WM Address

Thank you for joining us this evening in our celebration. We speak of the lodge as this building, room, furniture and talk of procedure and ritual so much that sometimes we forget that the worth of our fraternity is this: the gathering of friends and family. It is the people who make up the lodge for without all of us there would be no “lodge.” The lodge is comprised of all of its members from the newest Entered Apprentice to the Past Masters who have presided in the east. But most importantly it exists because of your support and encouragement. Often people will say because of the nature of this position in the “big” chair, up here on the dais that my role must be the most important one in the lodge. This is the furthest from the truth. I get the honor of being the driver of a bus full of energized and invigorated men who have created a plan of destination and direct me where to go. I get to avoid the potholes and traffic. 

We in Freemasonry talk of the Celestial Lodge: that building made without hands – it is the spiritual journey within in all of us. This is the consummate nature of Freemasonry: to live a virtuous and spiritual life: to live respected. It is this future lodge - this destination that we are driving towards. Hopefully, on this journey, we will not slide into a snowbank or ditch. While, as Freemasons, we are on this spiritual journey together we would be remiss if we did not include more earthly elements into the trip. These are those events we have engineered to bring a social aspect to our lodge. 

This year a major tenet of our lodge is the celebration of family and friends. On the back of your program are some events that we would like to explore this year starting with our annual tradition of having a New Year’s Day breakfast. We have been doing this since the inception of this lodge 106 years ago and wish you to join with us. So this year we ask you to bring family members and friends to celebrate the new year with us. While we have this ceremony to celebrate our being elected or appointed to lead the lodge for the ensuing year it is really you our friends and family that allow for this journey to continue. So join us throughout the year come to our monthly dinners, our special events and share with us this “road trip.”