Application to the York Rite and Mastering Senior Deacon/Master of Ceremonies for the EA Degree

I underestimated the memorization work in the EA degree, the lecture Senior Deacon and Master of Ceremonies parts are much more difficult to recite in front of the brethren than in front of my mirror or in my truck. We have an EA to give next week, the brother was voted in last night. He petition our lodge two years ago was accepted received the EA degree then was deployed to Iraq for 18 months. His membership elapsed and he returned, starting the process all over again. While he has gone through the initiation once before, the majority is most likely lost.

For my memorization work, I have been working hard on the EA degree, because so much of it is wrapped up in our catechism that I figured it to be the easiest, but it turns out that it’s becoming a bigger challenge than I thought. I don’t know if I am biting off more than I can chew, but I want to contribute so much, I guess my eagerness is causing my frustration, nothing new in Freemasonry. My goal is to have the EA lecture and Master of Ceremonies/Senior Deacon down by end of October, I think that’s reasonable considering I started work on the EA Lecture in late June. I might be handicapping myself too much, but we will see.

I have also been approached to join the York Rite, which I think I will pursue. After research between the York and Scottish, I think the York just seems to fit better, a lot of the brethren in the lodge are York Rite members, and I won’t be alone as Bro Mahlako will be there with me, so that will be good.

Masonry has taken on so many forms since I first petitioned the lodge back in October, and I hope I continue to grow in it. Isaac Davidson wrote in his blog that as he is reading Masonic Blogs he sees that a lot of them are negative in nature. This is natural as blogs are a release for a lot of people, and sometimes that release is posting frustrations with ones lodge, or the brotherhood as a whole. My frustrations have been no different, but I am very happy with my choice to be made a Mason. I know it isn’t for everybody, and I can see how some brothers join and think “Shit, this isn’t for me”. Still, it’s for me and I feel that Freemasonry is very relevant in today’s modern society, I have unabashed optimism when it comes to Freemasonry and the 21st century, maybe that will wash away as the years go on, but I hope not.