Scottish Rite Degree Team

Please take a moment and imagine the following situation:

You’re a new mason, having only been raised a year ago. You’ve seen the sublime degree of a Master Mason portrayed by your lodge, but there was never enough brothers or preparation to put on a truly aspiring account of the legend of our ancient Grand Master. Although this story was interesting, you never felt that the performances that you witnessed held the gravity that was due to this pinnacle of Masonic experience.

But then comes a night, when the Worshipful Master of your lodge invites a degree team to perform the second half of this life-altering drama. This degree team is like none other that you have seen before. It is comprised of your district’s preeminent Masonic leaders and most excellent ritualists. Their portrayal of the allegory is flawless. They not only speak the words; they breath life into them. The dress of the degree is in costumes fit for the time of King Solomon with flowing robes for the officers and full craftsmen dress for the fellows of the craft. Drama and spectacle fill the night. This degree stirs your soul and awakens your desire to seek further light in Masonry.

We, the Sublime Princes of the Valley of New Haven, can make this happen! Our ranks are filled with our area’s finest performers, who have lived and breathed Masonry for decades. We have the ability to fill our brothers with excitement and awe for our great fraternity. This excitement will naturally led our yearning brothers to the hillside crest of our humble Valley. Our dedication to further light in Masonry can draw countless brothers into the Scottish Rite.

So what’s the plan?

I purpose that the Membership Development Committee for our Valley form a Blue Lodge Degree Team that specializes in the second half of the Master Mason Degree. With this team, we can introduce many new brothers to the Scottish Rite and energize them within their own lodges. Our degree team can use the costumes that we use for many of our Old Testament period degrees, which will be a trademark attribute of our team, as most lodges perform their second half with little-to-no costumes.

Many lodges find it difficult to properly portray this degree, because of the number of people required for the second half. This gives our Valley the unique opportunity to help, aid and assist our constituent lodges make Master Masons. This will in turn help our membership to grow as we will become increasingly visible and our reputation will grow for being dedicated ritualists and true Masonic leaders.

How can we get this going?

Before we can publicize this as an option to Worshipful Masters in the district, I would like to securely know if we can get this team operational. I need to know what brothers would be willing to participate in this degree team and what parts they are available for. We will need both speaking and non-speaking parts. Please send me an email with which parts you would be willing to do. Assume that you will always have a month’s notice to practice. This degree team would not work without ample notice and you will not be called upon to do a part that you are not comfortable with. So far, we have several brothers who have volunteered for this team. The listing of the parts and the volunteers can be found in the bottom section of this blog.

I truly believe that this will help increase awareness in our Rite amongst the Blue Lodges and will become an important means for us to increase our own membership. Please deeply consider this request and tell me how you can help! Contact Charles Tirrell if you are interested in getting involved.