Yellowhouse Lodge #841 A.F. & A.M. 5015 Gary Ave, Lubbock, Texas P.O. Box 1648, Lubbock, Texas 79408 806-765-6041 yellowhousemasons@gmail.com November 2015 Monthly Newsletter 2015-2016 Officers Ricky Sawyer James Scott Rolan Pirtle Worshipful Master Senior Warden Junior Warden Charles Morris Treasurer Dwayne McInroe Secretary Larry Burks Chris Felton Joey Powers Chaplain Senior Deacon Junior Deacon Nathan Shrode Senior Steward Jeremy Webb Junior Steward Garland Timms Marshal Bob Clemmons Master of Ceremonies & District Instructor Dan Redman Tiler Johnny Williams Trustee Bruce Short Trustee From the East... First I want to congratulate our recent 65 year, 60 year, and 50 service award recipients. Your accomplishments are the standard to which all other Masons aspire. Well done brothers! As we approach the Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year seasons let me wish each of you a Happy Thanksgiving, Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year (in case I don t see you and get a chance to say this to you personally). With this season there are lots of activities upcoming and a few changes to our normal routine. Our next stated meeting will be on November 6 th and I hope to see you all there if possible. After that, on November 21 st Yellowhouse will celebrate our annual Thanksgiving dinner at the Scottish Rite from 2-5. The lodge is supplying the meat and software for the meal and it is requested that those coming bring a side dish or dessert. Other lodges and members will be joining us in this celebration (those lodges will also supply meat and software and bring side dishes). I expect we will have a very large gathering so please come out with your family members and friends and enjoy some Masonic fellowship and outstanding food. Our December stated meeting will be moved to December 11 th as many of our members and officers will be traveling to Grand Lodge this year. The raffle drawing for our Scholarship Fundraiser will still be help on December 4 th at the lodge as stated on the tickets so if you win, be expecting a phone call shortly thereafter. As a heads up, our January Stated meeting has been rescheduled as January 1 st falls on the first Friday. We will have our stated meeting on January 8 instead. We continue to have our floor practices on the 1 st, 3 rd, and 4 th Tuesdays of each month and will maintain this schedule throughout the season. If we are only having floor practice or examinations, we will start promptly at 6:30. If we will be putting on a degree we will have a quick meal starting at 6:00 and promptly open lodge at 6:30 to confer the degree. Basically, floor practice, examinations, and degrees will start at 6:30. If you want to eat you will need to be there at 6 on degree nights. Fraternally, Ricky Sawyer Worshipful Master Terry Ewings Trustee Floor Practice is the 1 st, 3 rd, & 4 th Tuesday at 6:30 pm. Come and take part Page 1
From the West Man's actions are the picture book of his creeds. Ralph Waldo Emerson Art. 334. Committees of the Whole Prohibited. Committees of the Whole are not recognized or permitted in Masonic parliamentary procedure. Art. 335. Lodge Funds Under Its Control A. A lodge may appropriate its funds for any purposes not inconsistent with the principles and purposes of Masonry, or the Laws of the Grand Lodge. B. Subject to the provisions of Article 224, Lodges ma6y conduct projects to raise funds for a Lodges general fund, charity fund, endowment fund, needy individuals, any recognized Masonic charity or foundation, disaster relief, public schools, educational scholarships or other similar funds. All such funds must be of a noncontroversial, nonsectarian, nonpartisan, patriotic and/or community character. All fund raising activities are subject to the following restrictions: 1. The project must be approved by the Lodge at a stated meeting. 2. No such project may be held on June 24 th, December 27 th, during the Annual Communication of the Grand Lodge of Texas, or at any time or place prohibited by any law of the land or any Masonic law. 3. All federal, state and local regulations shall be strictly observed and all required permits obtained. 4. No gambling or lottery except charitable raffles conducted in compliance with the laws of the State of Texas, shall be conducted. 5. No alcoholic beverages shall be distributed, sold, purchased, possessed or consumed during a fund raising project on Lodge property. 6. No Masonic apron or regalia shall be worn. 7. The entire project shall be conducted in strict accordance with Masonic tradition, custom and dignity. 8. Masonic Lodgerooms shall not be used for fund raising activities. Fraternally yours, Bro. James Scott, Senior Warden Page 2
From the South... Excerpts from, A Bridge To Light, by Rex Hutchens, 33 and Arturo de Hoyos, 33. Reprinted here with permission from Bro. de Hoyos: Modern speculative Freemasonry did not spring full-blown upon the historical stage at a meeting of the Lodge of Antiquity at the Goose and Gridiron pub or of the Grand Lodge of England at the Apple Tree tavern in 1717. The operative Masons had already contributed a rich legacy of symbolism and tradition that continues to enrich the Craft to this day. Also there have been persistent references in Masonic literature to possible relationships between Masonry and other systems which use symbolic language: the Rosicrucians, Illuminati, Gnostics, Alchemists, Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, Christians, Essenes, Persians, Hindus and Kabbalists. Whether these presumed relationships demonstrate a continuous heritage, of which modern Freemasonry is the lineal successor, or simply emulation, is the central question of Masonic research. Rather than being a secret society, Freemasonry is a revealer of secrets. The great truths of ancient man were, in their time, also great secrets and few were admitted into their sanctuaries where these truths were taught. Today the Craft teaches these great truths to all worthy men who ask to learn them. Many of these truths are taught in the degrees of the Symbolic Lodges; many more are taught in the various Rites which have sprung up in the course of Masonic history. These teachings are not a random collection of moral precepts but are rather an organized and coherent system of doctrine relating to the perfectibility of human conduct. This perfectibility is not an expectation of the achievement of perfection itself. It is a goal which, by its very impossibility, may continue to provide us with an objective for improvement. No man can be perfect but he can strive toward perfection and so constantly improve his nature. As a single footstep will not make a path on the earth, so a single thought will not make a pathway in the mind. To make a deep physical path, we walk again and again. To make a deep mental path, we must think over and over the kind of thoughts we wish to dominate our lives. - Henry David Thoreau Fraternally, Rolan Pirtle, Junior Warden Page 3
Upcoming Events November 6 nd (Friday) Stated Meeting November 19 th (Thursday) Texas Law Shield 6:00-8:30 pm at Yellowhouse, $10 admission November 21 st (Saturday) Yellowhouse Thanksgiving Celebration, 2-5 pm, Scottish Rite (please bring a side dish/dessert, the lodge is supplying the meat and software for the meal) December 4 th (Friday) Fundraiser Raffle Ticket Drawing December Stated meeting on Dec 11 th (Friday) due to Grand Lodge January Stated meeting on Jan 8 th (Friday) due to New Year s day on Jan 1 (Friday) Deacon s Corner Visitors at our last Stated Meeting: Rod Armstrong Mackenzie 1327 Robert Lindley DDGM 93A Steward s Corner Chili Beans Corn Bread Dessert Sickness and Distressed Brother Tex Tidwell Brother Charlie Morris Brother Stuart Dyess Carrolon Brother Bill Riley James Scott and his wife Bernell Scott Brother Ricky Sawyer s father Margaret Rapp Page 4
Departed Brethren & Family Don McClendon Harold K. Garrett Page 5