The Feast of Saint John

Last Friday Evening, approximately fifty Utah Masons gathered in the Banquet Hall of the Salt Lake Masonic Temple to celebrate the Feast of Saint John the Baptist, one of two days venerated by Masons (the other being also named the Feast of Saint John the Evangelist – December 27th.) The celebration included food, toasts, and an exceptional special guest speaker.

You may wonder why Masons, who welcome to their doors honorable men of various classes and creeds, celebrate these two feast days. Phillip G. Elam, past Grand Orator of the Grand Lodge of Ancient, Free and Accepted Masons of the State of Missouri has written that, "No satisfactory explanation has yet been advanced to explain why operative Masons adopted these two particular Christian saints, when, for example, St. Thomas, the patron of architecture and building, was already in wide use … It was a common custom in the Middle Ages for craftsmen to place themselves under the protection of some saint of the church. All the London trades appear to have ranged themselves under the banner of some saint and if possible they chose one who bore fancied relation to their trades … Eleven or more medieval trade guilds chose John the Baptist as their Patron Saint. Even after exhaustive research by some of the best Masonic scholars, no one can say with any certainty why Freemasons adopted the two Saints John, or why they continue to celebrate feast days when they once held a far different significance. However, the appropriateness of the two Johns is obvious in our system of Great Moral Teachings, if we consider the spiritual suggestion of their lives.” (http://www.geocities.com/athens/oracle/1190/stjohnb.html)

My Mother Lodge, Wasatch No. 1, hosted the Feast. The food was provided for us by our able stewards and was the more than edible fare from Johnny Carino's Italian Kitchen. The Feast, “Table Lodge,” or “Festive Board” is a fairly formal event (black tie was optional) and there were a fair number of tuxedo’s. Not one member of the Utah Masonic Family in attendance was clothed in less than a dark suit and tie. The Feast came under the direction of Jason Mitchell, the Worshipful Master of Wasatch Lodge No 1.

For those of you who know little of Masons, the Worshipful Master is in effect the President of the Lodge, and is elected in Wasatch for a term of one-year by the Master Masons of the Lodge. He is assisted in his duties by a senior and junior Warden, the equivalent of 1st and 2nd Vice Presidents. There are also other officers including the Secretary, Treasurer, Deacons, Stewards, Trustees, the Chaplain, the Marshall and the Tyler. The term “Worshipful” does not make our Lodge Master a deity, as some have supposed, but is reminiscent of English Guilds and has a meaning more in keeping with the word “Honorable.”

Our Secretary, Jason Varner, opened the Feast and set us to work on the food after a prayer (which I was honored to offer.) After toasts, under the direction of John Liley, Jason then introduced our special guest and speaker, Robert G. Davis of Guthrie, Oklahoma. Before I tell you a little about Brother Davis and his remarks, let me explain that Masonic toasting is a traditional experience with as much decorum and convention as anything else we do.

Toasting is done with “Cannons” (or heavy tumblers very often adorned with Masonic symbols) and the cannons may be "charged" with beer, wine, water, or as in my case, a soft-drink (Coca-Cola being my own personal vice.) We were “upstanding” for a series of toasts prior to the speaker and again after Bob Davis completed his remarks. At the final toast the Worshipful Master led us in a formal toast called the “Tyler’s Toast” – which I can only best describe to you as a form of toast and prayer all rolled into one.

Robert G. Davis is an interested, well-traveled, and well-educated man, who has been a Mason for the majority of his adult life, has attained most if not all of the Masonic Honors available, and has studied and written extensively on the concept of manhood. He delivered a paper he has written on this subject which will be published later this year in a prestigious Masonic Research publication (Proceedings of Quartor Coronati Lodge No 2076.) His remarks were well received and he reminded us of a number of important Masonic concepts, first among them that Masonry is about the transformation of men from “guys” into true men of honor and virtue, and that this transformation in one, few or many ultimately raises the status of our much maligned gender.

Bob Davis is one of those authors I read with relish – no, no, no! … that phrase does not put it into proper perspective. His viewpoint is one I have pondered and shared since I first read his paper, “Understanding Manhood in America: The Elusive Quest for the Ideal in Masculinity,” originally published in 2002 (in the Scottish Rite publication, Heredom.) From the moment I heard that our Master had invited Bob to speak to us I looked forward to this night like a kid on Christmas Eve. I tried to take notes of his remarks, but found that I could capture little of his words in my “little black book” as each sentence of his paper was filled with though-provoking theories. After a while, I sat the book down and just tried to absorb his words and notions.

Bob noted that men need models, that we need close emotional relationships with other men, that we need to be mentored into true manhood and that we have an internal need to mentor other men. He said that “our conversations with other men allow us to make meaningful comparisons” when we face the exigent circumstances of life. He reminded us that women cannot teach us what it is to be a man and that only men can model true manhood for other men. And he observed, “being a guy is embedded in our genes, if you’ll pardon the pun,” right before indicating that it is this “guy” in us that we need to keep in check in order to achieve true manhood.

There was much more, "Masonically speaking," to his comments, but most of you won’t care about my notes on the need for “symbolic interaction” and “the sacred space of the lodge,” but be assured that these are honorable notions and not simply gathering to perform ritual or simply “be guys.”

Bob’s comments reminded me of an excerpt that I read last week. Arthur Laffer speaking last month to graduates of Mercer University said: “Pursuing your dream of prospering will benefit everyone … When I graduated from Yale University, we had a serious commencement speaker not like the one you are stuck with today. The commencement speaker was President John F. Kennedy. And the point I am making today is the same point he made all those years ago. He said, ‘No American is ever made better by pulling a fellow American down, and all of us are made better off whenever any one of us is made better off.’ He concluded by using the analogy that ‘a rising tide raises all boats.’ Never forget or be ashamed of the fact that pursuing your own self interest furthers everyone’s interest. Without you, the poor would be poorer.” (WSJ, “Notable and Quotable,” 19 June 2008)

Bob similarly noted that when one guy becomes a man, a true man of honor and virtue, he confers and raises the status of all men, and I’ll note here that there was never a time in history when the status of men needed to be raised any more than now. But it is not a matter of spin. Men need to become the best men they can become and that alone will reflect appropriate status and honor upon our gender.

It was a wonderful evening. It was my own first “Festive Board.” I’d not participated in formal toasting since my “Dining Out” days in the Air Force, and that is a ritual men seem to enjoy in both forums. It is always a pleasure to gather with my Fraternal Brothers, men I would run across the Sahara to assist, and who are similarly there for me. They are good men, men of honor and virtue. And they are good friends. I’ve never in my life experienced the kind of brotherhood that I find in Masonry.

Every interaction with my brothers, from our exemplary Utah Grand Master, my mentors and Lodge officers, to our most recently “obligated” Entered Apprentice, is a pleasure I cherish. I need the influence of my beloved women to soften and lift my life, but I also need the example and conversation of upright men, including my own respectable and principled Father, and the symbolic interaction Bob spoke about to make me the man I can become.


Note: You may read more of Bob’s papers at http//robertgdavis.blogspot.com (or by following the link in the left hand corner of this blog. His paper, “Manhood in America,” is available at: http://www.freemasons-freemasonry.com/manhood_america.html)