I am as always proud and happy to again be addressing you from the pages of our humble lodge. I hope you don’t mind the Trestleboard seems to generally just be me writing; not that I mind. The Master’s Trestleboard is the space to set a tone and serves as a reminder of our mission as Masons. And in a busy lodge publish a calendar. We’re not so busy. However, I encourage articles from the wardens and the Secretary if they so choose, and indeed anyone else. Until then, I hope you find my missives entertaining. I enjoy writing them, and I gain an education along with you.
The stated meeting for the month of July is next week July 5. Hall meeting 5:00, dinner at 6:00, meeting at 7:00. Summer dress.
No practices scheduled in the near term as we enjoy our summer break, but I would encourage us officers to run through our work for the 1st and 2nd degrees at least a couple of times a week to maintain our proficiency as we will have to perform those two degrees at some near point.
It occurs to me that the wider readership of this Trestleboard that does not often attend lodge probably is unaware that we have been doing a brief Masonic education period at the end of every stated meeting. We have looked at a number of curious things about our craft like the history of the Tyler and how they used to be dressed in bright costumes. We have looked at why we can’t cross the alter/east line when the lodge is open. We have considered the Point Within the Circle (of course), and a number of other topics.
If you have an area of interest in Masonry and would like to share your knowledge with us, by all means please feel welcome to do so. Articles for this Trestleboard are also welcomed and encouraged. I’m sure our readers would welcome reading from someone else. Many of us joined Masonry because of an interest in our mysteries and hoped that once they were known and understood we would become the better man that Masonry promises. However, once we completed the three degrees we realized we had joined an initiatory club. One where the work is practicing degrees to make new Masons.
We also discover that we have joined an organization where we hang out with good men who aspire through a rigorous practice of integrity to be better men, better husbands, better fathers, and better community leaders; which is super cool and awesome and we all benefit from that.
But little of the hidden mysteries and how they can lead to a better man are discussed. The real secrets are hidden from most Masons. If the hidden mysteries interest you, please join us. Our meals are simple and our meetings short, and our fellowship and discourse are grand. If you know a good man that would find our Craft entertaining, please invite him to dinner. We can not ask a man to be a Mason, but we can lead the way and encourage him that he is the kind of man that should consider asking to be made a Mason.
We need to make more Masons. We can’t wait for them to knock on our door. We have to be proactive in our own little circle of influence to attract men who might ask to be a Mason. We need to make more masons for Clearlake Callayomi’s benefit, and we most assuredly need to make more Masons so that a ground swell of civility takes hold globally in human consciousness and becomes our reality. Michael McKeown
