Brethren,
January is here and the start of a new year. I hope all of you had a good Christmas and New Years.
Maria and I look forward to this coming year. For several reasons, we now have a line of officers at Coastside Lodge that is made up of new Masons. We now have the ability to rekindle that spark in all of us to build our lodge and make our community proud to have us as neighbors.
Faternally, Ron Ragland Senior Warden/Master Elect
Please include the following Brothers and loved ones in your prayers & thoughts as they face health issues:
***Faye Chesson
****Jane Stillman
*****Lorraine Harden
******Meg Whiteside
*******Roger & Mary Murray
********Maria Piamonte
*********Orton Mueck
***Thursday January 6th***
Hall Association Meeting~6:00pm
Stated Meeting Dinner~6:30pm
beef bourguignon, noodles, vegetables, salad and desert
*Cost is $6.00 per plate
RSVP’s are a must in order to ensure food for all*
**Dinner: Nicole Schirmer!650-952-9763
Stated Meeting~7:30pm
***Thursday January 13th***
District School of Instruction at Crocker Lodge
Advance stations
refreshments at 6:30pm
any OFFICER who cannot make the School of Instruction “MUST” call the inspector Chavez directly at 650-766-2319
***Friday January 14th***
Installation Practice~7:00pm
***Saturday January 15th***
2011 Officers Installation~11:30am
….luncheon to follow
Please RSVP to Maria Ragland~650-359-1918**
***Thursday January 20th***
1st Degree Practice~7:15pm
***Thursday January 27th***
1st Degree Conferral on Mr. Jean Soni~7:15pm
Master *Michael S. Schirmer
Senior Warden *Ronald B. Ragland
Junior Warden *Richard A. Brown, PM Continue reading
Brethren,
It only seems appropriate that my final Trestleboard article from the East include my appreciation and to give congratulations. There are so many people whom have assisted and continue to contribute to Coastside Lodges success these past two years I have been Master. There’s simply not enough room on the Trestleboard to thank you all! Continue reading
From the East…
Brethren,
We are already entering the month of April and first off I would like to say happy Easter to us all. There are three new applicants for the degrees of Masonry this month and even a few more prospects. Our newly initiated brothers, James Alexander and Nathan Morrello, are hard at work with their proficiencies which will lead them to the second degree of Masonry hopefully this month. Also we can hopefully squeeze in a couple of first degrees as well. With our officers steadily hard at work with degrees it is imperative that the brethren, who are physically able, give our Lodge support in their attendance.
Our St. Paddy’s Day feast was a success again this year due to the brethren and their friends and families in attendance, and of course it could not be possible without our dearly devoted chef’s in the kitchen. A big thank you to Jack Lewkowitz, Nicole Schirmer, Ron Ragland, our servers and clean-up crew, and the infamous Bill Dycus, who by the way is not a member as of yet, but has supported and helped in our events for the past two years.
I would like to request from all to give our brethren who aren’t doing so well a friendly call just to let them know that we care and are thinking about them in their times of hardship. Brother Willie Chesson has been under the weather for quite some time now and would like nothing better than to hear from his brothers/friends. Brothers Orton Mueck and Robert Duranth still attend lodge events and degrees regularly even though they have been dealing with health issues. If I may say they are a great example of loyalty to our fraternity. In closing, if you know a brother who could use a little brotherly love, give him a call and make his day a bit more special. A little love sure goes a long way!
Fraternally,
Worshipful Michael Schirmer, PM
I mentioned in my final entry in the Secretary’s Corner that I would share some lessons learned while sitting at the Secretary’s desk. The first are the positive lessons, which I am most grateful for and incorporate into my life. Next month I will share the negative ones, taught to me by the same Brother, which I am grateful for but choose not to bring with me during my own search for light.
As a newly raised Mason and even newer Secretary, I was seeking more than light…I was seeking advice on being a Mason and an effective Secretary. A Mason of many years who is a Past Master, Inspector and Secretary of a large Lodge became my unknowing mentor. I asked, for and he gave, advice on converting Coastside to iLodge, how to take minutes and numerous other logistical pieces of information.
Watching and listening to this Brother as a “third baseman” was inspirational. I delivered the Preambles for all degrees striving to offer as memorable an experience to the candidate as this experienced Mason delivered during the 3rd degree. I can only hope I partially succeeded.
I listened intently when he offered his advice and incorporated the same into my duties as Secretary. These were the lessons we both were aware of; the ones he was teaching and the ones I was asking to learn.
I hate to imagine my time as Secretary without this Brother’s help and counsel. Yet there are more than the lessons we are aware of. There are lessons we teach unknowingly, not filtered through the lens of cognition and delivered straight from who we are. When we are unaware of these lessons, the person who is seeking counsel can take them to heart and continue behaviors we are not even aware of. I have said many times our rituals are the framework that binds us together as Mason’s on our journey to becoming better men – they are not what actually helps us achieve our lofty aspirations. It is our actions that create better men, based on the precepts of Free Masonry. Next month I will share the lessons taught unaware by actions, lessons that I chose not to carry with me on my own journey to becoming a better man.
Fraternally,
Jim Poket
Trestleboard Editor