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Thoughts from the East
I believe that this could be a very exciting year for our Lodge, but for that to happen we need to start making our plans now. I have already met with the incoming officers once, and we will be having more meetings to set the goals for our Lodge and decide how we can achieve them. I hope that anyone who has an idea on how to improve our Lodge will let the officers know what they are thinking. Our Lodge can only live up to its potential if every brother commits to help out.
There are several areas where we need to work. First we need to improve our finances. We have begun the process of creating a budget and will be assessing the financial health of our Lodge. We need to take the steps now to insure that our Lodge remains financially viable in the future. We need to address our membership. We need to provide an experience that is meaningful for our members, so they will want to continue to participate. We need to get the men we haven't seen in a while back into our Lodge. Finally we need to let quality men know what they need to do if they are interested in our organization. We also need to commit ourselves to mastering our ritual. We need more members to learn sections and parts for the degrees. Not everyone can be an incredible ritualist and turn in every section, but there are a lot of small parts that are very important, and everyone can commit to mastering some part of our ritual. We need to be active in our community. People need to know that we are still here. We have a lot to contribute and need to be doing so.
We have lots of ideas and plans, but without the commitment and work of the brothers of this Lodge the plans will be made in vain. Please make a commitment to help your Lodge this year. Come to the meetings. Find something you think is interesting and offer to help our Lodge succeed. The incoming officers and I are very excited about the upcoming year. I hope that you are as well.
John Glass, Master
Wisdom from the West
The principles of masonry are truly timeless. I was myself attracted by the idea of an ancient and revered fraternity where friendship, morality and brotherly love were centerpieces. That said, I began wondering why our ranks have continually been shrinking since the peak years of the 1950's. One answer is certainly that there is more competition for men's time in today's society. I do, however, believe that most people will make time for something that has a high perceived value. If this is true, and if the principles of masonry has not changed, then what needs to happen for us to grow our ranks with enthusiastic young men willing to lead our fraternity into the 21st century? Throughout 2009, I hope to touch on several active steps we can take to grow our ranks, and also have a great time doing so! I look forward to meeting everyone in lodge and elsewhere.
Fraternally, Jorgen Hallbeck, Senior Warden
Beauty from the South
 In this life there are really only a few things you can say for sure. That you are reading this, suggests that there was some magical and miraculous confluence that you were born and now exist as something we call alive. Even though only about a half of all the people who have ever been born on earth have actually died (an astounding measure of the world's population growth), you can still be reasonably sure that you too will get to die. It's really profoundly amusing that we know so little about these events, but for now that's about all we know. What lies between those mysterious milestones is referred to as our lives and, I think, that period of our lives may best be summarized in one word, learning. Learning is the one continuous, profound process that certainly starts before we are born and after death is anybody's speculation. Education is that process of learning. Masonic Education is of high importance to our fraternity, so let's pause and take a look at this process.
I believe that there are at least three aspects of Masonic Education. The first is our obligation to educate the profane. By profane I mean those not admitted into our body of secret knowledge or ritual, the uninitiated. It's just not good enough to sit around our Lodge and reflect upon our integrity and brotherly love. We have to practice those great moral duties outside of the Lodge. It is important for us to stand up and represent, as best we can, an example of those principals. We must let the non-Masonic world know that Freemasonry is a force in this world of ours that is trying to promote moral integrity, equality and brotherly love.
The second aspect of Masonic Education is our obligation to provide education to our prospective candidates and newly obligated Brothers. This education extends far beyond the coaching of proficiency, of which we do a pretty good job. It is sharing the various theories of our ancient history and the presentation of our oldest written Masonic Document, the Regius Poem c. 1390. It is the teaching of the formation of the first Grand Lodge and the establishment of modern Freemasonry in 1717. It is the presentation of Anderson's Constitution. It is the enlightenment into the nature and structure of our Lodge and what the Lodge expects from the membership. It is their involvement into our work and activities as they advance. This is the time when we are the most receptive to education and involvement in the Lodge. This is also a unique period of time when we are obligated to provide the greatest Masonic nurturance.
The last aspect of Masonic Education is the necessity of the continuous Masonic Education of the membership of our Lodge. We need to develop mechanisms and resources by which we can constantly learn about ourselves, our history, our writings, our ritual, our customs, our relationship to religion, our etiquette, our organization, our purpose and mission, our…. (Fill in some of your own blanks). This needs to written material, maybe a fully functioning library, presentations, tapes and videos, workshops, study groups, and any mechanism whereby information can be exchanged. This process of Enlightenment can never end. As they say, the time is now and the place is here
See you in Lodge!!
Joe Glass, Junior Warden.
From The Secretary's Desk
 Brethren, The joys of Holidays, family get togethers, great meals, new toys etc, are now behind us, so together lets look forward to the future.
Martin Luther King said "I have a dream!" Well, I also have a dream: a vision of every member of the Lodge showing up en mass to attend Lodge! What a miracle this would be! Can't you just see both sides of the Lodge full, extra chairs being brought out and even then some would have to remain standing! What a wonderful day!
The ideals of Masonry, buoyed up by family values and love of country, promote a better quality of life. So why haven't we done a better job of selling it? If we truly went about our daily lives as Masons, don't you think that the other people would notice? We wouldn't have to ask people to join, they would be lined up at the door, waiting to get in! What a wonderful dream!
Masonry is prevalent so lets hope that together we can make 2009 revitalize our Lodge and give us hope for the future. Maybe some of our friends will be joining us, we have had a few petitions lately, but why don't we make every effort to make them want to join1! May the splendid qualities of Freemasonry give us faith to carry on the crusade!
By the way, Brother Shawn Odom turned in a word perfect Section for his Master Mason Proficiency. How about that! Unfortunately, he is soon bound for the cold embrace of Alaska and then plans to return to Kansas
Brother Plaistow is almost ready to turn in his EA proficiency, so tentative plans are to confer his Fellowcraft Degree early in January. This is necessary in order for both his coach and Brother Plaistow to be available. Be sure to attend practice on the 10th of December at 6:30 PM for final word on this degree
See you at the Lodge meeting !
Your Secretary, Delmar A. Sanders.
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