hold their annual Feast The Lodges had let the tradition of the feast kind of fall to the Wayside and they decided to get together form a Grand Lodge in order to bring that feasting tradition back and have some sort of organization to
It another famous Lodge Tavern will be the Green Dragon Tavern in Boston you may have heard this is where the Sons of Liberty met and this is where the Boston tea party was plotted there’s one rumor that the lodge mens from that night claimed they were out to tea uh that is
Somewhat debated but this tavern was actually owned by St Andrews Lodge so function as a Tavern during the day and a lodge Hall at night another Tavern and another Grand Lodge was Love’s Tavern in Knoxville Tennessee and in 1813 the Grand Lodge of Tennessee was founded in a Tavern it was
The meeting place of Tennessee Lodge Number Two um at that convention they uh formed a set of bylaws and a constitution and in all of that I found the duties of the grand stewards it says the grand stewards shall attend to in preparing the feast on a regular summons for that purpose
They shall always see that the tables are regularly and masonically spread spread I don’t know y about y’all but I don’t know what a masonically spread table is uh something we should maybe think about we’ll get to later in the presentation but if you’ve ever heard of
A masonically spread table that was the duty of the grand stewards in the Tennessee Grand Lodge back in 1813 another interesting I F fact that I found were a lot of lodges dues were paid monthly and that’s because of these monthly Feast you were essentially not
Just paying dues you were paying for for your meal ticket and if you didn’t attend the feast then that month then you you didn’t have to pay for that portion of it uh lodes also met on the night of the full moon so that they could find their way home easily if
You’re staying out at lodge too late after and you’re on Horseback uh you’d probably this is a time before street lights or anything like that you’d have your lodge meeting on the full moonight uh so you didn’t get lost Not only would you not get lost because of Darkness but quite possibly
There was alcohol involved uh brother tanah Hill who we heard about in our last Echoes from the hall speaker series in his Masonic manual has an entire section on conduct of members in and outside of Lodge and in one of those sections he goes into how you shouldn’t Linger on after Lodge
Too long after the meeting because you might get lost on your horse and your wife might get mad fast forwarding a little bit to 1866 uh this is one of the largest Banquets or toast I’ve been able to find in the newspapers the Knights Templar held a Grand Banquet on December 11th
1866 a grand festival I should say and they toasted and it says here that the company attacked the Edibles with orderly Precision but with a hard zest soon the champagne corks were flying from the foaming necks of dozens of bottles from every quarter of the tables and Then followed the reading of the
Toast goes on to say then following in Rapid running fire with sentiment and antidote to the tuneful accompanyment of popping quirks sir Knight Charles Fuller got off a couple of taking anecdotes which brought down the house he then proceeded uh he then proposed the health to the Grand command of Tennessee so as
You can see this is uh more of the article talks about the formality of this banquet but is also there were just having a good time they’re giving toast they’re making fun of each other they’re telling stories they’re fellowshipping as brothers you know Banquets and feasts are not the only way to
Fellowship uh this is past master of our lodge George blackey and in 1868 he gave a very impassioned speech to the lodge about the value of LOD libraries why we needed to build a library and part of his uh Speech was focused on the general public he wanted this library to be open
To the public as a way for Masons to Enlighten the world to help the Working Man to provide these books for people who couldn’t afford them but he also went on to say just amongst the brothers themselves that nothing unites people like companionship and intellectual enjoyment hopefully y’all are having
Some intellectual enjoyment tonight uh I think when we get together in these sort of settings and we have real discussions it’s another competitive advantage that masonry has that there’s not a lot of places in society that you can find that you know I can go to the Chamber of
Commerce or all these other networking events but but essentially you’re just going to hand out business cards and that’s going to be it whereas in masonry I can sit down with a brother and talk in depth about any topic you can imagine and usually it’s intellectual sometimes
I’ve been in this Lodge till 1:00 a.m. am you know just talking and I don’t know anywhere else for me in society where I can get that they built the library shortly thereafter but in the 18 uh 1883 they decided to add reading rooms and you can see a great many visiting
Masons are in the city today a majority of them being representatives to the Grand loders meets tomorrow while here they will have opportunities to visit the Masonic reading rooms these rooms are handsomely furnished and the walls are adorned with many beautiful and appropriate paintings and Engravings the representatives generally must be
Greatly pleased at this evidence of the prosperity of the order in Nashville not to say anything of the Comforts they may experience at headquarters so they didn’t just create some room for guys to come hang out they they Adorn them that going back to that beauty point I made earlier they created
A space to Foster this intellectual enjoyment in this fellowship with one another so you can fellowship at a feast you can fellowship at a library you can Fellowship within the lodge but brother John B Garrett past uh Grand Secretary of Tennessee past master of Phoenix Lodge tells this story that as has been
My custom for many years many exceedingly Pleasant and happy hours have been spent with my brethren in their lodges and homes on one occasion I rode 10 miles in a two horse wag mostly through the woods on a new new unmarked road but at the end of the
Journey I met one of those warm warm-hearted Masons whose genuine Hospitality cannot be exceeded one who never finds time to mix and mingle with his brethren in their homes and around their firesides rarely sees the inner beauties of Mason brother John B Garrett uh he was affectionately known as brother John and
He was well known throughout the state as being the best ritualist in the State uh I found many an article about how he would just stay in his office at the Grand Lodge which was at the Masonic library and anytime you walked in there’d be 12 or more Masons just
Hanging out having a good time learning ritual discussing anything it was it was a a community spot it wasn’t a a place that was just open during business hours or was only open for degrees they were there full-time enjoying each other’s company but another thing brother Garrett did was Fellowship outside of
The lodge so him and uh uh many of other members from Cumberland and Phoenix uh decided to start the Swan Creek fishing boating and hunting club that sounds pretty self-explanatory but when you start reading the articles that that they put in the paper about themselves you quickly find that it may
Not have involved much fishing uh one article says that Duncan McKay left the city on their uh excuse me Duncan McCay joined the Swan Creek fishing boating and hunting club he was taken in more by way of ornament than for his abilities as a piscatorial artist everyone knew he was no fisherman
It goes on to say that uh it was best to suspend the rules and take him in as they thought he could be made useful to dig bait carry snake medicine in quotations marks and cook for the club so I asked myself well what what is snake medicine and found another article
Where it says the Swan Creek Fishing Club left the city on their 47th Annual fishing Excursion mind you most of these guys were not in even in their 40s so 47th seems like a make madeup number they left on their 47th Annual fishing Excursion packed in boxes were tents
Cooking utensils grub fishing tackle and other paraphernalia of the club while a suspicious looking keg labeled vinegar but supposed to be snake medicine was closely guarded by one of the members on this particular Journey johnb Garrett supposedly caught this image that you see in the top right corner so
Uh he was president of the club and this uh animal here is supposed to be the ancient Wang noodle that was said to live in the mountains of Heep cidm and mourn for its firstborn uh this entire article of John B talking about how he almost caught
This thing and somehow he got off the hook and he was not able to return with this ancient beast and in telling this story they’re sitting in the Grand Lodge library and a question is posed have you been drinking any of your snake medicine inquired Joe carols who had paused in
His game of dominoes long enough to listen to the recital never drank a drop in my life answered DK and Barney Phillips groaned I didn’t know that you used to uh create drinking clubs and then write about your exploits in the newspaper but that must have been what they did before
Facebook but as you can see that all of this this this tale is going on in the Grand Lodge library and again they’re not there just to work they’re not there just to do ritual they are simply hanging out having a good time Joe carrols who is mentioned here is playing
Dominoes and listening to this story this is also around a time though that in 1896 the Grand Lodge uh started Banning initiations of anyone who was involved in the manufacturer or sell of liquor so in 1897 96 we said if you’re in involved in the liquor
Business so you can no longer become a Mason but 15 years later they’re writing about their drinking stories in the newspaper so there’s another big event I found Cumberland lodges 100y year anniversary so this is the Old Maxwell House hotel since burned down but I couldn’t find
Much uh description about this event but as you can tell you’re looking at 100 plus Masons I would guess all gathered together in formal fine dining dressed nice ready to fellowship and celebrate their 100th year anniversary another event I found uh were the what they called The Old Man carols
Dinners so Jo Joe carrols who has mentioned earlier was the oldest Mason in the state and for about a fiveyear period they got together every single year and they had a dinner to Joe’s honor and they would all stand up and give toast to Joe and tell stories about
Joe and then he would give a speech afterwards again this wasn’t anything organized by The Lodge this was simply masons in the city getting together and having a good time uh somewhat in honor but somewhat at the expense of old man carols this is an event that Phoenix
Lodge hosted it was a uh master’s degree and they were initiating a prominent member of Nashville and they invited the governor who was a Mason at that time as well as many members of the state legislature and you can see at uh 7:30 p.m. they had a reception 8:00 they
Convered the degree 10 they had another uh reception and then they follow by cigars follow up with cigars for this time period in Phoenix lodges history I couldn’t find a single event Harley where they did not have cigars and they put this in the newspaper not only did they have those
Cigars but brother Brandon Sor going through the minutes happened to stumble upon a budget and the lodge was paying for sad cigars not the members in 1915 uh Cumberland Lodge built a new Temple on sth Avenue that Phoenix Lodge also occupied so they got together Cumberland and Phoenix and had a lodge
Dedication ceremony and I found this old menu from the event they had a banquet at 8:30 I don’t know how many of y’all can read that but it’s oysters on the half shell I don’t know how hard it was to get oysters in Nashville in 1915 but
I imagine it was quite a feat and as you can see uh all the fixen so to speak coffee music uh and then toast and Joseph toy how who is a member of Phoenix was presiding and then it says the toast will be responded to by the following and they have the symbolic
Lodge the Royal Arch the select Master the Templar the progress of masonry and the home of the craft and the the gentleman who gave those speeches you may be asking yourself well what uh what is a response I can’t find much within Tennessee masonry where it’s written out
How a festive board is supposed to be held but it’s a very common thing throughout a lot of other jurisdictions especially in England and it was common here for for at least a hundred years at some point it started to die out but if you read how to have a proper festive
Board uh there is some ritual to it there is some ceremony to it and part of that is the responses that we just heard about so I can’t prove that at this event in 1915 they were doing the entire festive board but they were at least giving toast and
They were at least giving responses uh part of the toast typically there’s seven traditional toast and then when a member gives that toast there is then the response the response can be a short speech which it appears uh to be what those gentlemen were doing based
Off the topics that were listed uh there could be a poem there could be a song um there’s also uh music music during before after really up to the lodge there but there’s uh untold amounts of masonic himels uh from back in the day where we
Used to have music not only in our degrees but clearly Within These festive board situations and certain lodges even had their own music so if you were a member of a lodge your Lodge had its own specific song that you may sing during or a part of this toast ing this festive board
Ceremony uh taking wine was usually happened before the toast this was where the master either privately or uh with the rest of the uh dinner guest would drink a glass of wine with his officers standing up in a toasting fashion and everyone else would applaud usually was
His officers but it could really be whomever he appointed to take wine with him to kind of kick off the event which which was followed by the toast responses and firing glasses if you’re not familiar with a firing glass there’s an image of one made by Brother Patrick
KCK uh as you can see the bottom of it is very thick and that serves a purpose after you would take your toast you would slam it on the ground and fire uh that was known as giving the good fire why would you do that why why would
You take a shot and slaming on the ground is there any uh esoteric meaning behind any of that um only thing I can think of is it’s just fun you know it’s kind of tribal you’re getting together you’re having a good time you’re banging the table you’re fellowshipping so I ask this question
And we will be taking questions after you can ponder on all this but are we preserving this tradition of the festive board today and Beyond just that specific tradition of the F festive board are we putting an emphasis on our fellowship are we truly placing the
Importance on it that we should you know we uh we do things today we we call from labor to refreshment why why would we do that if that didn’t have some purpose a long time ago uh one thing I clearly saw here was they always had their meetings first
And then the meal to follow a lot of lodges do that the opposite today I think the reason you had the meal first I mean excuse me the meeting first and then the meal is so that the fellowship after the meeting could carry on throughout the night the way we
Currently do it you have your meal and then you get rushed into a meeting and you could be in the middle of a great intellectual conversation and then you get drugg away to go into a meeting uh it only makes sense that if you are having your meeting first and the
Meeting might be going longer that that would be the reason you would call from labor to refreshment to then go break uh you know the junior Warden is charged with looking over the craft during that refreshment uh what’s he doing if if there’s no formality to this if there’s
No ceremony to this what what is what is the junior warden’s job is he is he there to make sure someone doesn’t eat too many mashed potatoes so so we we have remnants of this stuff in our ritual but for at least the last hundred years it seems to
Have gone away but I can show you up until at least 1915 in Tennessee we were actively taking part in these festive boards with alcohol in our Lodge rooms or in our lodge buildings I should say the natural question here is why did this change um there’s a lot of
Different theories uh definitely the temperance movement was large in the South you had prohibition but what I think really happened at least the start of this was the Morgan Affair if you’re familiar with the Morgan Affair I won’t spare all those details but it was a very bad time for the fraternity Freemasonry
Essentially almost almost died in a lot of places a lot of lodes went under and when it Rose back again it it came back with this view towards popularizing itself with the public so we ingratiated ourselves with the clergy and we started putting more emphasis on charity and
Basically the the whole of society were saying that we were evil we were bad we were this so we came out and said no we aren’t we don’t drink we do charity etc etc etc it it was a PR move in a lot of ways and in my mind we we basically let
The enemies of Freemasonry Define who we are and I think that while maybe that was the right thing to do at that time I think that it’s prudent for us to go back and find out who we really are find those Traditions preserve that fire and
Let’s get back to tending this flame of Fellowship that unites us as a common Band of Brothers I’ll take [Applause] questions on the questions Warren is going to hand you a microphone that way the guys watching online can hear you ask your question so you just just make
Sure that you’re talking to this fuzzy thing right here right so who would like to ask so here’s the fuzzy thing so Ryan the the last uh last point that that you raised is evidence throughout our ritual uh which I specifically refer to as the christianization of masonry not
That that is in any way bad but that it is indeed a product of the outcomes of the Morgan Affair that lasted all the way through the 19th century into the early 20th century specifically uh our patron saints say David Stafford mentioned a month or so ago in his presentation uh were changed
In the 19th century where The Lodges were formerly dedicated to Moses and Noah and so forth the dedication was Chang to John the Baptist and John the Evangelist if you look at uh the ritual itself uh we see things such as uh Jacob’s Ladder Jacob’s Ladder uh is depicted with
Jacob uh uh laying on the ground with his head on a rock I don’t know who sleeps that way but this clearly not what it means uh in the background there’s a ladder with these beings going up and down they are depicted as Angelic beings and they are denominated faith hope and
Charity the uh confusing part about that entire christianization Motif is that Jacob’s Latter is a story from the Old Testament and faith hope and charity are virtues unheard of and not defined until the New Testament so we see those kinds of things which are capitulation to principally the Roman
Church that was issuing a variety of encyclicals condemning us for our beliefs and behaviors and so forth so the christianization of masonry is a very very big deal and I think it played a huge part at least from the Protestant movement with respect to the elimination of alcoholic beverages in uh the course
Of festive boards and various large functions yeah to me it makes uh numerous issues definitely clergy uh coming after the fraternity all sorts of accusations same accusations we get today whether we’re satanic or or whatever you know crazy people want to throw at us uh but but I think the
Morgan Affair had to be it because that was such an American event and this festive board and the use of alcohol responsibly within Lodge uh that didn’t die out overseas it’s still alive and well in many other parts of the world many other jurisdictions uh have this form of
Fellowship they do it weekly without issue I’m sure there are some issues if they’re an issue we have Masonic ways to handle that uh but I I think with the Morgan Affair being so American Centric about and and the anti-masonic party and all this thing that rose out of that and
The negativity specifically towards American masonry that makes the most sense as to why this stuff uh why it was lost all right who’s next Who’s got a question nobody else all right fair enough we got any online have any online we have a a chat box online no
Questions several are online we had seven throughout yeah cool good questions on awesome I guess my my comment would be the only time I’ve really participated in a masonic toast was with the Scottish right and so the Scottish Wright uh they they put on a masonic toast I several months ago and um
That was actually really cool that was the first time that I had ever uh participated in something like that so that was really cool yeah to see these Traditions really only live on formally at least uh within the appendant bodies so the Scottish right has several
Degrees that involve it York W has them um Scottish Wright has Feast Feast of tishy is probably what you’re referring to where we did a toast at the Feast of tishy so um this this this stuff exists and it existed for a very long time and
Uh I think again you’re free to disagree with me I’m sure there’s a lot of points that may be made about the pros and cons of alcohol within the lodge but anytime I hear that it’s UNM Masonic I I do take issue with that because most of the
World Masonic World allows it and we did ourselves for at least 100 years so you still may think it’s a bad idea and we may still disag ree with the merits of that but to claim that it’s somehow UNM Masonic u i take real issue with that I
Think you can clearly say drunkenness is UN Masonic I think you could uh you know no one’s promoting that I’m not saying we need to have crazy wild keg parties but to be able to have a toast with wine with your brothers to me seems like a
Very Masonic thing to do well if if we do bring it back can we at least you know ban like Keystone Light Natty light some of these I don’t those are UNM Masonic in my opinion uh other brothers May disagree with you which is why I think those types of topics should be
Left up to the individual blue Lodge fair enough I think every blue Lodge is different has its own culture of what they enjoy and not and uh you know we should put more faith in the blue lodges themselves to make their own decisions [Laughter] U as soon as Jay Michael gets gets
Through with me here uh very little in the Masonic code about about alcohol and if you really if you read what’s in there there only about one paragraph or a paragraph and a half some of that is so V in there currently uh there’s been efforts to uh modernize that or update a
Little bit take the vagueness out of it uh that’s what I would like to see uh and of course we’ve got a couple of proposals coming up that Grand Lodge concerning alcohol uh and the use uh on large property so um you know and I think it’s ought to be a a large
Decision myself so anyway that’s all I got to say here here J mug anybody else like to like to chime in thoughts questions you guys have anything yeah you go so brother Ryan are uh are all of the larges in the the whole entire United States alcohol free
Because I went to California once and they even had the bar downstairs yeah you see in many jurisdictions all right the American South is one of the few that that still has such strict requirements on it okay I think a lot of that’s just a hold over from from
Prohibition and we’re part of the Bible Belt maybe it’s time to change it I’ll make a quick comment on Harold’s Point uh this wasn’t in this presentation but but that code proposal that’s speaking about third party use of the Grand Lodge building uh I have another presentation some of yall may
Have came to about the Masonic theater and I can also very clearly show that for almost a hundred years we rented out our buildings two thirdparty events alcohol was present we used our buildings to generate revenue for a long long time and uh at some point again we
Chose not to do that I don’t know but best best solution it doesn’t make logical sense to me so the best explanation I can think of is that it was simply PR and trying to uh push forward an image and to answer our critics and as I said earlier I think
It’s just a very poor strategy to let the enemies of masonry Define who we are I have I have a question yes um so uh so if if alcohol let’s say like somebody came and rented the building and they had a party or a wedding or whatever and
Then somebody drove drunk afterwards and maybe got in an accident or something like is there any is there any liability on on us if a situation like that happens I’m sure there would be but we would you you purchase liability insurance you have you can do license
Bartenders there’s uh in my mind every every problem that’s presented with this issue can be solved and I might not off the top of my head know the exact answer to that problem but what I do know is this happens all over the world every single week somehow they figured it out
Surely where you would be smart enough to figure it out yeah thank you Tom this is uh principally a Smart Apple uh question so if uh if the Grand Lodge were to permit alcohol on the premises of lodges in Tennessee what would we do if Tennessee decided to pass pass a law
Legalizing marijuana for recreational use well I cannot find Historical precedence for that so so so I I just suggest that that’s an interesting uh question to to contemplate because because that’s G to come up sobriety as an ancient Landmark so that that might cover that I I think
The point with all this again it’s not to promote drunkenness it’s not that Mason should be having wild crazy parties it’s just the idea that we should be able as men to get together Fellowship responsibly you know I I I’ve we’ve all been taught that we are to
Subdue our passions to me subduing a passion is not pro prohibition it’s it’s moderation it’s it’s being able to partake in alcohol in a responsible fashion with my brothers and in my opinion on Lodge property uh I I don’t I don’t see anything wrong with
That I’m 34 I’m not I’m not a a young man anymore I’m certainly not old either but uh I’d like to think I like to think I’m old enough to be treated like a grown man and make my own decisions and act responsibly there are those that that do
Invive and claim that they act responsibly that is true so and if someone does not uh then that’s our job as brothers right if someone’s not uh walking that straight and narrow if they’re if they’re drinking too much or inv vibing too much and uh I think that
Would be our responsibility to step in and say hey might want to back off a little bit someone got too drunk back to Warren’s point of you know potential driving one one explanation I’ve heard as so why this changed is well the car was invented so it was easy to to drink
At lodge and go home when you had a horse because you could just get drunk and your horse would find its way home cars obviously lead to to death uh I don’t know if horse Rex do but uh you know if if that’s the scenario we’re talking about I think it would be
Our duties as brothers to drive that brother home if he can’t drive find him a ride get him an Uber uh someone just mentioned Teslas are about to be uh self-driving you know there’s there’s ways around all of this if we actually had the will to do it
So Ryan coming from another jurisdiction we did have alcohol in the lodge after meeting we could that was in New Jersey but where my dad was a master up in in Massachusetts something you had commented on not only did they allow the alcohol after LOD for Fellowship their
Meal was always as you were talking about after the LOD meeting if it was a big event they referred to it as a collation I remember that was the only time I ever heard that word um something else you mentioned uh the Morgan Affair not only did masonry take a dip and then
Start coming back after that there was also the rise of the Church of later Day Saints basing a lot of stuff on masonry and the Hebrew um Testaments and that was also a growth period at the same time masonry was growing back um and I don’t know what their policy is on
Alcohol with their church has no relation to that comment I was making yeah I I hadn’t researched that enough to know uh I doubt that was a bigger problem as it was in the American South just not a lot of Mormon here but as far as Tennessee I I think I
Think if you know we more like I’m Church of Christ I think we’re probably more to blame than the the Mormons ever were throw the Baptists in there too for Nick cool I think it was great all right well we’ve been talking about fellowship and
A meal uh we’ve got a meal ready for you all uh we will say a prayer first uh few housekeeping notes when you’re done just leave your plate on the table in front of you we’ll come around and collect the plates um but with that there’s nothing
Else you can go ahead and kill the live stream too thanks for all the brothers that watched online hopefully you got something of it
source
