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Fellowship

SeeKer.mm

Premium Member
I thought I knew what Masons meant by fellowship. After all I have attended lodge meetings over the past few months and have enjoyed the company of Brother Masons. I have helped in the painting and cleaning up of our new lodge building every Saturday for the past three weeks, and heck, I even experienced my first table lodge last Monday and BOY, my brothers really know how to have a good time! With all this I figured, yup, I got it, this is what Fellowship is all about...but I was wrong. This sort of fellowship, while incredibly awesome, is only a part of what fellowship really is, and I learned that this morning. I will explain...

Having not grown up in the town I currently live in, I don't really know a a lot of people outside of my wife's family. Having an eleven year old child, I have found that the PTA and other school groups are a real clique type of group in this area and outside of them asking me for donations, my attempts to be part of the bunch didn't work at all...it's kind of like they looked down on me for whatever reason...not sure if its my skin color, or the big age gap between my wife and I or what... but I couldn't so much as get a hello from them in passing at the grocery store and even their kids tend to stop talking to mine after they meet us (i will say there is one couple who has always been very welcoming and I appreciate them)...pretty embarrassing and not a good feeling to smile wave and say hello to someone you've met and have them just look at you and keep walking like you have the plague or worse! Now I could care less what people think if they want to act that way it's their loss, but it still hits you pretty negatively all the same. I'll admit that it has made me a bit uneasy when going to crowded areas like the grocery store, or local carnivals and things of that nature. Not in my home town or anything but just around here...this is supposed to be my "community".

So today I go to the local deli and I was startled to hear my name yelled from across the store like there was some sort of urgency. I turn around and I see two of the brother's from lodge smiling and waving and jumping around to get my attention (funny site to see two grown men do that by the way lol). Man did I feel special! Other customers were looking at me like as to double check that I wasn't some celebrity or something lol. I've met these guys but once or twice and I am embarrassed that I barely remember their names but that didn't matter to them and I know for a fact that I will remember them from here on in. The feeling of acceptance that came over me, and the joy it gave me to shake my brothers hands outside of the lodge room and outside of any Masonic activity really and truly gave me the sense of what Fellowship really means. The ritual, the table lodge, the Masonic events are all tools to bring us closer together to receive this feeling of fellowship but I never really thought about it in the normal everyday sense of the word.

My Brothers...today the fraternity of Freemasons has once again touched my heart and impressed me to the very point of giving me the chills. As I write this I get the feeling of being all choked up from the simple act of someone saying hello to me. I have to say that I am even more proud to be a Mason today than I was yesterday. Now THAT my Brothers, is Fellowship.
 

Michaelstedman81

Premium Member
Niiice! I'm really sorry to hear how you feel about the members of your community and the way that you see that they look upon you and your family. You know what? Oh well!...lol Just keep on being a good man and being nice. Sure, they may continue to act the way they do for a while, maybe even forever, but you going out of your way to be nice to them will stick in their minds. Especially if it is a small town like mine with seeing the SAME people every day. Either they will realize that they are being a bit stuck up and finally give in to the positivity in the air that you bring, or they won't. If they won't, who cares. You are a good man and you are doing what a Mason should by continuing acting like that.

As for the fellowship from the Brothers, that really is an awesome thing, isn't it? I have had a couple of times in my past that I was in an unfamiliar place and alone that a local Brother would take notice of my ring and make a point to talk with me. Even invite me to his table. Lol, This one time, I was with my son's mother and we stopped into some little gas station of on some unknown road. She knew that I was a Mason from the get go, but other than joking with me about it being a "Secret Squirrel Society", she never took too much interest. Well, I had my ring on and the old man that was behind the counter (owned the store) saw it. He all of a sudden got REALLY excited and reached for my hand and said "Ah! A fellow traveling man, huh?!! Where do you hail from?!!". I looked down and saw the way he was holding my hand and also saw his ring and knew right off the bat :) We chatted a bit and I kept catching her look of confusion in my eye. When we got outside, she asked me what that was all about and said "He talked to you like he knew you well enough to your brother..." Hahah I just smiled and told her that he was a member of the same Fraternity that I was. Some months later, her grandfather passed away and at the funeral she found out that he was a Mason and from that moment on she was pretty proud of the fact that I was and took some interest in it all.

Anyway, that moment when that man took my hand was one of the proudest moments of my adult life. Before he saw me, he was just casual and going through his routine, but as soon as he saw my ring it was like he got jump started and became a whole new person. He was really excited.

Thanks for sharing and allowing me to share my experience of our fellowship. Keep your head up up there, and your community is blessed to have another man and Brother like you living among them. They just don't know it yet haha
 

Jimmy Shields

Registered User
Those are amazing stories, thank you guys for sharing. I come from a very small town and was born and raised here so my experience has been a little different. I travel to Indianapolis every day for work and usually once a month I'll run into a brother. I display my affiliation with pride through my license plate, my ring, and square and compass on my hard hat. So it's not uncommon for someone to stop me and introduce them self and what lodge they belong to. Every time I kind of swell up with pride. Being a Mason is something I am very proud of. So seeker just keep doing what your doing.
 

bullrack33

Premium Member
I run into Brothers from other Lodges and States all the time here in San Antonio. It is truly a great feeling when I get the chance to talk to these Brethren. Having a Brother who is sitting next to you at a stop light talk to you is definitely awesome. Blows my wife's mind all the time!
 

Cigarzan

Premium Member
Great story Seeker! I'm sure we could all share similar stories. The is something uplifting to be able to see a stranger, note the bond and realize that the stranger is, in fact, your Brother! We bring together those who might have remained "at a perpetual distance" and that is a marvelous thing. SMIB!
 
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towerbuilder7

Moderator
Premium Member
Amen, Brother......you continue to be the Man GOD wants you to be, and that will help you better understand the Masonic tenets, principles, and time honored lessons which have guided the lives of many Men before us. Bro Steadman is correct, in that you should continue to be YOU, and even the profane Man will see the LIGHT in your eyes and most importantly, your HEART. And, if some folk choose to remain narrow minded, it is THEY who will live in darkness, while you thrive in LIGHT! SMIB, Brother...... Bro Vincent C. Jones, Sr., Bayou City Lodge #228, PHA, F&AM, Houston, Texas
 

hlnelson

Registered User
Thanks for the stories Brethren as stated before Bro SeeKer keep being who you are. :14:for your Lodge Brothers. Some people will come around in time and see just what they was missing out on by tring to exclude you from your own community activities and some want but thats their loss.

My stories are more like Brother Stedman. I'm an over the road truck driver often in places I've never been not knowing at times exactly where I'm going.( have top of the line GPS but it gets it wrong sometime) On more than a few occasions because a Brother saw my rings I have in strange places felt the grip of a Brother who gave me directions and one even acted as an escort to make sure I got to where I going. The fellowship of a Brother is mighty special and comes in many many ways. Free Masonry I love it.
 

Star Mztyk

Registered User
Seeker.... In the pursuit of Light we take upon ourselves more and more....and those who seek Light will seek you because You become the Light for Others.

When I wrestle with recognition of jurisdictions.....and recognition of an individual....I say to myself....I am a stone in the Most Supreme Grand Lodge ...where the SAOTU presides....and Spirit is Spirit...Soul is Soul. Light is Light and you must keep this foremost in your mind.
We are all One in the Supreme Being. I see clearly in this Light.

I sent you a Friend request.
 
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