Footsteps in the Sands of Time
(Give at St. Andrew's Lodge, May 2018)
Tonight, we honour the Master Masons who obtained their 3rddegree in the last five years. As we do so it is appropriate that we look forward to the future lodge of which they will be leaders.
I have been a member of St Andrew’s lodge for almost 51 years. That is over half of the lodge’s history. When I joined in 1967 there were many older members who had been part of the lodge all the way back to its beginning
I had, like many in this room, the pleasure over the years of the company and the friendship of many dozens of members. Men like V.W. Bro Harry Humphries who was the very first candidate initiated in St Andrew’s Lodge in 1920. R.W.Bro. Dudley Fraser was also a friend of mine: Secretary of St. Andrews for many years, now a Grand Lodge Officer now in the Grand lodge of Quebec. R.W.Bro. Robert Rowsome, one of the many of our members who served as DDGM, also sat in this Lodge both as a member of St Andrews and as DDGM in 1969, the last year of a combined District.
We’ve had the privilege of having Bro John Diefenbaker, Prime Minister of Canada as a visitor at one of our meetings
We’ve also said goodbye to many members; most recently R.W.Bro. Bill Burns and W.Bro. Gus Wersch, both of whom we will honour next Sunday
These linkages are important to us. They show that we remember and respect those who came before and appreciate where we came from.
Like you I find that I sometimes forget things. In fact, there seem to be large chunks of events, mainly from my forties and early fifties that seem now like a dream, or that I simply cannot recall. This is not a sign of impending dementia (or at least I trust it is not) but is normal and it’s probably going to get worse. I’m also going to get even more grey hair, in fact less hair, my wrinkles will multiply, my joints are going to creak and I’ll be subject to falls and repeating myself.
I’m going to continue to get older in fact. It seems hard to believe that
thirty years ago, I was a lively young fellow of 37, IPM of the Lodge, running marathons and not having any concerns about grey hair, baldness or the inevitable and eventual termination of life.
One of the most controversial things I‘ve said or written in the last ten years was “Everyone of us is aging by 12 months every year” In 20 years many of us will be dead. Somehow that is a radical statement that people would rather ignore.
And ignore it they have! Despite the fact that the average age of Lodge members is going up, that in most lodges something like 40% of the members are over 80 we are still not very worried about the future. We go on as if our present condition, the condition of Masonry, will last forever.
Well, it won’t. It is going to change. As it has and always has had in the past.
In the future, the not too distant future, lodges are going to be much smaller and there will be fewer of them. There will again be only one District. The reasons people go to lodge will be different and the activities of the Lodges will change. As they have since the lodge was formed. Initially by the Scottish Masons who had come to Canada to reconstruct the Parliament buildings. Many joined Masonry after returning from the horrors of the trenches in the Great War. They sought to maintain the strong bonds of fellowship they had forged with their fellow soldiers as they had struggled to keep themselves and those fellows alive. A similar motivation was behind the great influx of members in 1945 after the second World War.
The reasons men have joined Masonry have changed in our 98 years as a lodge. AS has the World in which we live. What’s more change is growing faster than ever. Masonry however has notchanged in its essential mission; that of making good men better and promoting the fellowship of men under the fatherhood of God
I can compare this to a river: to be specific the River Duddon in the English Lake District. I was first there over almost 60 years ago. But it flows still and is still as lovely. It flowed in the time of Wordsworth who wrote:
I THOUGHT of Thee, my partner and my guide,
As being pass'd away.—Vain sympathies!
For, backward, Duddon! as I cast my eyes,
I see what was, and is, and will abide;
Still glides the Stream, and shall for ever glide;
The Form remains, the Function never dies;
While we, the brave, the mighty, and the wise,
We Men, who in our morn of youth defied
The elements, must vanish; —be it so!
Enough, if something from our hands have power
To live, and act, and serve the future hour;
And if, as toward the silent tomb we go,
Through love, through hope, and faith's transcendent dower,
We feel that we are greater than we know.
Brethren: we have imprinted OUR feet in the sands of time. Others follow. The timeless vitality of masonry will, like the River Duddon, flow on. Its form will remain, its function will never die. However, we MUST recognize that change is occurring and will occur with increasing speed.
Recently we all heard these words in the poem “Flanders’ Fields”
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
We must make sure that our lodge is prepared for change, that our younger brethren have a secure hold on the torch we pass to them: that we have a plan for the future, both near and distant.
Then we will have continued in the footsteps of our forebears and made an important contribution to the health of our community.
One final thought. To think about on your way home tonight. No matter how popular you are or what accomplishments you have had in life, the number of people who will attend your funeral will depend on the weather.
Thank you for your attention.
