Returning to the Craft

Hello brothers,

My name is Steve and I'm a Master Mason who has been away from the Craft for several years and am now considering returning. I am pleased to see a large and lively group of brothers here and I look forward to the fellowship.

Hello Steve. I am curious, by "away" do you mean inactive and paying dues, or do you mean totally withdrawn?

Hello pointwithinacircle2,

In a way, both. I had some personal issue that prevented me from going to lodge for several months. Once those cleared up, I realized that my lodge wasn't really offering me the things I had been looking for, so I did not return. I was unfamiliar with the process of demitting so upon receiving a notification of suspension, I called the WM who was a friend of mine and asked what I needed to do. He, having been a Mason for probably less than a year and probably not knowing himself, simply said 'no problem, you're good'. At that, I went on about my business. Fast forward a few years, I was interested in possibly returning so I looked into and realized that I had not in fact gone about things the right way. I reached out to my mother lodge, petitioned for reinstatement, and am now 'active'. I have since moved across the country and am currently in the process of trying to visit several of the lodges here to see if I would be interested in returning or not.

Thank you for the reply. I too found myself disappointed with Freemasonry when I first joined. I tried it for a while, then I gave up on it for a while, then I went back. For me the answer came when I decided I should become all the things that I was originally disappointed about not finding in the Lodge. When I first attended meetings I felt unwanted and ignored, so when the next guy joined I made sure he felt that his attendance was appreciated. I was also disappointed that, even when I asked, no one taught me anything. So I searched out information on the internet and wrote my own educational material and presented it in Lodge. At first I wasn't very good at doing a teaching presentation, but before me they had nothing, and I was better than nothing! I realize that I am making this a very short story. The transformation described above took about ten years to complete. But for me it was all about being the thing I wanted to see.

I moved across country almost two years ago and had to find a new Lodge. I did exactly what you described. I found three Lodges within Driving distance and went to all three for for a few months before I petitioned at one. Good Luck on your move.

Brother,

It seems I'm walking down a path that has seen your footsteps. I think you've hit the nail on the head. Although I've been able to find a lot of good information (papers, lectures, and my own research) and some of the deeper lessons of masonry, part of me feels that if I am forced to do it on my own, what is the point of going to lodge? That being said, even after this conclusion I am coming back because I know how much more rewarding it would be to discuss these topics with a group.
I applaud your hard work and would be interested in following your example. Were I still in my mother lodge where I was a SD, I don't think I'd have any problem suggesting something to the effect (ideally, I'd love to see a dedicated night to Masonic discussion separate from our already lengthy stated meetings) but I recognize that as I don't even have a lodge locally yet, the idea of joining and then immediately suggesting change (or at least something new) would be in bad form. For this reason, I was hoping to find a lodge near me that had already adopted this practice. Time will tell if that is the case. From my brief interactions, I get the feeling that the lodge I was at last night is the most active in the area and they do not have such a practice.

@hanzosbm

Welcome back... I was away from the lodge for over a decade and recently came back to the fraternity. I switched jobs, moved to a different side of town, went back to school, traveled a lot on business, etc. My family life started to suffer, so something had to give and unfortunately it was freemasonry (and other stuff too). So, now trying to find my way back to lodge, remember all the work and re-establish some of the friendships I had as well as establishing new ones.

There is one thing I would like to point out, I never brought it up. I never initiated any discussion, I never suggested a change, I never told anyone what I was doing. I simply went to the WM and said "I found a neat Masonic poem that I would like to read during tonight's meeting". By the time anyone realized that maybe I was doing Masonic Education I was sitting back down.

hanzosbm said:

part of me feels that if I am forced to do it on my own, what is the point of going to lodge?

Click to expand...

This is something that one of our PM's talks about to new or non-Masons. He asks them "Why are gyms so popular? You can get the same equipment gyms have, put in in your home and workout there." But then he explains gyms are so successful because everyone learns different techniques from everyone else in the gym. That's the same thing that happens in Lodge. That's something that always stuck in my mind and when I read this thread, it made me think of it.