Official Visit Golden Rule Lodge #409 – Sept. 10, 2007
By R.W. Bro. Harold J. Johnson, DDGM

First Impressions

My brethren tonight I am venturing on a journey that many have taken before but is entirely new to me. What I am about to impart to you is a first impression, or how well or poorly will your new DDGM perform and meet your expectations.

First impressions are an important aspect in Masonic life and can heavily influence the course of events to follow. Just as I hope to make an good impression with you here this evening (and given my penchant for being nervous and lacking in confidence this will be a tough task ) so too, do we as masons, make an impression both in our daily lives and in our Masonic journeys.

Our Masonic teachings give us a guideline to follow in our daily lives by exhorting us to read the volume of the sacred law and to adhere to the principles it contains, to act with our neighbour on the square, and follow the golden rule with him. It further exhorts us to obey the laws of our country and fulfill the duties of a good citizen. All of these teachings if strictly adhered to should leave a favourable impression on those around us. We sincerely hope that the impressions we leave with our friends and neighbours will reflect well on us and ultimately lead them to be inquisitive of the lifestyle we lead. We also hope that it will encourage them to ask those most important of all questions, what is masonry, Why do you take it take so seriously and spend so much of your time preparing for it. If that first impression however is not favourable we risk the opportunity to make a new friendship and ultimately we lose the opportunity to promote our gentle craft and perhaps expand our membership.

Our opportunity as masons to make that all important first impression does not stop with our initial contact with an individual. It continues in an even more important way when we introduce him to our craft or through that first contact we give him with our Masonic brethren.

We as masons strive to make ourselves better men, to work mark and indent on that rough ashlar and strive to hone our daily lives and actions to that state of perfection known as the perfect ashlar by which we then qualify ourselves to become one of the foundation stones of our institution.

How then do we proceed to ensure that our impressions we make in the tiled recesses of our Masonic meeting rooms fulfill that commitment.

We as masons are expected to go that proverbial second mile, to do things carefully and take all of the steps necessary to see that the way we conduct ourselves and what we do in Lodge shows that we really do care about doing things right.

This effort exhibits itself in the way we greet our brethren, the way we conduct our business, the effort we make to prepare our memory work and the care we observe when we perambulate the Lodge room.

The question which then follows is. Are we conducting ourselves and preparing our work in a manner that leaves a favourable Impression?

The following questions can be used to determine to a great extent if we are making that good first impression. I ask you to think about them and ask yourselves which of the alternatives is applicable to the way in which you, your brethren and your lodge operates.
Do we still take the time to genuinely greet our brethren, or do we plop ourselves in a chair next to an old friend in Lodge or at the banquet hour and ignore the rest of the room? Do we treat the newest member as a person we would genuinely like to get to know or is he an outsider who has not yet earned his stripes or impressed us.

I unfortunately remember an isolated incident where a candidate was asked to sit at the head table In the anti room of a lodge for the banquet following a meeting and was left there all alone while some brethren went outside to have a cigarette and still others not invited to the head table gathered in their comfortable little groups of friends and totally ignored him. I wonder how he felt? Or for that matter how we would have felt if we had been left there by ourselves in a group of strangers?

A candidate my brethren should never be left alone at any time!

Do we conduct our business in an efficient manner and value the input of all brethren or do we roll our eyes and ignore the opinion of someone just because they oppose our ideas and views on a subject?

Our teachings tell us that everyone is entitled to our regard and also entitled to his just due!

Do we wander aimlessly about the lodge room during the work of the evening and ignore the standards and protocol set out for us, or do we square the Lodge room at all times?

Do we adhere to the formalities once the Lodge is open or do we break with these formalities, ignore proper titles, open tiled doors without knocking just because we can’t be bothered following the formal methods established for us?

(Just as a brief aside here brethren one of my pet peeves is the phrase “without ceremony” when used at any time while the lodge is at labour)

Aimless wandering while lodge is open and avoiding established protocols leads those in attendance to believe that we either do not care or do not know what we are doing!


Do we take the time to properly memorize our ritual to the best of our ability or do we make excuses to ourselves to justify our lack of effort?

We as masons have varying degrees of ability. All brethren regardless of their abilities should be given a chance to do ritual and take part in the work of the Lodge, a solid effort, if not perfect, is still commendable, but a lack of effort leaves a poor impression.

Will your new candidate come back for more if we fail to exert the effort and make that good first impression?

For that matter will your brethren who have served for many years continue to come out and support your Lodge if they see that the work and protocol are deteriorating?

Brethren, I leave these questions for you to ponder and to answer for yourselves

But I also encourage you tonight to dedicate yourselves to take that extra step, to spend the time and make the effort to move closer to that perfect ashlar and contribute that all important good first impression.