I'm surprised this blog is still here.
More surprised that I can still get in and post.
Even more surprised that I have something I want to say.
But here I am.
So, the lodge I was raised in is gone. It has merged with a different local lodge. It's been so long since I went (10 years, at least), that I'm not sure I'd even know anybody there.
I started looking around for something closer to home, and pinged the current Worshipful Master.
Here's a snipped from the conversation we had:
Well, yeah. Honestly the dues situation is why I'm inquiring in the first place.
Every year I pay my dues and wonder "what am I getting out of this?"
I was raised in ****** (now merged with ******), but soon after there was some stuff that went down during the elections that sort of soured me to the lodge.
Also, I love the downtown temple, but it's so far. It's a long way to drive for a business meeting, and our lodge did very little degree work.
Between those two things, I drifted away from the lodge and eventually stopped going.
So, last week I got a letter about how I need to pay the dues for 2021 by November or be suspended and I started to think about whether or not I cared.
I figured that I should give it another chance before giving up, and when I saw that there was a lodge so close, I thought that would be perfect.
So, whether or not I can pay the fees isn't the problem, it's whether I _want_ to or not that's the issue.
Hopefully that's not too dour an explanation!
I really enjoy the formality, rituals, and philosophy of Freemasonry. It really just hits the right notes.
So, I'm hoping to reignite the spark by getting more involved.
He was very understanding, and it sounds like he wants to help me get back into it.
Another angle to this that comes to mind, is that my transgender son can't participate in Priesthood stuff at church, but I don't see why he couldn't be raised a Master Mason.
This will take some thought, I guess.
