Pendle Lodge of Freemasons

The Lectures of the three degrees in Craft Masonry

These lectures deal with the description of the ritual of those Degrees along with their moral and symbolical significance and are of a formal nature, arranged as catechisms—that is, in question and answer form—meant to be worked by two or more brethren.

The above statement is taken from the introduction of the little green book which was introduced to me within two months of being initiated in March 1994,when I was asked to join the Pendle Lodge Demonstration Team. In retrospect that invitation probably shaped my Masonic thinking.

Pendle Lodge work these lectures with four or five being involved and the lectures are committed to memory and recited accordingly. A fifth would be introduced in the event of using a narrator as well as four members taking up the four corners on the square. These four members ask and answer questions in a clockwise direction as a catechism. These questions are designed to take the listener through the first degree ceremony expounding on the script and it’s meaning and hopefully enlightening the listener with their “moral and symbolical significance”, as any good lecture should.

As I have intimated Pendle Lodge have been working these lectures for years, certainly long before I joined Freemasonry and currently I am working with four enthusiastic Junior brethren. It is our intention to deliver the first and second section of the first degree lecture at Pendle’s April Lodge meeting and enthusiasm is such that we are prepared to repeat the work for other Lodges as may be their wish. Enquiries from interested parties must be made via our secretary.

W.Bro.Ron Atherton ProvSGD