Most Worshipful Grand Master, Most Worshipful Past Grand Masters, distinguished guests, my fellow Grand Lodge officers, my brethren, ladies and gentlemen:

First, I want to thank you, Grand Master, for allowing me the opportunity to serve this year as the Grand Orator of this Grand Lodge.  I believe that I can speak for all of us when I tell you how much we appreciate your service to this Fraternity.  We have observed the love, devotion, and personal sacrifice you have given for our craft.  It has been an honor to serve you.

I remember that evening vividly even though it was several years ago.  Maybe I remember it so well because I was more than a little nervous when I arrived at the lodge for my Entered Apprentice degree.  After the degree started and I had calmed down some, I was presented with this lambskin apron.  Brother Browning placed this apron in my hands and told me that it was an emblem of innocence and the badge of a Mason.  I wore this apron that night and was told to bring it back for my subsequent degrees.  After my Master’s degree, I was advised to take my lambskin home and place it in safekeeping.  I was told that it should be placed in a drawer or under the bed so that it would still look good when next it would be used, to be placed on my coffin during the funeral service.  And, indeed, my apron is kept in a drawer in a dresser at my home.  Until today, it hasn’t been out of that drawer for some months.  When I began preparing this speech, it struck me as funny that my apron, the most striking symbol of a Mason, was hidden away in a drawer. 

Brethren, I want to talk to you today about your lambskin apron.  If there were nothing else you remember about what I say today, I would want you to remember this:  Wear your apron everywhere you go and in everything you do in your journey of life.

Now, before you begin thinking that I’m crazy, I am not really suggesting that you should physically wear your apron the next time you go to work, or to the grocery store, or to your deer camp.  At least, not literally.  But, it is the internal qualifications of a man that Masonry regards.  Our work as Masons concerns what is inside each of us.  Bro. Albert Pike said it this way “We no longer expect to rebuild the Temple at Jerusalem. To us it has become but a symbol. To us the whole world is God's Temple, as is every upright heart.”   And so in our heart, and in our minds, and in our conscience, we should wear our apron, the symbol of purity and rectitude of conduct.  Every day.  Everywhere we go.  In everything we do.  Both inside the confines of the lodge and more particularly outside the lodge. 

Above all other symbols, the lambskin apron is indeed the badge of a Mason.  If the apron is a badge, if it is a symbol, what is it a symbol of?  If we are to carry it in our hearts, what should we carry?  I’d like to suggest 3 things.

First, the lambskin apron is a symbol of sacrifice and of charity.   The lamb has in all ages been not only an emblem of innocence, but also a symbol of sacrifice.  When this emblem of sacrifice is sewn into a Masonic apron (the garment of work of operative Masons), it becomes a striking symbol of charity, of the work and sacrifice for the sake of others.   As Masons, we are taught the importance of charity in our lives.  Freemasonry stands for a deep and abiding concern for the needs of others.  As we all know, our Masonic fraternity as a whole makes an enormous charitable contribution to our world.  You have witnessed our contributions as Arkansas Master Masons to the sheltered workshops this morning.  But, brethren, our charitable duty goes further.  If you carry the apron in your heart in your daily walk, you will find innumerable ways to serve others. 

Let me tell you about a Mason who wore the apron of charity in his daily life.  I knew him as Mr. Ralph.  In the White County town of 300 where my grandparents lived and I spent most of my summers growing up, Mr. Ralph was a striking example of service to others.  If anyone in town was sick and needed a ride to the doctor, Mr. Ralph was there.  I saw him pick up widows many times to take them to the grocery store.  I was a teenager when Mr. Ralph died.  His funeral was the first Masonic funeral I ever saw, in fact, I did not know that he was a Mason.  Although I never sat in lodge with him, I’ve often thought of him because his life was such an example to me.  He wore the apron in his heart in his daily life.

Next, I suggest that the lambskin apron is a symbol of virtue.  If there were ever a doubt about the existence of good and evil in this world, September 11 proved they both exist.  And since September 11, our world needs the tenets of our Fraternity more than ever before.  For Freemasonry stands for liberty, for freedom of thought and conscience, and for the freedom of each person to worship God in his own way.  The founders of our country, and particularly those who were Masons, fought to establish these rights on the face of the earth, rights that now we too often take for granted. 

I remember soon after the September 11 attacks, Bro. George Franks stood up in my Royal Arch chapter just after the Pledge of Allegiance to say that he was proud that this Fraternity had never left the ideals of devotion to God and country.  And Bro George is right, these ideals have been passed down to us and we cherish them today.  But brethren, our ideals; things such as brotherly love, relief, fortitude, prudence, temperance, and justice, are not mere words in a ritual.  We must take them from our beautiful ritual and put them to work in our life and in our actions. 

Let me tell you about a Mason who wears the badge of virtue in his daily life.  I was pleased to be present a few months ago when Bro. Bernard Smith took the degrees of the Scottish Rite.  Bro. Smith is a retired physician in Bradford where he practiced for over 50 years.  He has also been a Mason for over 50 years.  After taking the Scottish Rite degrees, Bro. Smith noted that he had not been able to be active in his lodge very much because of the demands of solo practice of medicine in his town.  But he said that the precepts and ideals of the Fraternity had been dear to him; in fact, he said that for years he had repeated the lectures of the degrees to himself when he was working on his farm at the end of the day.  Although he didn’t attend lodge regularly, Bro. Smith took the tenets of this Fraternity to heart and put them to action in his life.  He wears the badge of virtue as a Mason in his journey through life.

Lastly, the lambskin apron we wear is a symbol of commitment.  I had the pleasure of visiting London last year and while I was there, I paid a visit to St. Paul’s Cathedral.  I have visited that cathedral on a few occasions.  I am almost drawn there, in part because of the beauty of the building, in part because I find it to be a place of reverence for God and in part, because of it’s Masonic connection.  The chief architect of St. Paul’s was a Mason, Sir Christopher Wren and there are Masonic references in the building including the black and white marble floor forming a checkered pavement.  As I was walking down the street toward St. Paul’s, there was a building under construction a couple of blocks away from the cathedral and a large crane was at work. A few minutes later, as I stood inside the cathedral, I looked up at the beautiful dome inside.  In the center of the Cathedral is a large dome that rises 365 feet above the cathedral floor.  You can walk up a staircase to the top of the dome, some 800 steps.    Standing under the dome inside St. Paul’s a few minutes later, I was struck by the commitment of the operative Masons who built that structure.  For you see, my brethren, they had no crane.  Every single stone at the top of that dome was shaped appropriately, then carried by hand the almost 40 stories to the top.  They believed in what they were doing, their commitment is remarkable to this day.

You might ask what this has to do with us as speculative Masons.  I was visiting a lodge for an Entered Apprentice degree just 2 or 3 weeks ago.  The candidate was a young man, a college student.  I was visiting with one of the older members of that lodge; we were discussing how good it is to see young men join the Fraternity.  This 50 year member said to me “Yes, too many of us are getting old and dying.  If they don’t do something, I’m afraid for the future of the Fraternity.”   If they don’t do something, I am afraid for the future of the Fraternity.  My brethren, I am not afraid for the future of this Fraternity, but I am convinced that the future is up to us.  This Fraternity has been handed down to us as an invaluable, priceless gift from our forefathers.  I am tremendously thankful for the Masonic fraternity they have given you and me.  We have a rich history in this wonderful Fraternity of which we can be justly proud.  But, my brethren, it is our time.  The leaders of this Fraternity are gathered in this auditorium today.  If there is to be a renewal of this Fraternity, if there is a renaissance, it is up to us.  If we can work to make our local lodges grow and prosper, our Fraternity will prosper.  What will make our lodges thrive?  Well, the answer is probably different for every lodge, but I believe that the first step is dedicated, committed officers who will honestly ask the questions:  What can we do to make a better lodge?  What can we do for the future of the Fraternity?  There are lodges in this state that are active, thriving, and growing; they are involved in their local communities doing great charitable work, they are bringing Masonry to life.      Brethren, when we finish our work here and leave tomorrow to return home, let us be as committed to the growth and prosperity of our lodges and to the future of our Fraternity as the operative Mason who carried the stone 40 stories up because he believed in his work.  It is for all of us, as the leaders of this Fraternity, to carry with us in our hearts the apron and badge of commitment. 

Tonight, I will put my real lambskin apron back in the dresser drawer at home, and when we leave this Temple today and every time we leave your lodge back home, we will take off our aprons.   But I hope that when you do, you will pause for a brief moment to reflect on the ideals and virtues the apron represents and resolve to carry them in your heart.   For in our hearts and consciences, we should wear the lambskin apron, we should take the badge with us everywhere we go and in everything we do in this journey through life.