Worshipful Master

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In Freemasonry, the presiding officer of a Craft or Blue Lodge is called the Worshipful Master, much as one would address a judge as "your honor." This office is most commonly attained by "going through the chairs", a process of advancing through a series of appointive and elective offices of increasing responsibility until elected to the chair by the membership of the lodge. It can be revoked only by higher Masonic authorities.

The complimentary honorific "Worshipful" has no religious connotation. It is the British equivalent of "honorable," or "venerable," which is used in French-, Italian- and Spanish-speaking countries. In England, Mayors and magistrates have been addressed as "Worshipful" or "Your Worship" since long before Masonic rituals became popular in the eighteenth century.

The word "worship" comes from the Old English word "weorthscipe," and the Middle English "worschipe," meaning "to honor." This usage survives in the 14th-century Wycliffe version of the Bible which renders Matthew Chap. XIX, verse 19, "Worship thy father and thy mother." It also survives in the marriage service of the English church with the phrase, "With my body I thee worship." In both instances the word simply carries the meaning of the word "honor." ^[1]

Again, the term "Master" is commonly applied to senior members of city guilds, hunts, Inns of Court, and other bodies. The term "Scoutmaster" also incorporates the term in a similar fashion.