Faith Between the Pillars

Title: Faith Between the Pillars
Author: Derek Blackburn
Notes:

I found my faith in abundance between the pillars;

I discovered the path of certainty, the spiral staircase

Up and out of my grave of doubt.

I observed the light to guide me out of my darkened temple,

The cocoon I had constructed during times of doubt.

I am on the path now, the way to the Sanctum Sanctorum,

The inner temple that I know is deep inside my soul.

Soon!

I know because I can feel it and it has been a long time coming,

I know it was worth the wait and everything comes to those who wait patiently.

Soon I will awaken from my years of doubt,

Soon I will shake off this cocoon and emerge

Reborn, a better man,

A better person,

Happy in my life,

Happy in my rediscovered faith.

A faith in me,

A faith in my fellow man,

A faith in life,

And love.

Amen.

Fools Circle

Title: Fools Circle
Author: Derek Blackburn
Notes:

There have been times in my life

When I doubted or lost my faith

With the death of my wife

I lost all belief in life, in God, in myself.

Yet every time I get lost

Every time I cry

A voice deep inside asks; why!

I travel in circles

Back to my roots and faith.

I lost it first after my Bar mitzvah

I couldn’t see the point

With mates of all beliefs

What was mankind fighting for?

I found it in Germany

In a synagogue surrounded by a convent

I lost it when my parents died

I found it in an extermination camp

And in the eyes of Bosnian children

I lost it when my wife was taken from this mortal plane

My friends found it and returned it to me.

I will never lose it again.

Believe what you chose to believe, but believe in it totally

Never lose your faith, whatever that may be

Don’t keep travelling at angles and tangents

Do not! Travel on the Fools Circle like me.

Jesters Creed

Title: Jester's Creed
Author: Royal Order of Jesters
Notes: The Royal Order of Jesters is a sub-group of the Shrine. You can find a little more information on the topic here.


Laugh and the glad world laughs with you;
Weep and the sad world will sigh!
Mirth is our life's true elixir;
It shows you're a "regular guy."

There's nothing that so banishes worry,
Nor puts such a big crimp in sin;
Nor smooths out the wrinkles of trouble,
Like a jolly old Jester-mans grin!

It rolls off the years from your shoulders;
You'll forget that you've grown to be men!
Your youth turns once more to embrace you;
For you've grown to be school boys again!

So, if you've got grouches, don't bring 'em;
Its your laugh and your joke that we need;
For mirth is the doctor of trouble,
And Laughter, the Jester-man's Creed!

Take my hand; Follow me

Title: Take my hand; Follow me
Author: Sir Knight Alvin F. Bohne, PM
Notes:

When I was a young man, a long time ago,
The secrets of Masonry I wanted to know.
Of a Mason I asked what those secrets might be.
He replied,"First, we talk, then we will see."
A petition he granted and ordered it filled
To be read at a meeting and a judgment be willed.
Then questions I answered about God and home;
Of habits and friends; a wife or alone.
In time I was summoned - a date to appear
Before an assembly of men gathered near.
I entered the building and looked up the stair;
Does pleasure or pain await me up there?
A hazing by paddle, taunting by joke?
My petition accepted or maybe revoked?
Introductions and handshakes welcomed me there
And lessons symbolic, an aid to prepare
For a journey in darkness, a predestined plight
To a Holy of Holies, the source of all light.
How well I remember what I heard someone say,
To enter God's Kingdom there is but one way;
Be ye naked and blind, penniless and poor;
These you must suffer 'fore entering that door.
The journey ahead is not yours to know,
But trust in your God wherever you go.
Then assurance from the darkness whispered tenderly,
"My Friend, be not afraid;
TAKE MY HAND;
FOLLOW ME."

With nervous attention a path I then trod;
A pathway in darkness to the altar of God.
With cable-tow and hoodwink, on bare bended knee,
A covenant was made there between God and me.
Charges and promises were made there that night.
Dispelling the darkness and bringing me light.
Mid lightening and thunder and Brethren on row!
Cast off the darkness! And cast off the tow!
In the company of men, a man you must be,
Moral in character, the whole world to see.
Trust in your God, promise daily anew
To be honest and upright in all things you do.
Each man is a brother in charity to share
With those suffering hunger, pain or despair.
The widow and orphan and brother in pain
Depend on your mercy their welfare to gain.
The secrets of Brethren keep only in mind.
To the ladies of Brethren be noble and kind.
Go now, my brother, your journey's begun
Your wages await you when your journey is done.
That journey I started, Oh, so long ago
And I've learned of those things I wanted to know.
I've learned of the secrets, not secret at all,
But hidden in knowledge within Masons' hall.
Childhood yields to manhood, manhood yields to age,
Ignorance yields to knowledge, knowledge yields to sage.
I've lived all my life the best that I could,
Knowing full well how a good Mason should.
I know of those times when I slipped and then fell.
What's right and what's wrong were not easy to tell.
But a trust in my God and a true brother's hand.
Helped raise me up and allowed me to stand.
I've strode down the old path, Masonically worn
By all Mason's raised for the Masons unborn.
But this tired old body, once young and so bold,
Now suffers the afflictions of having grown old.
The almond tree's flourished; the grinders are few.
The housekeepers tremble; desires fail too.
The locusts are a burden; fears are in the way.
The golden bowl is breaking, a little every day.
Mine eyes are again darkened, my sight again to fail;
I sense the Master's presence mid my family's silent wail.
I've laid aside my working tools, my day is nearly done.
For long I've played the game of life; the game's no longer fun.
Life's pathway ends before me. I see what's meant for me;
An acacia plant is growing where a beehive used to be.
The Ethereal Lodge has summoned from beyond the wailing wall
And I vowed that I must answer when summoned by a call.
Again I stand bewildered at the bottom of the stair
In nervous apprehension of what awaits me there.
Once again, and now alone, I stand without the door.
With faltering hand, I slowly knock as once I did before.
I pray again to hear those words,
whispered tenderly,
"My son, be not afraid.
TAKE MY HAND;
FOLLOW ME."

Just a quiet little Lodge room

Title: Just a quiet little Lodge room
Author: George B. Staff
Notes:

Just a quiet little lodge room,
But a mighty force for good;
With its loyal band of members
Learning more of brotherhood;
Striving, stumbling but progressing
Down a Pathway towards the right;
Just a humble bunch of plain folks,
Reaching seeking for the light.

Just a quiet little lodge room,
How it stirs the heart and soul
With a thrill of great endeavour
toward a high and common goal;
With each pledge of faith and courage
To maintain the forward fight,
On the raod that leads them onward
Even onward to the light.

Progress in the Craft

Title: Progress in the Craft
Author: Author Unknown
Notes:

Tie of black and lodge-suit, shoes are polished bright
Check regalia in the case; see everything is right.
Just a final run-through of words you have to say;
We'll have another Mason ere the closing of this day
And hope that he enjoys it, becomes one of us,
Also that he realizes, we once were treated thus!

We, having seen such ceremonies many times before,
Will witness his first entrance, nervous through the door,
As keenly as when seeing those first steps we took,
We too listening to the words (Not always as per book!)
For all our Brother Masons are fallible like me;
Few can be word-perfect throughout each degree.

We shall watch him when he's crafted, later at his Third,
His progress to the Master's Chair, to gain the Master's word.
Initiating others, in that year so swiftly gone!
Becoming a Postmaster, and so relied upon.
Then other years are passing, he's in dark blue, and bald
But willingly will take a job, whenever he is called.

He's still at every meeting, at L.O.I. he's there
For well-being of the Lodge he's always time to spare.
He's reaped no advantages through being in the craft
As spoken by our critics, the jealous and the deft!
Except that great advantage, which we Masons are aware
That wondrous 'Magic' something of being On The Square.

The Lambskin

Title: The Lambskin
Author: Author unknown
Notes:

It is not ornamental, the cost is not great
There are other things far more useful, yet truly I state,
Tho’ of all my possessions, there’s none can compare,
With that white leather apron, which all Masons wear.

As a young lad I wondered just what it all meant,
When Dad hustled around and so much time was spent,
On shaving and dressing and looking just right,
Until Mother would say; "It’s the Masons tonight".

And some winter nights she said; "What makes you go,
Way up there tonight thru’ the sleet and the snow,
You see the same things every month of the year".
Then Dad would reply; "Yes, I know it, my dear".

"Forty years I have seen the same things it’s true,
And though they are old, they always seem new,
For the hands that I clasp, and the friends that I greet,
Seem a little bit closer, each time that we meet".

Years later I stood at that very same door,
With good men and true, who had entered before.
I knelt at the alter and there I was taught,
That virtue and honour can never be bought.

That the spotless white Lambskin all Masons revere,
If worthily worn, grows more precious each year.
That service to others brings blessings untold
That man may be poor, though surrounded by gold.

I learned that true Brotherhood flourishes there,
That enmities fade ‘neath the Compass and Square.
That wealth and position are all thrust aside,
As there on the level, men meet and abide.

So honour the Lambskin, may it always remain,
Forever unblemished and free from all stain.
And when we are called to the great Fathers love,
May we all take our place in that Lodge up above.