A pile of petitions ready to be filled out! |
As
it turns out, our journey of inquiry was very similar. While I had known about
my uncle and my grandfather (different sides) having been masons, it wasn’t
until I really got into the genealogy and the legacy of the fraternity that I
became interested in learning about freemasonry and subsequently interested in
becoming a Mason. The email I received came with a similar story as he had been
researching his own family and discovered that his great great grandfather was
a Mason in New York. That was the catalyst that started his initial journey to
the fraternity and lead him to contacting my lodge.
So,
after a few emails back and forth we agreed to meet at the lodge last night.
Hey, I’m already there on Tuesday nights so I might as well not waste time and
show him around and meet him face to face. I got to the lodge a bit early and
took care of a few meetings before the 7:30 appointment. Just the usual weekly
items that need to be taken care of with the Treasurer. With about 10 minutes
to go some of the other Brothers began walking up to the front door. Soon
after, and 5 minutes early, the prospective candidate turned the corner and
approached us asking if I was the one with whom he previously spoke.
We
walked around the lodge, top to bottom, and talked for about 30 minutes. While
I can’t say that I am the best at giving tours, I have gotten better since the
last time I showed someone around. He asked a few questions here and there but,
for the most part, he seemed to want more of the formal introduction to the
lodge that this tour was accomplishing. At the end of the evening, I handed him
a petition and invited him to dinner next Thursday so that he can meet many
more brothers and talk with them about becoming a Mason.
It
is this initial reaction and exposure that really makes me think back to the
moment I walked through the doors of the Grand Lodge in Philadelphia and asked
to speak to someone about becoming a mason. That first step can sometimes be
the hardest but at soon as you take it the rest of the steps soon follow and
before long you are walking along the Masonic path in a journey that lasts a
lifetime… sometimes a journey that spans generations. Yes, this morning I got
my favorite kind of email and I look forward to the next one to pop up in my
inbox.
Yeah, The Grand Lodge is a little bigger than my lodge. |
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