Columbia Lodge No. 285

Columbia Lodge No. 285 A.F. & A.M. Chartered 1905 Leading the Way! Chris Chrzanowski Master crchrzanowski@gmail.com 703.967.9624 Peter Jensen Secretary pjensen@hl57.com 703.989.3368 Stated Meetings Third Monday 7:30, Dinner 6:30 3508 Lee Highway, Arlington, VA 22207 columbia285.org Brethen & Friends, am humbled and honored to be elected to serve you as Master this year. As you are reading this, am certain two questions are coming to mind; What is that thing? and What has the Lodge gotten itself into this year? The answer to both is A Hootenanny. My friends, we are going to have fun this year. However, we will have to work hard. We ll be easing into things in January. Every Monday, we ll be having some activity at the Lodge. The first Monday, (the 5 th ), will be having a Planning Meeting to review the month s activities. The Second Monday, (the 12 th ), is a Ritual Practice, specifically on Opening, Closing, and Receiving the DDGM. At our Stated, (third Monday, 1/19), ll be moving through the business quickly and focus on the program, Masonic Wages. Join us for dinner before the meeting at 18:30. The Mythical Hootenanny To close out the month, on the Fourth Monday, (the 19 th ), we will be having another practice to work on the Entered Apprentice Degree and polish Receiving the DDGM. On Wednesday the 28 th, RW Carl will be leading the monthly District Ritual School. n February, things will start to get busy. We will have an Entered Apprentice Degree and the beginnings of our Visitations. am planning Worth100.com on visiting each lodge in our district twice this year, and traveling once a month to interesting lodges and/or meetings outside the 54 th. On May 23rd, we ll be heading to Philadelphia to visit ndependence Hall, the Liberty Bell and the historic district as well as stopping by the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania for a tour and possibly a visit to Columbia Lodge No. 91, GLPA. Fraternally, Chris

Worshipful Master Christopher R. Chrzanowski, PM Senior Warden Carl E. Weaver, PDDGM Junior Warden David L. Stoneburner, PM Treasurer John P. Baker Secretary Wor. Peter S. Jensen Senior Deacon Ronald J. Leibfreid Junior Deacon Harrison M. Heller Chaplain Douglas B. McQueen Steward Joseph S. Bailey Tiler Robert Rench, PM

Secretary s Corner Happy Holidays Brethren & Friends of Columbia Lodge #285 Let me start this note off by introducing myself, Am Pete Jensen, who was elected this past month to be Secretary of Columbia Lodge. come to you as a born and raised Arlingtonian who moved to Fairfax about 25 years ago. am Past Master of Henry Lodge #57 where am currently Secretary and Past Master of The Patriot Lodge #1957 both of Fairfax. am currently the Master of The Civil War Lodge of Research #1865. look forward to being a positive contributor to Columbia Lodge #285 for many years in the future. Back when Columbia Lodge was in Clarendon, grew up about two blocks away on Hudson Street and used to always wonder what my Father and a couple of the neighbors used to do in this place where was not able to go. t took me many years to acquaint myself with Freemasonry but since got involved have never looked back. n the months to come, Worshipful Chris, Right Worshipful Carl, Worshipful Ray, and will be working along with Brother John, our Treasurer, in automating the records system of the Lodge to position us to be in a strong position for years to come. The first thing to come with the New Year will be dues notices. Please submit your dues as soon as possible and if you have never considered a Life Membership in Perpetuity, this is a means in which you can have lifetime membership in your Lodge and it also enables a monetary return to your Lodge each year from the Grand Lodge forever more. The gift that keeps giving!! f you would like more information on the LMP program which you can pay in installments or all at once, drop me an email and will send you the details. would like to thank Worshipful Rolf, Chris, Ray, David, and Bob, as well as many others who have welcomed me into the Lodge and want to hold out a special Thank You to Worshipful Ray Anderson who has held this position for many years and quite frankly makes it very easy to follow as he has things in tremendous shape. look forward to meeting each of you as my time with Columbia goes forward. Sincerely & Fraternally, Peter S. Jensen, PM Secretary

Masonic Minutiae Rudyard Kipling Born in Bombay ndia, December 30,1865, Rudyard Kipling was educated in England. He received his learning at United Services College at Westward Ho, North Devon. By 1880, he returned to Lahore, ndia where he began writing as a sub-editor for "The Civil and Military Gazette". He was just seventeen. n 1892, he married an American, Caroline Starr Balestier with whom he became acquainted with notable American authors of the day. He received an honorary degree from Oxford University in 1907 along with one of his contemporaries, Mark Twain. During the same year he was granted the Nobel prize for literature, the first British writer so honoured. Rudyard Kipling was also a Mason. His writing contain many allusions and references to the Masonic experience. He was made a Mason at Hope and Perseverance Lodge No. 782 at Lahore Punjab, ndia on April 5, 1886. t was an English Constitution Lodge. His work required special dispensation, because he was only twenty years, two months old at the time. The same evening that he was raised, he was elected secretary of his Lodge so that he recorded his own initiation in the minutes of his Lodge. A few months later, he delivered a lecture to his Brethren on the "Origin of the Craft First Degree." He advanced in the Mark Degree in Fidelity Mark Lodge on April 12, 1887 and was elevated in Mt. Ararat Mark Mariners Lodge at Lahore on the same day. He attended an nstallation meeting of ndependence with Philanthropy Lodge No. 391 at Allahabad, Bengal on December 22, 1887. On March 4, 1889, he demitted from his Craft Lodge and resigned from his other Lodges three months later on June 30, 1889. Returning to England, he was offered an honorary membership with Author s lodge No. 3456 sometime after its founding in 1910 and with Motherland Lodge No. 3861, London, in 1918. There is no record of him attending either of these Lodges. He was a Founding Member of Builders of the Silent Cities Lodge No. 12, retaining his membership until his death. n 1905, Canongate-Kilwinning Lodge No. 2, Edinburgh, Scotland chose him as poet laureate as they had a previous Brother, Robert Burns. The Philalethes Research Society in North America also lists him as an honourary member although there is no record of any attendance, correspondence or submission of research papers. Kipling joined the Quatuor Coronati Correspondence Circle in May, 1918, remaining a member until his death. Although he paid his dues promptly, there is no record of his attending a meeting. On November 17, 1924 he is recorded as attending Rosemary Lodge No. 2851 E.C., giving his Lodge as Motherland No. 3861. n 1925, he wrote in the London Times, " was Secretary for some years of Hope and Perseverance Lodge No. 782, E.C. Lahore which included Brethren of at least four creeds. was entered by a member of Bramo Somaj, a Hindu; passed by a Mohammedan, and raised by an Englishman. Our Tyler was an ndian Jew. We met, of course, on the level, and the only difference anyone would notice was that at our banquets, some of the Brethren, who were debarred by caste from eating food not ceremonially prepared, sat over empty plates." The Lodge minutes prove the details of his Entry to be wrong and those of Passing are probably wrong also. Taken from the Grand Lodge of British Columbia and Yukon

was born in 1905, and the charter granted to me by the Most Worshipful Grand Lodge of Ancient Free and Accepted Masons of the Commonwealth of Virginia is my birth certificate. The bloodlines of all humanity course through my veins, for have opened my doors to men born in several nations of the world. am many things to many people. am Columbia Lodge. am 135 living souls and the ghosts of hundreds more, who since 1905 have solemnly affixed their signatures to my bylaws. am George Washington and Benjamin Franklin. am the great lights and the ancient landmarks. am Worshipful William Carlisle Shelly and Worshipful Christopher Chrzanowski, and all the worthy brothers who have served between. remember the Spanish-American War where Bro Roosevelt proved his valor. remember the war to end all wars, and when freedom called, answered, and stayed till it was over, over there. survived the Great Depression and stood with my country s flag at Pearl Harbor on the bleak slopes of Korea, in the jungles of Vietnam and the deserts of the Middle East. am a meal prepared by the Stewards, and a prayer offered by the Chaplain. am the inquiring mind of an Entered Apprentice and the sage advice of a 50-Year Veteran. am Columbia Lodge Adapted from am Wollaston Lodge by the late Wor Kenneth A Hamilton am Brotherly Love, Relief and Truth. M y arms reach out to span the continent from the Atlantic to Pacific Oceans, embracing three million square miles over which my Brethren are dispersed. nside my walls you can sit on the sidelines with banker and laborer, or kinsman and stranger alike, as equals, for regard no man for either his prosperity or his theology, requiring only he believe in the existence of a supreme being. offer the hope that stems from that belief, and the charity born of the brotherhood of man. Leading the Way! am Columbia Lodge, and these are the things that am. was conceived in Brotherly Love that men might meet upon the level, act upon the plumb, and part upon the square. God willing, will devote my days to that ideal. May always possess the integrity, the courage, and the strength to keep myself unshackled, to remain a citadel of freedom and a beacon of hope to the world. T his is my desire, my goal, my prayer, as once again the gavel sounds. F or am Columbia Lodge.

January 5th Monday Planning Meeting 6:00 pm 19th Monday Stated Dinner @ 6:30 12th Monday Practice Opening & Closing a MM Lodge Receiving the DDGM 26th Monday Practice Entered Apprentice Degree 28th Wednesday District School February 2nd Monday Planning Meeting 6:00 pm 9th Monday Called Communication Entered Apprentice Degree 16th Monday Stated Dinner @ 6:30 District Deputy Grand Master s Official Visit 18th Wednesday Fraternal Visit B. Benjamin French Lodge No. 15, GLDC Georgetown Masonic Temple Dinner 6:30 23rd Monday Fraternal Visit Arlington-Centenial Glebe Lodge No. 81 25th Wednesday District School

2015 at a Glance STATED COMMUNCATONS March 16 th April 20 th May 18 th June 15 th July 20 th August 17 th September 21 st October 19 th November 16 th December 21 st March 25 th April 29 th May 27 th June 24 th July 29 th August 26 th September 30 th October 28 th November 25 th RTUAL SCHOOLS William Hiram Wood School May 16 th Reid J. Simmons Academy of Masonic Leadership July 30 th to August 1 st FAMLY EVENTS GRAND LODGE EVENTS Division Leadership Conference April 11 th Grand Master s Official Visit to Districts 1A, 1B & 54 May 9 th One Day Conferral August 29 th Grand Annual Communication November 6 th & 7 th TBD March 30 th Bus Trip to Philadelphia May 23rd Night at the Ballpark June 29 th TBD August 31 st October 10 th Masonic Home Family Day Holiday Show November 30 th Apparently there is nothing that cannot happen today. ~ Mark Twain March 10 th Kemper-Macon Ware Lodge No. 64 March 19 th Naval Lodge No. 4 - GLDC April 2 nd Cherrydale Lodge No. 42 April 21 st Concord Lodge No. 307 May 8 th Manasseh Lodge No. 182 UK Delegation MM Degree May 9 th Freedom Lodge No. 112 - GLMD on Monocasy Battlefield FRATERNAL VSTS June 4 th Andrew Jackson Lodge No. 120 Grand Master s Official Visit June 8 th Haymarket Lodge No. 313 Grand Master s Official Visit July 9 th Sharon Lodge No. 327 July 11 th Civil War Lodge of Research No. 1865 on Manassas Battlefield August 11 th Kemper-Macon Ware Lodge No. 64 August 24 th Arlington Centennial-Glebe Lodge No. 81 September 3 rd Treadwell Lodge No. 213 Lodge of High Hill September 15 th Concord Lodge No. 307 October 3 rd Winchester-Hiram Lodge No. 21 Cave Lodge October 15 th Cherrydale Lodge No. 42 November 2 nd Fredericksburg Lodge No. 4 Grand Master s Last Official Visit November 12 th Sharon Lodge No. 327