Canyon Elks Lodge #2887

Tablet Service

(Originally from the 1992 Special Services Book, updated in 2010 by Tom Root – PDDGER, Westminster, CO Lodge No. 2227)

[It shall be the duty of every Elks Lodge with reasonable diligence to erect and maintain a Memorial Tablet or necrology, upon which or within which, shall be inscribed the names of all departed members whose names were upon the rolls of the Lodge as members thereof at the time of their decease, and such other inscription as the Lodge may deem proper.  B.P.O.E. Statutes, Section 2.040.]

[When a deceased member’s name is to be inscribed upon the Memorial Tablet, the following ceremony may be used as a Special Service, under the order of “Sickness and Distress.”]

EXALTED RULER: Members, a great Elks Member (Name) has passed away.  His/her trials ended, his/her faults forgotten, his/her virtues cherished, he/she rests in peace.  As the Exalted Ruler of this Lodge, I direct that his/her name be inscribed upon our Memorial Tablet, as an enduring record of his/her Fidelity, and that his/her example and services may be remembered and preserved in the annals of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.[Hymn: “The Empty Chair,” or appropriate music.]

EXALTED RULER:  Esteemed Leading Knight, what is the significance of the Elks Memorial Tablet?

ESTEEMED LEADING KNIGHT:  The preservation in every Elks Lodge of the names of our departed members and the perpetuation of their memories.

EXALTED RULER:  Has Canyon Elks Lodge No. 2887 such a tablet?

ESTEEMED LEADING KNIGHT:  It has.

EXALTED RULER:  Esteemed Loyal Knight, is our Memorial Tablet so carefully guarded that it is safe from the hand of vandalism, as well as from the ravages of time?

16 B.P.O.E. RITUALS OF SPECIAL SERVICES

ESTEEMED LOYAL KNIGHT:  As the sanctity of our Home is safe from desecration, and our meeting secure in the integrity of our members, so is our Memorial Tablet safe within our walls.

EXALTED RULER:  Esteemed Lecturing Knight, what is the dominant lesson of this service?

ESTEEMED LECTURING KNIGHT:  The love and reverence we bear for those who are gone and the sympathy and interest we feel for those who remain.

EXALTED RULER:  Lodge Secretary, what is the number of our honored members, and does the number tally with the names upon our Memorial Tablet?

SECRETARY:  Exalted Ruler, the number of our departed members is ______ and it corresponds with the number of names on our Memorial Tablet, the last being that of Brother/Sister (Name).

EXALTED RULER:  Lodge Esquire, let the name of member (Name) be inscribed upon our Memorial Tablet, in fraternal regard, in affectionate remembrance, and in full recognition of the exalted principles of our Order, by which we live and die.

ESQUIRE:  Exalted Ruler, the name is so inscribed.

EXALTED RULER:  We write the faults of our members upon the sand, their virtues upon the tablets of love and memory.  Members, let us consecrate the work done here by bowing in humble submission to God.Please stand. [Brief pause.] The Chaplain will lead us in prayer.

CHAPLAIN:  God of our Fathers, may Thy blessing rest upon the services which we have performed as we have dedicated this Tablet to the memory of our departed member.  For all that he/she meant to this Lodge during his/her life we thank Thee, and may his/her virtues be recalled by all who gaze on this memorial.  Grant that we shall so live that the memory of our lives shall find a place in the hearts of those around us, as they recall the things which we did, and which were true, upright, sincere and generous, and to thy honor and glory.  Amen

EXALTED RULER:  I now declare this service closed.

ELKS MEMORIAL SERVICE