Tidings From the East. Tidings from the West. December 2018 Table of Contents

Transcription

1 WM Johnny J. Edwards SW Mattthew Gerbrandt JW Scott Rassbach Secretary John Porter Lodge Office (Leave Message) Address - unionlodge@onlinenw.com Website - Tidings From the East Change. Some of us do not like change. We enjoy our lives to go in one direction at all times. This is a predictable and safe way to live. Some of us like a change in direction. Altar the course of life. Take a chance. I am a little of both. Within our Ancient Craft of Freemasonry change is a good thing. Every year on December 27th a change occurs from the current Worshipful Master to a newly elected Brother to serve our Masonic Lodge for the next year. It is time for this change. The new Worshipful Master is entrusted with the care of his lodge. Every decision that the new Worshipful Master makes will affect the course and direction of the future of our lodge. Change is good. New ideas, new ways of looking at the future. Let s welcome our new Worshipful Master and his Officers. Attend lodge. Be the one in lodge to stand and help our new Worshipful Master when help is needed. To Change direction sometimes is a good thing. I want to say thank you to my Officers of Union No. 3. Page 1 Thank you for helping me take Union No. 3 in a direction that I feel is very beneficial for the health of our lodge in the future. I am proud to be a member of Union No. 3. Fraternally, Johnny J. Edwards Worshipful Master December 2018 Table of Contents Tidings From the East Tidings From the West Tidings From the South From the Secretary From a Mason Abroad More from the WM Lodge Calendar Tidings from the West Hello, Brothers and welcome to December. Thank you all so much for electing me as Worshipful Master for upcoming Masonic year. It is truly an honor to serve the Fraternity in this role once again. At the same time, I am excited and encouraged to see some of our newer officers heading toward the East in their Masonic journeys and I look forward to passing the torch and watching the Lodge grow under their leadership. A hearty Thank you! goes out to those who have stepped up to fill Lodge Officer positions during the upcoming year. I will be counting on each of you to help run our Lodge. During the upcoming year, I will do my best to make our meetings as interesting as possible by having guest speakers impart Masonic education with their presentations as often as possible. In January, Brother Scott Rassbach will be giving a lecture and I look forward to hearing another of his excellent presentations. I will also be doing my best to organize opportunities for people to get together to socialize outside of our stated communications. More on that topic later

2 At our January stated communication, we will be raffling off a beautiful engraved Masonic pen. To get your name in the drawing, just bring a new pair (or several pairs) of socks to the January stated communication. The donated socks will be given to YCAP, who will distribute them to homeless and poor people in our community. Fraternally, Scott Rassbach Junior Warden Fraternally, WB Matt Gerbrandt, Senior Warden. The last astrological sign we ll be considering this year is Sagittarius. Sagittarius is the Latin word for Archer, and the constellation is traditionally shown as representing a centaur, a creature with the torso and head of a human, and the lower part of a horse, drawing a bow. The arrow of this constellation points towards the star Antares, the "heart of the scorpion", and Sagittarius stands poised to attack should Scorpius ever attack the nearby Hercules, or to avenge Scorpius's slaying of Orion. In Greek myth, one of the stories around Sagittarius involves the centaur Chiron, the most wise and most just of the centaurs. He was sired by the titan Cronus, and raised by Apollo and Artemis. He was renowned as a teacher, instructing the great Greek heroes Achilles, Ajax, Aeneas, Theseus, Perseus, and Jason. The figure of the Archer is one often used in the teaching of virtue. In Greek, the word for sin is hamarita (ἁμαρτία), which properly means to miss the mark, an archery term. When we lose our focus on the virtues, it is easy and often inevitable that we should miss the mark. The Archer does not have a tie to Masonry directly. It is part of the Royal Arch which has its bases in Cancer and Capricorn, and its capstone in Libra. But we can use the symbolism to remind us to keep ourselves focused on the virtues, as the Archer focuses on his target. -- Bro. Benjamin Franklin The days have grown shorter, and it seems as if the sun is going down before supper-time. The holiday season is in full swing, with all the well-known traditions that are part of it. And once again the editor calls, wishing for me to share some reflection or other on our gentle craft. One of the things that draws men to Masonry is a sense of History. To be involved in a tradition and craft that has maintained itself with little change over the last three centuries. But just how unchanged is Masonry? One way to judge that consistency is to look at the changes in the holiday season itself. Just how different were the holidays back in the 1700 s, when our Brothers first stepped into the public light? Here in the United States we have grown so used to the modern arrangement that it seems timeless. Our celebration of family and feasting during Thanksgiving leads directly into the Christmas tradition of giving presents, with all the merchants so eager for that seasonal philanthropy that it s hard to finish the left-over turkey before someone starts humming Christmas carols. Then comes the bacchanalian blow-out of New Year s Eve. One last party before we all wake up and swear that, somehow, we will try to be better folks by next year. Page 2

3 These traditions, timeless though they seem, are anything but. Most of what we recognize as traditional now would come as a complete surprise to our Brothers in the early 1700;s. So what were the holidays in America like, back when Freemasonry first stepped on to the world stage? Our society back then was largely agrarian, meaning that most of us worked and lived by the rhythms of the farm. This meant that almost everyone lived in a situation where one wealthy family was surrounded by their workers and servants. At this time of year, they would have finished bringing in their harvest, and be well into slaughtering the animals that could not be kept (and fed) through the coming winter months. Their traditions were a reflection of this, a mixture of the sacred and profane mid-winter festivals from the many cultures that came together here. The season would last for almost two weeks, from December 25 until Twelfth Day (January 6th). The season drew from the traditions of Saturnalia and the Germanic Yule, with the giving of presents, drinking, and general partying. People would dress up in costumes, decorate their homes with greensand feast their less-fortunate neighbors as best they could. It was a wild mix of the Christian Feast of the Nativity and pagan mid-winter festivals, with so much celebrating going on that almost no work was done. Everyone took a two-week vacation from the somber and sober, and the traditions that we know now as separate holidays were hopelessly mixed together. The festivities could get so boisterous that in some places Christmas was banned outright. Some towns would designate a Lord of Misrule, who with his band of hardies would dress up in yellow and green and parade through town on Christmas Day. On New Year s Eve, Christmas Eve and Twelfth Night people would parade to the houses with a bowl of spiced ale, sugar and apples; singing songs and passing the wassail bowl. On Christmas Eve and Twelfth Night in particular they would wassail the apple trees, placing toast in the branches and pouring cider on the roots to help ensure a bountiful new year. Well-behaved children could expect presents, and those who misbehaved could expect Krampus a horned half-goat, half-demon who makes Elf-on-the-Shelf look like a total wuss. The holiday season as we know it was mostly a creation of the following century. Early Dutch settlers Page 3 to New York considered St. Nicholas to be their patron saint and hung stockings in which to receive presents on December 5th, St. Nicholas eve. In 1821 William Gilley, a New York printer, published an anonymous poem which changed Sinterklaas to Santeclaus and introduced his sleigh pulled by a single reindeer. Clement Clarke Moore published his poem A Visit from St. Nicholas in 1823; it is more commonly known now as The Night Before Christmas. In it he moved the gifting of presents from the eve of St. Nicholas day to Christmas, and expanded Santa s stable to eight reindeer (each with his own name). In 1843 Charles Dickens wrote his classic A Christmas Carol. It has been in print ever since. Thomas Nast (a magazine illustrator who created campaign posters for Abraham Lincoln s 1860 campaign) is credited with creating the modern depiction of Santa Clause. He was assigned to draw the Harper s Weekly cover for the 1862 Christmas season, and the resulting illustration (see above) was such a hit that he kept creating drawing them for decades. He is credited with creating the idea that Santa Claus lives at the North Pole, where he and his elves make presents for all the good children in his workshop. It was Prince Albert, the husband of Queen Victoria, who introduced the German tradition of a Christmas tree to Windsor Castle in When woodcut illustrations of this began to appear in 1848, a tradition that had only been seen in the homes of German immigrants soon became popular in upper-class homes across America and Britain. The White House would not erect their first Christmas tree until The first National Christmas Tree would be lit in 1923, by President Calvin Coolidge. The changes in holiday traditions which have occurred in just the last two centuries underline just how well our Brothers have kept our own Masonic traditions relatively intact. We have each been through ceremonies much like those that Washington and Franklin experienced, even though we live in a modern society whose holiday traditions would seem to them oddly separated and restrained. And yet much of the spirit of the season from the celebration of family, feasting and the giving of presents to those we love remains unchanged. So whatever your own traditions, be they modern or ancient, secular or sacred; your Brothers wish for you and your family the most Merry of Holidays. To paraphrase what the fellow said; Do good unto all, and

4 may the God of Love and Peace delight to dwell with you and bless you. -Walk in light my Brothers.- Fraternal Greetings from across the pond! There are a couple new members, but as most of you know, I am separated from you all because I am here in the UK working on my Ph.D. in history. I was in the archive the other day looking for something else (which I didn t find) but a volume that I was searching had some other interesting bits in it, so I took a little personal time and did some recreational reading. For background purposes, the Minster church at Beverley in Yorkshire was severely damaged by fire in 1188 and a decision was made as part of the rebuild to add a spire to the tower that rose above the Eastern crossing. The tower was built on 11th century foundations and the Master Masons called in to erect the spire apparently paid short shrift on making sure that the foundations could take the weight of the new spire and got called out for it. In the chronicle I came across this beautiful little nugget (I ll save you the Latin): They [the Masons in charge] were not as cautious as was necessary, not as prudent as they were cunning in their craft; they were concerned rather with beauty than with strength, rather with effect than the need for safety. The net result was that the spire toppled in 1219, falling in on the crossing, part of the nave, and part of the chancel. A partial rebuild of the church was then required. (Again.) I was struck by how much there is there to unpack in terms of the life of a speculative Freemason. We are told in the lecture and charge of the Entered Apprentice that it is the inner qualities, and not the external, that recommend a man for the craft. Beauty is external. The trappings are external. The titles are external. Strength, wisdom, curiosity, Page 4 learning, the moral and social virtues, service, charity, faith, hope, relief, truth, justice these are internal. Are you giving them enough consideration as you raise your Masonic edifice? Will your foundation support the weight of your growth and building? And believe me, Brethren, it s not an accusatory question I am asking myself the same thing. We ve all seen the consequences of not doing so no matter how beautiful, eventually the spire falls crashing down taking other important parts of the building with it and needing a rebuild to regain functionality. In this context, it s not a building but a life and a reputation and a sense of community. On a personal note, as a Past Master of a Lodge I am treated the same here as any other Past Master. This affords certain privileges and attaches certain responsibilities. One of them that is common between the English Constitution and most American Grand Lodges is that, as a Past Master, I am entitled and empowered to fill in for any position as a need arises. This was put to the test in October as I was asked with about 10 minutes notice to act as Senior Deacon to open Lodge I was assured that our own SD was tied up in traffic, but would be there late at which time, I would be relieved. As it turned out, I had to cover the full evening which included a double FC degree conferral, balloting, receiving dignitaries, and both opening and closing processions with a solid 10 minutes training and rehearsal. It wasn t as good as it could have been, but I survived and received high marks, some part of which, I think, was just for trying. In November I performed the Perambulations for a Master Mason degree conferral fortunately for this one, I had a little more warning to learn the part. It went very well. Between those two events I was asked if I would be interested in taking up an officer s position for They were both surprised and pleased by my response I serve at the pleasure of the Lodge. Basically, I told them, if the Lodge has a need and you believe I am the right fit, tell me what it is and I will do it. I am your huckleberry. (To quote Doc Holiday from Tombstone. ) Apparently, it s difficult to get some of the younger, newer Master Masons to get involved and commit to an officer s role or taking a part in degrees. Granted, it is a commitment more so, even, here

5 - they rehearse and practice regularly and there is an expectation that if you agree to do something that you will commit to doing it well. But, as Masons we are taught to be curious; to be adventurous in our search for knowledge and active in our charity and aid. If the Lodge has a need, fill it. Step up. If someone asks, do it. It doesn t matter if you know how to do it, you can be coached. It doesn t matter if you re not great at it the first time give yourself to it and the Lodge and it will be fine. And it will be better next time. The Lodge doesn t function without *US* stepping up the plate and taking on responsibility. Be that guy. Yes, I know you re busy. I know you have obligations. So am I. So do I. But I ve always tried to be there for Lodge because it s important to me. I do not want to let by Brothers or myself down. I don t want to miss the opportunity, if I can help it. As my mother used to say, You make time for the things you want to do and excuses for the things you don t. And, as I have said many times as a reminder we meet *as* a Lodge, not *in* a Lodge. It s not about some abstract concept of the Lodge or something big that you can t influence. It s about your friends and Brothers. Assume that the request for help is them speaking directly to you (because it usually is.)you are the only one that has a unique set of talents to fulfill that role, whatever it may be and whether you believe it or not. Then be that guy helping to contribute to every Brother s shared experience of Lodge. And contributing to building the solid internal foundation of your own Masonic edifice, not by the role or the job, but by the experience, what you learn from it, and how it helps you to grow in it. The net result of my experience of that is that I ve agreed to be appointed Senior Deacon next year at Cabot Lodge No here in Bristol. We don t do elections and the chair progression is fairly regimented. If all goes well and I comport myself well in the jobs that follow, 2022 will be my year in the East as Worshipful Master. I ll keep you all informed. Nothing WB Blair sent along this photo taken in March of the members of Cabot Lodge No in Bristol. He reported that this was a LIGHT attendance night. ONLY 30 members and 25 guests. Editors comment: We should have such attendance. Page 5

6 would give me more pleasure than hosting an envoy of Union Lodge Brethren on a visitation at my installation and Inner Workings in January Frarnally, -Frank Shared By WB Mark C. Phillips PM Newport Lodge. No. 85 With thanks to RW Cameron Bailey: As we are now all aware there are written records from Lodges in Scotland from as early as 1598 and there is evidence from non-lodge sources there were Lodges functioning (but not recording anything in writing) as early as These Lodges were stonemasons lodges but their membership grew by adding non-operative as well as working stonemasons. By 1717 membership of Lodges in Scotland consisted of the three 'types' - entirely operative, mixed and entirely speculative. In Masonic circles it is generally accepted that the third or Masters Mason s degree was invented in London, England, during the early part of the 1720 s. There are several reasons for this assumption. Firstly, in the The Constitutions of the Free Masons published in London in 1723, makes reference to how the affairs of Grand Lodge are to be conducted. Article XIII (page 61) states: Apprentices must be admitted Masters and Fellow-Crafts only here. This led many to believe that in addition to the [Entered] Apprentice degree there were two others that of Fellow Craft and Master Mason. However as we know in Scotland from the earliest written rituals (Edinburgh Register House (1696), Airlie (1705) and Chetwode Crawley (c.1710) MSS)) the terms Fellow Craft and Master Mason were inter-changeable. In other words these were two terms for the same degree. Because of the literal interpretation of the rather cryptic (some would say nonsensical) reference to Fellow Craft and Master Mason in 1723 it became fact that there were three degrees of Freemasonry. The earlier Scottish rituals were not discovered until much later and could not therefore be used to correct this fact that became embedded in Masonic knowledge. To make matters worse the earliest reference to the conferral of a third degree was also said to have taken place in London in 1725 but not in a Lodge but in a musical society ( Philo-Musicae et Architecturae Societas Appolloni ). The reference to the Fellow Craft and Master Mason s was like the reference in the Constitutions of two earlier taken literally. One error (a fact ) served to confirm the same error as fact. Masonic historians are now well aware that those errors but they have become so embedded in the lore of the Craft that they are repeated in the most knowledgeable and respected sources of the history of Freemasonry: Coil s Encyclopaedia of Freemasonry re-printed as recently as 1996, is the supreme example. What therefore are the facts (not errors masquerading as facts!) regarding the Fellow Craft or Master s degree. First and foremost we now know far more about the ritual used by stonemasons lodges before any Grand Lodge existed and as we know these rituals were all Scottish, all quite similar in content but unknown until relatively recently. The first of the three was not discovered until 1930 and the most recent, the Airlie MS was accidentally discovered a mere eight years ago. Attempting to use these recent documents to overturn almost 300 years of fact is an uphill struggle. That said, the attempt should not be made and tonight I wish to bring to the attention of the brethren two pieces of evidence that ought, at the very least, cause every respectable Masonic historian to reconsider where and when the Master Mason s degree originated. The first piece of evidence is fair well know but I wish to tease out the implications of the evidence in a way that has not been done before. The effect is I believe quite profound. This piece of evidence is to be found in the Minute Books of the Lodge of Dunbarton, No.18, (not a stonemasons Lodge but a recognisably modern Speculative Masonic Lodge. I will quote the entries in full: Page 6

7 At the meeting of the Lodge of Dunbritton the 29th day of January 1726 the which day there where present John Hamilton, Grand Master, accompanied with seven Master Masons, six Fellows of Craft and three entered apprentices The Minute of the next meeting reads: 25th March 1726 the said day Gabriel Porterfield by unanimous consent of the Masters admitted and received a Master of the Fraternity. Gabriel Porterfield was named in the Minute of 29 January as being a Fellow of Craft and on 25 March was admitted and received a Master of the Fraternity. This clearly shows that in 1726 in Scotland there were three degrees being conferred within Lodges. But there is a much greater implication just that irrefutable fact an indisputable written fact and concerns the first Minute mentioned 29 January I repeat it again: At the meeting of the Lodge of Dunbritton the 29th day of January 1726 the which day there where present John Hamilton, Grand Master, accompanied with seven Master Masons, six Fellows of Craft and three entered apprentices The enormous significance of this is that in January 1726 there were eight members of a Scottish Lodge who were in the possession of the Master Mason s degree and that they conferred that degree on a Fellow of Craft. Where, when and how these eight Scottish Freemasons received the Third Degree before it even existed in England is the intriguing part but sadly we are unlikely ever to know because the Minutes only commence at that time. Our best hope is that Minute Books of another, earlier, Lodge reveal to us that it had invented or developed the third degree. It may strike you as strange to suggest that the third degree was invented or developed in SCOT- LAND but there are two reasons why I can make such a claim. The first comes from the earliest rituals in the world, previously mentioned - ERH (1696), Airlie (1705) and CC (c.1710) MSS. At the very end of the Fellow Craft part of these rituals the candidate is asked: Q Are to a Fellow of Craft? A Yes A [The FPoF are given in reply.] The FPoF were therefore an essential part of the second or Fellow of Craft degree so important in fact that the candidate had to be able to repeat them exactly before he would be accepted a TRUE mason. Where do we find the FPOF today? In the third, or Master Mason s, degree. Sometime between 1710 (and earlier) part of the Scottish second degree was removed and made part of the third or Master Mason s degree. I now come to an artifact, the importance of which has never been fully appreciated before now: A large brass Square and Compasses (43.7 cm (17.2 inches) wide X (26.5 cm) 10.4 high and weighing almost one kilogramme) Inscribed on the arms of the square is the following: This square and compass was gifted to the Lodge of Lanark by (the text is interrupted by the insertion of an heraldic shield bearing three boards heads) Mr a monogram is engraved immediately after Mr and the inscription continues Brother to the Laird of Cleghorn. After consulting with the Lord Lyon he confirmed that there heraldic device and monogram are those of John Lockhart (born 13 January 1684, died 26 February 1766). NOTE the words: This square and compass in other words it was presented to the Lodge a single piece This Square and Compass. However, there remain two more revealing things about this object. Firstly not that the points of the compass are jointed in such a way so that either point, can be concealed behind the arms of the square, or one (or other) point behind one arm of the square or that both points of the compass can be hidden behind both arms of the square. In other words this artefact can be used to position the points of the compass for any of the modern three degrees. Why should I made such a fuss simply because the artefact bears the date: {NOTE: This is part of a presentation given in Lodge Sir Robert Moray, No.1641, on 5 February Ed.] Q How many points of Fellowship are there? Page 7

8 Tuality # 7 - Stated - 10:00 am Union #3 - Stated 7:30 pm Holbrook # 30 - Stated - 7:30 pm Rickreall # Stated - 7:30 pm Sheridan-Dayton - Stated - 7:00 pm Newberg # Stated 7:30 pm - Trustees Meeting 6:30 pm December Officers Meeting will be conducted via . Union # 3 - Stated Meeting - 7:30 pm The Brothers of Union Lodge are encouraged to submit articles for the The Beacon. Submissions should be in Microsoft Word documents. Please your articles to Tom Gardner at gardner_t@onlinenw.com by the 15th of the month for inclusion in the following month s edition of The Beacon. Be sure to keep up with Lodge activities between editions of the Beacon by checking our website or Visit Union Lodge # 3 on Facebook and be sure to Like us. Page 8