Master's Message
Brethren, family, and friends,
Clear Lake Callyomi 183's next stated meeting is May 3. Temple board meeting at 5:00, dinner at 6:00, meeting at 7:00. We will be honoring two recipients of the Hiram Award, Ted Lewis and Brandt Peterson.
We will be in winter dress one more time; jacket and tie. We'll be in summer dress for June.
The lodge officers are currently practicing for an upcoming first degree.
Our lodge's history has been uploaded to our new website. Thank you to the several brothers that provided documentation. You can visit our website at www.clearlakemasoniccenter.org. Marketing for our rental space will soon be added.
The temple board has been making rapid progress with accounting updates, long term project planning and prioritizing, and work parties. Some current projects are repainting the breakfast sign out front (we don't hold breakfasts anymore), shoring up the corners of the roof, emptying the storage room and repairing the roof over it, reshaping the drainage at the east side of the building, new exterior LED lights, and more. We're working hard!
If Freemasonry is another of a dozen clubs you are a card carrying member of, and ranks equally with them all, then you might have missed out on some of the education you were expected to do on your own about Freemasonry. At the blue lodge level we are in the business of taking good men and making them Masons. We are not much in the business of Masonic education. In fact, few lodges you might attend even have a Masonic Education moment during the stated meeting, let alone a book club, research club, or cigar club where brothers get together to discuss what Freemasonry is really all about.
We do however have those clubs, you just might not hear about them very often anymore because there are just not enough Masons to hold these additional club meetings at nearly every lodge building the way it used to be. For the most part, at least for those of us out here in the hinterland of Lake County, we have to drive to get to them now.
Historically blue lodges discouraged participation in the appendant bodies. Blue lodges had plenty of work to do, and they didn't want newer masons primed for the officer line to be wooed away before they had a chance to work in the blue lodge. Today things are different. Our blue lodges struggle and for the most part only have the most seriously and actively engaged Masons still participating, exactly the kind of Masons needed in the appendant bodies, and exactly the kind that would not shirk their blue lodge duties to go play with the fun clubs that get to read their parts. And, today's Masons demonstrate by their dedication that they need and want the education to be gained from the appendant bodies.
The main other "education clubs" are the York Rite and the Scottish Rite. The York Rite consists of three bodies: Royal Arch, Cryptic Council, and Commandery. They complete and expand on the Hiramic Legend of the three degrees of Masonry. The Scottish Rite is known as the University of Freemasonry, and it's degrees explain a set of esoteric, or hidden meanings of Freemasonry.
Additionally there are other bodies. There are research organizations made up of brothers that do research and write papers of their interpretation of what they learn. There are the youth orders, which are super important as it is a membership pipeline. There are philanthropic bodies like Shrine, and women's organizations like Eastern Star.
When considered together the collection of appendant bodies paint a picture of a set of secrets that go to the core of humanity's existence on this planet. Taken together they demonstrate the depth our revered organization has.
Dwindling membership and the resultant consolidations means the meetings are further away than they used to be. However, we're not further than an hour and a half away from nearly all of them, and I encourage any Mason interested in what the trappings of the three degrees are really all about to seek them out.
Just what is Freemasonry all about? Why is it so important to Masons that we unite in working diligently towards preserving our ancient and honorable craft? I, and many others throughout history, believe Freemasonry has at it's core the secret to the solution of human survival on this planet. I believe the work we do here is important. I do not think we are tilting at windmills of our own creation. We need to work harder than ever to entice good men to ask to join us, and we should encourage those that are already brothers to consider the appendant bodies.
Michael McKeown
