September 2007
Fraternal greetings from the East
Greetings Brethren. I sincerely hope that all is well with each of you and your families. I don’t get to see you very often, but I do wish you well. We are back at work. A survey was sent out last month and about fifty members, out of two hundred sixty four, have responded. We thank you for your assistance. It would have been nice to receive more responses from local members. The out-of-towners responded very well. The majority of the votes were for the continuation of Far Hills Lodge. You will remember that George L. Marshall Lodge and Rock Moriah Lodge merged to form Far Hills Lodge. We are about five years old and have less attendance than we had when we were two separate lodges.
From the last newsletter, you know that we are having trouble filling the chairs. We did have one brother who has volunteered to help out and become an officer. It really troubles me to see our lodge having these problems. Without your help brethren I don’t see a very bright future for our lodge.
We are trying to put on a Master Mason degree on October 11th and October 25th. One of our officers has been making phone calls trying to get craftsman for these dates; at the writing of this newsletter we are still short of volunteers. We have two fine Fellowcraft candidates who are eager to become Master Masons. These two brethren deserve the same respect and degree work as when you and I were raised.
Won’t you please come out and help our lodge survive. Without YOUR help we cannot. Don’t hesitate to call me if you can step up and become an officer; or just come out to support the lodge from the side lines. Thanks to those of you who have helped and are continuing to help keep the lodge going.
News from The Temple Board
Brethren, we, too, own a television set, but that does not keep me at home on lodge night. I have never yet had one of the characters on television come off the screen and shake my hand. They have never offered me the warm friendship that my lodge brothers do. They have never handed me a cup of coffee or a doughnut. No! Never!
Lodge Secretary
If a Secretary writes a letter, it’s too long. If he sends a postal, it’s too short. If he doesn’t send a notice, he is lazy. If he attends a committee meeting, he is butting in. If he stays away, he is a shirker. If he duns the members for dues, he is insulting. If he fails to collect the dues, he is slipping. If he asks for advice, he is incompetent. If he does not, he is bull-headed. If he writes his reports complete, they are too long. If he condenses them, they are incomplete. If he talks on a subject in Lodge, he is trying to run things. If he remains quiet, he has lost interest in the meeting. Ashes to Ashes and Dust to Dust; If others won’t do it…The Secretary must!!!!!
Lodge Education Officer
The following is taken from the charge of Ill. Bro. Verdon Skipper to the 33rd Degree Class at the recent Supreme Council Ceremony in DC.
Within the modern day Masonic lingo, we repeatedly hear the terms “call to action”, “membership retention”, “long range goals” and “strategic planning.” Are any of us listening to those words or are we assuming they are for some other Mason to hear? Have we forgotten that our beloved fraternity begins with the contributions and service of the individual man and ends with the achievements and pride of a united brotherhood?
One of our preoccupations in Masonic circles these days is the question of direction or vision for our fraternity and Scottish Rite. Where do you imagine we will be just ten years from now? (Some might wonder if we indeed will even exist).
We hear so often in our ritual that “the time is always now”. We must look carefully at the present state of affairs because it offers us the challenge and opportunity to prepare for our future. The future really is ours to shape. What are we doing about it?
Our Craft is set in ancient traditions carried over to a world that is growing in population, crisis and knowledge. Change is happening so fast that we often find ourselves totally confused by all of the input. My brain is full, how much more information can it process? And yet we live in the “Age of Information” where new knowledge grows exponentially on a daily, and sometimes a minute to minute basis. We have no other option than to adapt to our ever changing world or be left behind.
We must, of necessity, ask ourselves another question, “For whom does our fraternity exist? Its leaders, or its members”? When we look only at ourselves, at our own Masonic accomplishments, we are guilty of limiting our function in the fraternity. If we are unable or unwilling to focus beyond the vain service of self, then we are condemning ourselves to irrelevancy and possibly extinction.
At the feast of the ego, everyone leaves hungry. Resistance to societal realities is tantamount to walling ourselves up behind the tiled doors of a private club, elite, dusty and useless relics of things past, and an organization for study only by future social historians.
Our vision of the future should be two-fold. Working on our vision to preserve our Rite, we should be concerned with the direction in which the whole fraternity is going. As the eminent English author, poet and priest, John Donne reminds us, we are all a part “of the main…because I am involved in mankind.” We are a part of the substantial whole in this world wide fraternity of ours; we cannot be anything but a caring and concerned family member. Our fraternity proclaims itself to be “a fraternity dedicated to extending the Masonic way of life through family moral values in a global society.” Through our degree presentations, our numerous charitable commitments, and our increasing inclusion of families, we hope to make ourselves more relevant and attractive to men of sound moral character who have a right to share in what we have long kept as ours alone.
Our fraternity is doing what it can to focus on membership by asking all kinds of questions at every Masonic gathering. We have reached a point in our history where we must be proactive and no longer reactive if we are to enjoy a Masonic future. The inward must move outward to be in contact with societal changes and the needs and demands of our current and future members.
It is necessarily incumbent upon all of us to strongly support our Symbolic Lodges since they are the source of new members. The energy of the Symbolic Lodge must be transmitted to the Scottish Rite, as well as to all our Appendant Bodies if we will enjoy any kind of future at all.
How many of us actually give thought to replacing ourselves in our Lodges and Valleys with at least one candidate each year? Better yet; how many of us do more than just give it thought?
We must not wait for men to come to us, for if we do we might wait in vain. If we do not go after the men of quality who are looking for fulfillment in there lives, men that have had their interest in our fraternity tweaked by the national attention that has been the recent focus of novels, movies and the media, we have failed our fraternity, our Rite and ourselves. This “Age of Information” is our best tool in reaching and attracting these men.
I ask that when you leave this Supreme Council session that you take these thoughts with you. In your new capacity I suggest that you lead by example:
- be the first to get that petition signed for your Symbolic Lodge
- be the first to get at least one application each year for our beloved Rite
- be the first to be charitable - give according to your financial means. Don’t give until it hurts-give until it feels good!”
Blood Bank Donations
Members, we have a blood bank account set up at the blood center. Just tell them its for the Far Hills Masonic Lodge and we will get credit for each pint of blood donated. Thank you. – Ron Seigla
~ In Memory ~
HAROLD DELMAR DITMER
DOB: 07/17/1910 • DIED: 07/29/2007
EA 03-06-1941 0577 OH • FC 04-04-1941 0577 OH • MM 04-23-1941 0577 OH
0577 04/05/1962 • 0734 05/21/1962 AFF • 0734/0784 08/26/2002
He rests from his labors.
~ In Memory ~
BRO GEORGE BECKMAN HUBLER
DOB: 10/15/1922 • DIED: 09/14/2007
EA 09-08-1969 • FC 09-29-1969 • MM 12-08-1969
734/784 8/26/02
He rests from his labors.
Important Notice
Please note that all correspondence to the lodge should be sent to our Secretary’s home address:
John A. Weyrauch • 4700 Briar Knoll Drive • Kettering, OH 45429
(937) 434-5140 • jaweyrauch@woh.rr.com
Send correspondence for the Worshipful Master to:
Lloyd O. Nickell • 5387 Middlebury Road • Dayton, OH 45432
(937) 253-1239 • lnickell50@sbcglobal.net
Do not send mail to the temple address. There is no mail box; it will be returned to the sender by the USPS.