MEMORIAL SERVICE
FROM THE AMERICAN-CANADIAN GRAND
LODGE
PREFACE
This
Masonic Memorial Service is an abbreviated version of the "Lodge of
Sorrow" ritual adopted and promulgated by this Grand Lodge in October 1970.
This
Memorial Service was originally compiled for use at Grand Lodge Communications
in lieu of the more extensive "Lodge of Sorrow" ritual, the result of
a desire to ensure that suitable homage be rendered to our deceased brethren at
each Grand Lodge Communication, despite time restraints often encountered.
Although not formally adopted in
this form by Grand Lodge, publication at this time results from numerous
requests by constituent Lodges for copies, and has been approved by the Grand
Master.
Lodges
are encouraged to continue exemplifying the longer "Lodge of Sorrow"
when possible and feasible, especially when the need arises to render homage to
a specific, deceased Brother.
Under
any circumstance, each constituent Lodge is encouraged to exemplify at least
once each year either a Lodge of Sorrow or this Memorial Service, thereby
ensuring continuity of a long-cherished Masonic tradition to honor the memory of
our Fraternal dead with suitable ceremony.
Frankfurt/Main
April, 1986
Jess
Minton
Grand Secretary
American Canadian Grand Lodge,
AF&AM
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PREPARATION
FOR A MEMORIAL SERVICE
The following Memorial Service may be conducted
during a regularly Tiled Lodge Communication, or when the Lodge is called-off
for the purpose of inviting ladies, families, and other invited guests.
In the latter case, after the ceremony is completed, it will be necessary
to call-on again for the purpose of closing the Lodge in due form.
The stations and altar should preferably be
draped in black, and a candlestick placed at each Warden's station, the Master's
station, and at the Chaplain's place. Tall
candlesticks are preferred, but the primary concern should be use of regular
candles that will shed their light with a minimum of surrounding shadow; for
this reason thick candles should be avoided.
A skull, covered with a black cloth, must be at
the Master's station. A white rose
or flower must be at the Jr. Warden's station; a red rose at the Sr.
Warden's station; and a sprig of evergreen at the Master's station.
The three principal officers and the Chaplain should be in their places
prior to others being admitted, and the illumination should just be adequate to
permit all others to enter and be seated with little difficulty.
A Brother should be assigned to control the lighting, and preferably
should be familiar with the ritual to permit lighting changes without the need
for verbal instruction by the Master each time.
When recorded music is used, it is preferable to
have all selections on one tape to avoid the often distracting process of
changing tapes and using stop/start and eject switches under semi-dark or
complete blackout conditions. Different
selections on one tape can then be cued with a minimum of confusion and noise,
by simply using the 'pause' button.
Those officiating (a Master, Wardens, Chaplain)
should preferably wear white, unadorned aprons.
(After all have entered and been seated, the room
lights should preferably be turned off completely.
Before proceeding, the Master should observe an interval long enough to
permit the darkness to induce the desired effect
of contemplation. When ready to
proceed, the Master strikes a match, lighting the candle at his station.
After a further interval of several seconds, the Senior Warden does the
same at his station; and after a further brief interval, the Junior Warden
lights his candle, and immediately thereafter the Chaplain lights the candle at
his place. Appropriate background
music is recommended during most of the Service, audible enough to enhance the
ceremony, but low enough to ensure it doesn't detract from, or 'upstage' the
spoken words. Please note the
recommendation concerning avoiding of distracting noises when using taped
music.)
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MEMORIAL
SERVICE
MASTER Brother
Senior Warden, for what purpose are we assembled?
SR.
WARDEN To honor the memory of those Brethren whom death has taken from us;
to contemplate our own approaching dissolution, and by the remembrance of
immortality, to raise our souls above the considerations of this transitory
existence.
MASTER Brother Junior Warden,
what sentiments should inspire Masons on occasions like the present?
JR.
WARDEN Calm sorrow for the absence of our Brethren who have gone before us;
earnest solicitude for our own eternal welfare, and a firm faith and reliance
upon the wisdom and goodness of the Great Architect of the Universe.
MASTER
My Brethren, (Ladies and Guests) in commending these sentiments to your earnest
consideration, I invoke your assistance in the Memorial Service about to take
place.
*
* * (Call-up Lodge
with three muffled gavel raps).
CHAPLAIN
Great Architect of the Universe, in whose holy sight centuries are but as days,
to whose omniscience the past and the future are but as one eternal present,
look down upon Thy children who still wander among the delusions of time; who
still tremble with the dread of dissolution, and shudder at the mysteries of the
future. Look down, we beseech Thee,
from Thy glorious and eternal day into the dark night of our error and
presumption, and suffer a ray of Thy divine light to penetrate into our hearts,
that in them may awaken and bloom the uncertainty of life, reliance upon Thy
promises, and assurance of a piece at Thy right hand.
AMEN.
(Response): "So mote it
be!"
MASTER
(*) (Seats Lodge with one muffled gavel rap; a brief musical interlude
can follow or, with a suitable musical background, the Master continues as
follows... )
My Brethren, in the midst of
life we are in death, and the wisest cannot know what a day may bring forth.
We live but to see those we love passing away into the silent land.
(solemnly uncovers skull)
Behold this emblem of
mortality! once the abode of a spirit like our own.
Beneath this moldering canopy once shone the bright and busy eye within
this hollow cavern once played the ready, swift, and tuneful tongue but
now,...sightless and mute, it is eloquent only in the lessons it teaches us.
Think of those Brethren who,
but a few days since, were among us in all the pride and power of life.
Bring to your minds a remembrance of their wisdom, their strength, and
their beauty, and think how soon death, for you, will be a reality.
Man's life is like a flower which blooms today, and tomorrow is faded,
cast aside, and trodden under foot.
Most of us, my Brethren, are
fast approaching, or have already passed the meridian of life; our sun is
setting in the -West, and oh! how much more swift appears to be the passage of
our declining years than when we started upon this journey and believed -as the
young are too apt to believe- that the roseate hues of the rising sun of our
existence could always be continued.
When we look back upon those
happy days of our childhood, when the dawning intellect first began to exercise
its powers of thought, it seems but as yesterday.
And could we now but realize the idea that our last hour had come, our
whole earthly life would appear but as the space of time from yesterday until
today.
Centuries upon centuries have
robed away behind us.... before us stretches an eternity of years to come; and
on the narrow boundary between the past and the present flickers that puny taper
we term our life.
When we came into the world we
knew naught of what had been before us, but as we grew up to manhood we learned
of the past. We saw the flowers
bloom as they had bloomed for centuries; we beheld the orbs of day and night
pursuing their endless courses among the stars,... and we learned what men had
thought, and said, and done from the beginning of our world to our day.
But only through the eye of faith can we behold
what is to come hereafter. Only
through a firm reliance upon the divine promises can we satisfy the yearnings of
an immortal soul.
The cradle speaks to us of remembrance; the coffin,
of hope, of a blessed trust in a glorious immortality; never ending existence
beyond the gloomy portals of the tomb.
Let these reflections convince us how vain are all
the wranglings and bitternesses engendered by the collisions of this world; for
what of these will survive us?
Not, let us hope, the petty
strifes and bitternesses, the heart burnings and jealousies, the small trials
and mean advantages we may have gained, but rather those noble thoughts, those
words of truth, those works of mercy and justice that ennoble and light up the
existence of every honest man ... however humble ... and become entrenched as a
symbol of all that is good forever, when his body, like this remnant of
humanity, molders in its parent dust.
Let the proud and the vain
among us consider how soon the gaps are filled that are made in society by those
who die around them, and how soon time heals the wound that death inflicts upon
the loving heart. And from this
also, let us learn humility, and realize that we are but drops in the great
ocean of humanity.
And when God sends his messenger to us with the
scroll of death the final summons let us look upon it as an act of mercy to
prevent the many sins and calamities of a longer life and let us lay down our
heads softly and pass into the sleep that knows no waking, like one 'Who wraps
the drapery of his couch about him, and lies down to pleasant dreams."
For this, at least, man learns by death: that his
calamities are not immortal. To
bear grief honorably and temperately, and to die nobly, are the duties of a good
man and a true Mason.
(An interval of profound silence
for several seconds; Chaplain then slowly strikes twelve on gong, after which
the Master continues..)
MASTER Brothers Senior and Junior
Warden, join with me now at the Altar, and assist me in rendering due and
appropriate homage to our departed Brethren.
* * * (Everyone rises)
(Wardens and Master, with flowers, evergreen, and candles,
solemnly approach altar,
each on his side of altar; place candlesticks on altar
corners, step back ... bow ... pause;
JW advances... )
JR.
WARDEN In memory of our departed Brethren, I deposit this pure white flower,
emblematic of that pure life to which they have been called, as a reminder that
as these children of an hour will soon droop and fade away, so too shall we soon
follow those who have gone before us; and may it also incite us so to fill the
brief span of our existence that we may leave to our survivors that sweet savor
of remembrance.
(JW places rose on Bible, bow, and step back)
(Brief interval of several
seconds, S.W. advances..)
SR.
WARDEN As the sun is in the west to close the day and herald the approach of
night, so -one by one we shall lay us down in the darkness of the tomb, to wait
in its calm repose for the time when the heavens shall pass away as a scroll,
and man, standing in the presence of the Infinite, shall realize the true end of
his pilgrimage here below. Let this
flower symbolize our remembrance of all the virtues of our Brethren who have
preceded us to the Silent Land, and serve as a token of that fraternal alliance
which binds us while on earth, which we hope will finally unite us in heaven.
(SW place rose on Bible -crossing stems- bow, and step
back)
(Further brief interval, then
Master advances ... )
MASTER
It is appointed unto all men once to die, but after death cometh the
resurrection. The dust shall return
to the earth, and the spirit unto God who gave it.
In the grave all men are equal. The
good deeds, the lofty thoughts, the heroic sacrifices alone survive, and bear
fruit in the lives of those who strive to emulate them.
While, therefore, nature will have its way, and
our tears will fall upon the graves of our Brethren, let us be reminded by the
evergreen, symbol of our faith in immortal life, that the dead are but sleeping,
and be comforted by the reflection that their memories will not be forgotten;..
that they will still be loved by those who are soon to follow them;.. that in
our archives their names are written;.. and that in our hearts there is still a
place for them.
And so, trusting in the infinite love and tender
mercy of Him without whose knowledge not even a sparrow falls, let us prepare to
meet them where there is no parting, and where with them we shall enjoy eternal
rest.
(WM places evergreen over roses, and then steps back; all
three then bow)
(Master and Wardens together
render the Funeral Grand Honors,
which are repeated three times..)
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Funeral
Grand Honors
(1)
Extend arms toward altar, with the palms turned up.
(2)
Cross arms over the breast, left arm over the right, fingers touching the
shoulders.
(3)
Raise arms above head, looking up, then drop to sides.
MASTER and WARDENS (In unison)
The will of God is accomplished. So
mote it be! Amen.
(Each takes candle, about-faces, and solemnly returns to
his station; when all are in place, they simultaneously place candles on
stations)
MASTER
*
(Seats everyone with one gavel rap)
(Lights in the
room are now raised to desired level, and the Master proceeds to explain that at
this point in the service, an appointed Orator may deliver the eulogy for all
departed Brethren, or for a particular Brother.
If there is
more than one eulogy, a short interlude of music should be interspersed.
Normally, when
the Memorial Service is exemplified during a Grand Lodge Communication, the
names of those Brethren deceased since the previous Grand Lodge Communication
are read by the Chaplain. Lodges
can use the same procedure if preferred.
After the
eulogy(les) or recitation of names, the lights are slowly turned down
completely, leaving only the illumination provided by the lighted tapers in the
East, West, South.
Master then
redrapes the skull, and continues ... )
MASTER
Brother Senior Warden, our recollections of our departed Brothers have been
refreshed and we may now ask ourselves were they just and perfect Masons, worthy
men, unwearied toilers in the vineyard; possessed of so many virtues as to
overcome their faults and shortcomings? Answer
these questions as Masons should answer.
SR. WARDEN Worshipful Master, man
judged not of man. He whose
infinite and tender mercy passed all comprehension, whose goodness endureth
forever, has called our Brethren hence. Let
Him judge.
Masonry has no tribunal to sit in judgment upon her dead; with her, the good
which her sons have done lives after them, and the evil is interred with their
bones. She does require, however,
that whatever is said concerning them shall be the truth.
And should it ever pass that nothing good can truthfully be said of a
Mason who dies, she will mournfully and pityingly bury him out of her sight, in
tears and silence.
MASTER * * * (All
rise) Brother Chaplain, please lead us in a closing benediction.
CHAPLAIN Our
Father, who art in heaven, it hath pleased Thee to take from among us those who
were our Brethren. Let time, as it
heals the wounds thus inflicted upon our hearts and upon the hearts of those who
were near and dear to them, not erase the salutary lessons engraved there; but
let those lessons, always continuing distinct and legible, make us and them
wiser and better. And whatever
distress and trouble may hereafter come upon us, may we ever be consoled by the
reflection that Thy wisdom and Thy love are equally infinite, and that our
sorrows are not the visitations of Thy wrath, but the result of the great law of
harmony by which everything is being conducted to a
good and perfect issue in the fullness of Thy time.
Let the loss of our Brethren increase our affection for those who are yet
spared to us, and make us more punctual in the performance of those duties that
Friendship, Love and Honor demand. And
when it comes time for us to die, may a firm and abiding trust in Thy mercy
dispel the gloom and dread of dissolution.
Be with us now, that we may serve Thee in spirit and understanding, and
to Thy name shall be ascribed the praise forever.
AMEN.
(Response)
So mote it be!
(Chaplain extinguishes his
candle)
MASTER
Brethren, (ladies, and guests), let us profit from the admonitions of this
solemn occasion, and lay to heart the truths to which we have listened.
And let us, Brethren, resolve so to walk that when we lay us down to the
last sleep, it may be the privilege of the Brethren to strew white flowers upon
our graves, and keep our memories as a fond and pleasant remembrance.
* This formally concludes our
Memorial Service. Brothers Senior
and Junior Warden....
(If Lodge is Tiled, proceed with #1)
(1)..let us extinguish the
lights".
(Master
first, then each Warden in turn. The
room lights are then slowly raised to full brilliancy, and the officiating
Master -if not then Master of the Lodge- returns the gavel to the Master with
appropriate remarks.)
(The following alternate closing may be used, especially when the Memorial
Service was open to non-masonic guests. Note
the transition in the East when the officiating Master descends to approach the
altar and retire from Lodge room.)
(2)..join me now in retiring from
this place".
(The Wardens
take their candles and advance west of the altar, where the Master joins them.
Facing the East, all three solemnly bow, and then retire in single file
from the Lodge room. As the Master
leaves the East, a Past Master -or the Master, if another Brother was presiding
during the Memorial Service- quietly slips into the East.
When all three have retired, the lights are raised, and all non-masonic
guests are requested to retire to permit the Lodge to be called on again for
closing in due form.)
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