Utah
Supplement
Jeff Hamilton
1700 N 1650 W
Mapleton, UT 84664
801-367-4293
[email protected]
James A. Robertson
Grand Commander
“As the hero of Malory’s story, Arthur tries to rule fairly in peace and
prosperity. He enlists the best fighters in Briton to join the fellowship of the
Round Table… For the sake of those suffering under justice, they face danger
alone to enforce the law and punish the wicked… The quest sets a hundred
knights roaming the roads of Britain, seeking something invisible to them.
Chivalry, putting its trust in the survival of the fittest, requires a knight to
look for action and to put himself at the mercy of chance. The death-defying
heroes of the Round Table hurl themselves into single combat with unknown
foes at an instant… Camelot’s bonds of brotherhood, eaten at by greed and
jealousy, unravel into civil war… The spirit of revenge hacks away the body
of the Round Table … Badly wounded in combat, Arthur is taken for healing
to Avalon, the island in Celtic myth, where the dead go… Yet for a time,
justice and goodness, order and peace reign from Camelot…”
Excerpts from the Introduction of King Arthur by E.D. Hirsch, Jr.
For the past fifteen hundred years, stories of a legendary king and his court
have come to symbolize all that is noble and good. The story of King Arthur
and his knights is the tale of a time of peace, justice, and brotherhood. It is
the story of Knights, living by a Code of Chivalry, who created briefly an
ideal world based on honor and good deeds. It is the story that ends in
betrayal and tragedy, but it leaves us with the hope that another such time
might come again.
As I write this month’s supplement our annual sessions are just over a week
away, and this could very well be the last one I write. So I wanted to talk
about what I see and have seen as I have traveled around the state. Now for
the last twenty plus years that I have been a Freemason and even before that
the number one topic of conversation in any Masonic meeting has been the
decline of our membership. The what’s and why’s and the things we need to
do to change it. We have author after author writing book after book telling
us the reason and what we need to do about it. How to run a Lodge or York
Rite or Shrine Temple Etc. if you will just do it this way the tide will turn and
the numbers will grow. We all know that the tide hasn’t turned and in fact in
some places it has sped up. And no matter how smart or passionate, no one
man has all the answers.
Camelot for the Fraternity happened right after WWII and lasted until the
early 1960’s when our Camelot started to falter and it has been in decline
ever since.
June, 2015
The nice thing about being as old as we are is that we have the benefit of
written history in the form of membership numbers. Historically the
Appendant bodies have been 1/3 the size of the Grand Lodge. In other
words if the Grand Lodge had 10,000 members the Appendant bodies
would have approximately 3,000 members. The other interesting thing is
that from the time the Grand Lodge was formed until the 1940’s the
Fraternity grew each decade. Some decades slightly, but growth none the
less. On average we kept 59% of the new members coming through our
doors. Since 1995 that percentage has dropped from 59% to 43% think
about it, over the last twenty years here in Utah, that 16% would equal
400 more blue lodge Masons and over 130 more Appendant body
Masons. We would be at least 20% bigger than we are today. Brethren we
don’t have an attraction problem we have a retention problem. Now I am
not going to tell you I have all the answers nor do I have a silver bullet. I
do believe however, that we have the talent and the leadership, young and
old here in Utah to correct this issue and place ourselves on the path of
sustained growth again.
“Toward the end of the 1981 film Excalibur, Camelot lies in ruin. The
land is barren and invaders run rampant. King Arthur is near comatose,
rendered impotent by the affair between his wife and his best friend, and
by his own inaction. Perceval finds the Holy Grail and realizes its secret
– the land and the king are one. He brings the Grail back to Camelot,
Arthur drinks from it and finds the strength to ride out to the fateful battle
of Camlann. Life returns to the land.
The land and the king are one! This concept is older than Arthur. The
king ruled the land, but he did not own the land. The land is an entity of
its own. The king was joined to the land in sacred marriage and their
fates were intertwined. If the king ruled wisely and justly, the land and the
people would prosper. If the king ruled poorly, the land would go barren,
the people would suffer, and the king would be replaced – perhaps
peacefully, perhaps violently, and perhaps in a sacrifice where his blood
was offered to restore the fertility of the land.”
Excerpts from John Beckett’s pathos.
Knights of the Round Table lived by a Code of Chivalry built on courage,
honor, and respect. In the fellowship of the Round Table, all were treated
equally. Loyalty was owed to God and King. Truth and Love were seen as
worth dying for.
We need to set aside our ego’s and our self-importance to come together
at the Round Table of Freemasonry with an open heart and mind so that
the land of Freemasonry and the people of Freemasonry will prosper once
more. Isn’t Freemasonry owed our Loyalty!
SK Jeff Hamilton, Editor, Grand Prelate
Grand Commandery of Knights Templar of Utah
www.csuohio.edu
Utah Supplement