more light #46
Fourteen Reasons for Attending Lodge on a Stormy Night
by Ed Halpaus
Grand Lodge Education Officer
Grand Lodge of A. F. & A. M. of Minnesota
21 November 2005
An article from the Michigan Masonic World reprinted in The Builder
Magazine in 1925.
A brother being met on a stormy night wading from lodge and ridiculed for the
unnecessary exposure, sent the following 14 reasons for his conduct, says the
Michigan Masonic World:
1. Because the by-laws of my lodge and the character of my engagements as a
Mason make no exceptions for stormy evenings.
2. Because I expect the Worshipful Master to be there I should be surprised
if he were to remain away on account of the storm.
3. Because if his hands should fail through weakness, I should have great
reason to blame myself, unless I sustain him by my presence and good wishes.
4. Because by staying away I may lose the instruction which would do me great
good.
5. Because my presence is more needed on those evenings when there are but
few, than when the lodge is full.
6. Because whatever station I may hold in the lodge, my example must
influence others. If I stay away, why not they?
7. Because on any important business, bad weather does not keep me at home.
8. Because among the crowd of pleasure seekers, I see that bad weather does
not keep the delicate female from the ball, the party, or the concert.
9. Because among other advantages, stormy evenings will show me what
foundation my Masonic attachment is built. It will prove how much I love
Masonry. True love never misses an appointment.
10. Because those who absent themselves from lodge because it is too warm,
too cold or too stormy, frequently absent themselves on the fairest evenings.
11. Because an avoidable absence from the lodge is an infallible evidence of
Masonic coldness.
12. Because there is a special promise that where two or three are gathered
together in God's name, He will meet with them.
13. Because such yielding of surmountable difficulties prepares for yielding
to those merely imaginary, until thousands never enter the lodge, and yet think
they have good reasons for such neglect.
14. Because I know not how many more evenings God may give me, and it will be
poor plea for the affectionate remembrances which I crave as a Mason, that I
slighted my last Masonic - evening on earth.
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