From The West

Brethren and Friends of Coastside Lodge,

Summer is here and we are all involved with family and lodge activities. During the month of July the Lodge is traditionally Dark, but this year we have continued to meet and work on ritual to prepare ourselves for the remainder of the year.

The last six months has been filled with a lot of hard work and dedication in continuing to develop a sense of harmony in the Lodge. Our social activities are presented so that the Lodge becomes all things for its members. We work hard, play hard and continue to give back.

To all the officers and brethren who contributed so much of their time and effort to all that we have accomplished thus far, I hope you had a wonderful summer and come back refreshed and energized to continue creating Coastside Lodge’s legacy.

In August we will be working on our ritual work to prepare to raise brothers and initiate new candidates. The officers of Coastside Lodge have been steadily improving their ritual work and will now be asked to work advanced stations. I would like to invite other brethren to come and contribute to the candidate’s degree experience. So if you can please make yourselves available.

Fraternally,

Michael S. Schirmer , PM

Brethren,

For a Lodge to be successful it is necessary that all lodge officers function as a team. Every officer must perform certain duties and fulfill specific responsibilities for the Lodge to function, retain and grow its membership while also promoting Brotherly Love, utilizing the resources provided by the Grand Lodge of California such as Leadership Training, District School of Instruction and attend the various lectures provided throughout the year.

It is my desire to enhance the goal of the Worshipful Master by providing tools and strategies to establish a knowledgeable, proficient line of Lodge officers.

In so doing I will assist the Worshipful Master in taking our officers to another level of leadership, ability and skills that will translate in further growth of our Lodge which will in turn assure us another decade of excelled proficiency as a Lodge.

I ask each and everyone of you to join me in this quest to see Coastside Lodge excel. Your continued active participation in the line or at all our activities will see us achieve this goal.

Fraternally,
Michael S. Schirmer , PM

Brethren,

Coastside has been blessed with a legacy of great leadership and brotherhood which over time as extended across these United States and to many parts of the world.

Brethren and friends, it is our custom from time immemorial to assemble so that we may offer up our devotions to God, and pray for wisdom to enable us to bear our daily burdens. Our purpose is to build our spiritual self, use the plumb to make sure we walk up right and upon the square of virtue ever remembering that we are traveling upon the level of time.

Therefore with these virtues and concepts in mind I’d like to make these requests:

All Brothers who are able, please attend Lodge and participate with the vigor that we have all obligated ourselves to do.

Again, I ask for input from our Masonic “Sweethearts” and infirmed brothers. Please contact the lodge or me and let us know if there is anything that we might be able to help you with to make your lives a little easier. You represent the legacy and extended family of Coastside Lodge and we are here to give assistance.

Also any brother who would like to attend Lodge, meeting or practice and needs transportation to and from the Lodge please call any of the officers or me and we will cheerfully provide such assistance as necessary.

Fulfillment of these simple requests will continue to assure the Lodge’s legacy of giving more than it receives.

Fraternally,
Michael S. Schirmer , PM

Brethren,

Earlier this month while working on the roof of a client, I was caused to reflect upon the relationship between art and Freemasonry. While clearly not the most conventional setting in which to consider the aesthetic niceties that one associates with art – the sound of the hammers, lend themselves perfectly to the notion of how the work environment process mirrors many of the mystical facets of our Craft.

The fabled German sculptor Joseph Beuys once quipped that: Man is really not free in many aspects. He is dependent on his social circumstances, but he is free in his thinking, and here is the point of origin of sculpture. For me the formation of the thought is already sculpture.

Freemasonry is a system that points toward self-mastery and perfection of our mental faculties. Our worldly deeds are the outward manifestation of our imaginations. When pondering the notion of thought as sculpture, I am reminded of that gentle supplication given at the end of our labors – …may all of our thoughts, words, and actions be in accordance with our professions as Masons

Art is the supreme celebration of life. In it we find the greatest forms of expression, an accurate articulation of the splendors of God’s creation and of man’s capacity for genius. If we come to understand that our work in these terms, then we begin to see the inseparable bonds with the ancient craftsmen from whom we claim our lineage.

Fraternally,
Michael Schirmer, PM