ACTING AS CHAPLAIN
"I was embarrassed in lodge tonight!" announced the New Brother to the
Old
Tiler. "I don't think the Master ought to make me feel that way!"
"That's too bad," answered the Old Tiler, with ready sympathy.
"Did he call
you down for something?"
"Oh, no. The Chaplain was absent, and the Master asked me to act in his
place."
"Why should that embarrass you?" asked the Old Tiler, still
sympathetic.
"It embarrassed me horribly to say I wouldn't."
"Oh, you refused?"
"Of course I refused! My embarrassment was bad enough as it was, but to get
up in front of the Altar and offer a prayer! Man, I couldn't do that!"
"You surprise me!" answered the Old Tiler. "But let that pass.
Who did act
as Chaplain?"
"The Master asked the speaker of the evening, some brother I never saw
before. He made a beautiful prayer, too. I heard him tell the Master he
didn't know the prayer in the ritual, but the Master said that didn't
matter, which I thought rather odd."
"Can you remember what the stranger said?" asked the Old Tiler.
"Pretty well, I think," answered the New Brother. "It was not
long. He went
to the Altar and kneeled, and then said 'Almighty Architect of the
Universe, we, as Master Masons, standing in a Masonic Lodge erected to thy
glory, humbly petition that Thou look with favor upon this assembly of Thy
children. Open our hearts that the eternal Masonic truth may find ready
entry that we be enabled to make ourselves square stones, fitting in Thy
sight for the great Temple, eternal in Thy heavens. We ask it in the name
of the All-seeing Eye, Amen."
"That was a pretty prayer," responded the Old Tiler.
"But it wasn't the ritual prayer," objected the New Brother.
"No, nor it wasn't by the appointed Chaplain," retorted the Old Tiler.
"What difference does it make to God whether we pray the same prayer at
every lodge opening? It must be the sincerity and the thought behind the
prayer which count in His sight, not the words. But in your refusal to act
as Chaplain, it seems to me you put yourself in an unfortunate position.
You shave yourself, don't you?"
"Why, er, yes! What has that got to do with it?"
"Tomorrow morning, when you shave yourself, you'll look in the mirror and
you'll say 'Hello, coward!' and that's not nice, is it?"
"Do you think I was a coward?" asked the New Brother, wistfully.
"Scared stiff!" smiled the Old Tiler. "So conceited, so filled
with the
idea of all your brethren admiring you, you couldn't bear to forget
yourself, lest they falter in their admiration. Sure, that's cowardly. You
ducked a duty because of conceit!"
"Old tiler, you use strong words! It was not conceit. It was modesty. I
didn't think I was able."
"Don't fool yourself! You told me you were embarrassed. Why is a man
embarrassed in public? Because he is afraid he won't do well, won't make a
good appearance, won't succeed, will be ridiculous. So you refused the
pretty compliment the Master paid you, and refused your brethren the slight
service of being their mouthpiece."
"But I have never prayed in public!"
"Neither has any other man ever prayed in public prior to his first public
prayer!" grinned the Old Tiler. "But please tell me why a man should
be
embarrassed before God? We are taught that He knoweth all things. If we
can't conceal anything from Him, He knows all about you! A man may be
ashamed of himself, sorry for what he is and has been, but embarrassed, in
prayer? As for being embarrassed before you brethren, that's conceited.
Almost any man is a match for an army if he has God with him. The man on
his feet who talks aloud to God has no need to consider men. If men laugh,
shame to them. In all my many years as a Mason, I never yet saw any man
smile or say a word of ridicule at any one's petition to Deity out loud
which touched the hearts of all present who admired their fearlessness in
facing the Great Architect and saying what was in their hearts. I never
heard a man laugh when a Chaplain, ordained or substitute, made a petition
to Deity. Whether it was the petition in the ritual, or one which came from
the heart, be sure the Great Architect understood it. As for asking a
blessing in the name of the All-Seeing Eye, what difference does it make to
God by what name we call Him? That is a good Masonic name, sanctified by
the reverent hearts of generations of men and Masons.
"For your own peace of mind, tell your Master you made a mistake and that
you are sorry, and that if he will honor you by giving you an opportunity
to pray for yourself and your brethren, you will, in the absence of the
Chaplain, do your reverent best. And when you kneel before that Altar you
will forget, as all Chaplains must who mean what they say, that any listen
save the One to whom the prayer is addressed!"
"Old Tiler, I'll try to do it!" cried the New Mason.
"Humph!" grunted the Old Tiler.
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