The purpose of this blog is to provide a record of my thoughts and activities as I become Worshipful Master of a Masonic Lodge for the second time. Hopefully, this will be useful for others to plan their year in the East. As a "second timer" I do not want to become complacent as some Masters have been who have been faced with this same situation. Instead, I hope to tackle the job with the same zeal and enthusiasm I had during my first term as Master.
Dunedin Lodge No. 192 F.& A.M. is my mother Lodge where I was raised and served for a couple of years before moving to Sutherland Lodge No. 192 F.& A.M. which is closer to my home in Palm Harbor. Both Lodges operate under the jurisdiction of the Grand Lodge of Florida. While at Sutherland I progressed through the chairs as JD-SD-JW-SW-WM and served as Secretary for two years. Sutherland is a much smaller Lodge than Dunedin but I learned a lot about the Fraternity during my tenure there, including its politics. In 2006 I returned to Dunedin where I served as Secretary for the past two years.
Although we had a rather good year at Dunedin in 2008, both the Junior and Senior Wardens had to drop out of line, causing a problem in terms of who would succeed our outgoing Worshipful Master. At our last Stated Communications of the year held last Monday, December 8th, the Craft voted me to the East.
I was fortunate to have a Past Master, who I greatly respect, elected to the West and a young and bright Brother elected to the South. The Treasurer's post remained the same, and the Secretary's job was filled by another capable Past Master.
I wasted little time in appointing my Junior Officers and quickly formed committees. As Secretary I was fortunate to know just about everyone in the Lodge and the Craft appears ready to volunteer to help the Lodge. I sometimes believe sitting as a Secretary should be a prerequisite for becoming a Worshipful Master as you learn a lot about the actual operations of the Lodge.
Dunedin Lodge No. 192 was founded in 1916 in Dunedin, Florida (Tampa Bay area). It is a part of District 20 which includes seven Lodges, and Zone 6 which includes four districts (encompassing Tampa Bay). The Lodge is in pretty good shape financially, structurally, and in terms of membership (after years of slow decline, it appears we have bottomed out and we are back on the rise). I attribute this to a few reasons, good management by the Lodge, Masonic Education, and renewed interest in the fraternity by the public, thanks to books such as "The Da Vinci Code" and movies like "National Treasure." Currently we have over 200 members with several young men going through the degrees (about a dozen).
This is not to suggest Dunedin Lodge is perfect, but I think we are doing better than a lot of others in our area. The problems I will need to address this coming year is a young line of officers in need of training, and we need to invigorate Lodge meetings so they are both interesting and fun to attend thereby stimulating the Craft into action. It will be necessary for me to spend more time with the officers to point them in the right direction, and I have a few ideas for changing Lodge meetings.
Beyond that, there is something else that has weighed heavily on my mind lately, namely the deteriorating moral condition of this country. I realize a Masonic Lodge is not a religious institution, but we are supposed to be models of morality and examples to the community (remember our tenets as Master Masons). I have been pondering how we, as Masons, can promote morality, and I am not too sure I have the answer yet. But I am thinking of two possibilities: create a "Citizen of the Year" award, or; establish a "Citizenship" program whereby we recognize people for exhibiting good moral values. My thinking is that people tend to be recognized for immoral behavior, yet moral behavior is overlooked and taken for granted. In other words, I would like to recognize and thank those who practice decent moral values.
As to my management style as Master, you must remember I am a management consultant by profession. As such, I do not believe in micromanagement as I have seen other Worshipful Masters practice. Instead, I like to surround myself with the best people, delegate responsibility, and get out of their way. Because of this, I want to form true committees (not just people with a token title), charge them with their responsibilities, and turn them loose. Of course, I will run interference for them and assist them with any problems they might encounter, but I want to instill a sense of ownership in the Lodge by the Craft. To my way of thinking, viable committees also become the farm club for future Lodge officers. The more people who want to participate, the better as far as I am concerned.
As to meetings; first, we've changed our bylaws so that we have only one Stated Communications a month (the third Monday, beginning at 7:00pm). Dinner will precede these meetings. We will also have Festive Boards once a month off-site at a restaurant, which will be open to the public (including spouses and candidates for the fraternity). The purpose of these meetings will be to celebrate Freemasonry and I will invite guest speakers to talk about a variety of subjects and issues (nothing secret or proprietary of course). Recognizing the need for the Brothers to communicate in this day and age of the Personal Computer, I will be hosting a series of training courses on the use of the PC; e.g., basic use and housekeeping, word processing, Internet, graphics, spreadsheets, etc. These classes will be free and also open to the public (thereby raising awareness in our Lodge as well).
I am now preparing for the installation of Lodge officers which is scheduled for Saturday, January 3rd, 1:00pm at Dunedin Lodge. I am fortunate to have a fine team of Brothers to be my installing officers.
Finally, I have got a jump on the Lodge's "Trestleboard" newsletter and have produced the January/February issue, which you can find at:
http://www.dunedin192.org/dun0109.pdf
You can stay abreast of the activities at Dunedin Lodge by following our website at:
http:///www.dunedin192.org/
Okay, that's about it for now; this will be what this blog is all about, a running diary of my year in the East for the second time. I am sure I will make some mistakes along the way, but I will not fear to at least try and make a difference. Wish me luck.
If you have any questions or comments about my odyssey, please do not hesitate to post them here or send me an e-mail.
All the Best,
W:.Tim Bryce, PM, MPS, MMBBFMN
timb001@phmainstreet.com
Dunedin Lodge No. 192 F.& A.M.
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Good luck in the coming year, Tim. It sounds like you've got some good ideas to make meetings interesting and full of fellowship. And training successors is something few Lodges tend to do.
ReplyDeleteThere isn't an awful lot else I can suggest to you that you likely haven't already thought out. May you have a successful year.
Justa