Worshipful Master, dear Brethren,

A couple of days ago my wife and I were cycling through the forests in the province of Drenthe, where we were spending our holidays.
My cellphone rang, I answered, the caller turned out to be brother Corné, who cheerfully  asked if I would be willing to be  the Orator in the field lodge during our international meeting in Lunteren and deliver a speech.
One small detail he added to his request, it had to be in English…..

I hesitated a little, while seeing the time to prepare was very limited indeed. Finally I decided to give it a go. Because I was fully aware that it would be the first time after a very long time that we would be together in The Netherlands, internationally.

The world has been in a kind of headlock for two 1 ½ year, due to  Covid-19 and as a result our splendid international meeting unfortunately couldn’t take place in 2020.

Not being able to meet was felt to be a great loss for all of us, since in meetings like this one, the meaning of ‘brotherhood’ becomes very concrete. Brotherhood is a word that we Freemasons use very often, without fully realizing what it really entails.

But in a weekend like this one, we meet each other normally as Brethren from all over Europe.
This year we were confronted with Corona and the result had to be that here in Lunteren are only brethren from Germany, Denmark, Norway and The Netherlands.
Brethren whom, in a number of cases we have never met before, yet we recognize a feeling of solidarity which words fail to describe.
It is a very special feeling , so I believe, that must be brotherhood.

It is difficult to define the word and the concept “brotherhood”.
Brotherhood cannot be established in laws or be forced by rules.

Brotherhood must come from your inner self. You should feel it; it involves a kinship which goes much further than tolerance or forbearance.

Yet it remains difficult to describe it exactly. Let’s listen to what one of the great prophets of our modern times, Dr Martin Luther King said.
He spoke the famous words: ‘In that promised land, they will sit together at the table of brotherhood.’

At that table are seated people who, notwithstanding all the horrible reports on television and in the newspapers, notwithstanding Covid-19, notwithstanding the push to extremism, notwithstanding their own problems, there are seated: people who still dare dream of brotherhood, brotherhood all over the world, without borders.

Brethren, it sounds almost impossible. If I had lived in America in those days, and  I had  been there during Martin Luther King’s speech, and had I been a black man wo gave his seat up to a white man in the bus , and I had heard Luther King say later that day: “I have a dream”.
We will sit together with our enemy.” I would probably sarcastically have repeated the phrase: “we will sit with our enemy at the table”.
And I would have thought too: “You’re right. Dream on.

But at the same time I realize, this story is an illustration of the power of ideals.
Dr Martin Luther King had a dream about perfect brotherhood. To me that’s the image of us being seated at that table, together with the other person, the person who used to be our enemy.

The wolf together with the lamb, the Jezedi together with the IS fighter, the Turk with the Kurd, the colleagues who are after each other’s blood, Masonic Bikers with other Masonic Bikers, from all over the world.

In short: true brotherhood.

I believe that the meetings which we as Masonic Bikers organize yearly, in different countries, are reflecting this feeling of brotherhood very well.

Bikers from all over Europe meet to celebrate their passion, riding motorbikes, but they also meet to experience once more what the feeling of brotherhood can do to a human being.

Today we once more rode on our motorbikes to make a beautiful tour through a part of The Netherlands yet unknown to many. That common motor ride is important, but it is not the peak of this weekend.

We experience the most important part here, now that we perform the ritual in the open air. This is what it is all about, we are adorned in our leather apron and white gloves over our motorcycling clothing , we show what brotherhood does to us and we once more know why we ever came knocking and why we became freemasons.

Here it becomes clear that we believe that society is waiting for compassion, unselfish love from human being to human being. That is after all what we are confronted with in our rituals.
With that experience we can approach the world reborn and we can contribute to a better world, to a more humane society.

By experiencing rituals, man learns to realize that when his ego combines in a harmonious way with the world around him , love of one’s fellow man can arise. Love of one’s fellow man, which flows from heart to heart, which brings people together. Deeds of solidarity will make the other one flourish, this way we are empowered  again as well .

Yet, performing this ritual and experiencing it together is not the finish, for later on today we will draw up our chairs at the table to celebrate the festive board. That practically seems to complete the picture of the “promised Land” which vicar MLK dreamt of when he said : “a land , where people sit together at the table of brotherhood.”

We too will be seated around the table of brotherhood, men from all over Europe, having the same ideal, the same dream so to say , the dream of wanting to help build a better world, by working at ourselves.

Yes Brethren,         that means cutting …  Cutting at your own rough stone.
That is not a goal that can never  be reached, no … we have a clear goal in mind.

I conclude that goal shortly, with words of St Francis who deeply understood what all this cutting would have to lead to. To a better world, a world full of peace.

St. Francis said:

Peace will come:

If you believe that a smile is stronger than a weapon

If you believe in the power of the extended hand

When you know you yourself will have to take the first step and not the other one

When the stranger, who wants to be  with you, is like a brother to you

When you manage to accept an opinion which differs from yours

When you refuse to blame someone else for your mistake

When the other person is foremost  a brother to you

When you support the poor and suppressed, without playing the hero

If you believe that love is the only power of the conversation

If you believe that peace is possible

Then there will be peace and a better world

Worshipful Master, I have completed the charge commanded by you.