Important Message from the Master
Brethern,
It is with pleasure that I report that the rebuilding
of the lodge is progressing steadily and the hall is showing significant
improvement and upgrading. W. Brothers Andy and Melvin Mims have been
invaluable leaders and workers in the project and as a result of their
toil, we are well under budget and will be able to upgrade the facility
in a much more comprehensive manner than we would have if we had had
to employ outside contractors to do all of the work. You will note when
you visit your lodge that the kitchen and refreshment areas have been
moved and upgraded and that the area that used to be the kitchen is
being refurbished and will become a library and study area. Very nice!
The plan is to be able to use the money saved on the downstairs
refurbishment to re-build and update the upstairs lodge room. We are
hoping to be able to remove the old paneling and suspended ceiling and
return the hall to its original design with domed ceiling with star-studded
heavens and a union chord running around it.
All Brothers are welcome to contribute their time, talent
or treasure to this ongoing task, the result of which will be a hall
fit to perform the unique work that we undertake. Please consider which
of the three gifts you have that can be contributed to the lodge.
I would be remiss if I did not address the looming financial
problems that will soon befall the lodge. The costs to operate the lodge
have sky rocketed in this post-Katrina city and we note that insurance
and utilities are running at five time the cost of what we paid when
I was previously the Master of the Lodge in the year 2000. Other costs
such as taxes and maintenance have increased substantially as well.
In the intervening period, our income from dues has not changed at all
and our rental income has dropped. It seems to me that we are long overdue
in having a frank discussion of these issues. Accordingly, I intend
to set aside the second meeting of August to discuss this issue with
you and earnestly urge you to attend the meeting and express your views.
We will be looking at all income and expense issues. I
will be asking the Brothers what their membership worth. Is it worth
$10 a month? That's $5 a meeting, less than the cost of a happy meal
at McDonalds! For that we get a meal, refreshments from our new bar
and great fraternal fellowship. You may have different ideas. Please
feel free to express them.
We will also be discussing what is a fair rental price
to be charged to our tenants of the hall, apartment and rental building.
The discussion will be frank and we will be providing
the Brothers with a complete financial accounting prior to the meeting.
Once we determine the will of the Lodge we will be drafting a resolution
to be placed before the brethren in September as we may require an amendment
to our by-laws to implement the changes required.
I look forward to seeing you at the lodge.
Ian D. Cairns PM
Worshipful Master
The Forget-Me-Not (Das Vergissmeinnicht)
The Story Behind This Beloved Emblem Of The Craft in Germany
In early 1934, soon after Hitler's rise to power, it became evident that
Freemasonry was in danger. In that same year, the "Grand Lodge of
the Sun" (one of the pre-war German Grand Lodges, located in Bayreuth)
realizing the grave dangers involved, adopted the little blue Forget-Me-Not
flower as a substitute for the traditional square and compasses. It was
felt the flower would provide brethren with an outward means of identification
while lessening the risk of possible recognition in public by the Nazis,
who were engaged in wholesale confiscation of all Masonic Lodge properties.
Freemasonry went undercover, and this delicate flower assumed its role
as a symbol of Masonry surviving throughout the reign of darkness.
During the ensuing decade of Nazi power a little blue Forget-Me-Not flower
worn in a Brother's lapel served as one method whereby brethren could
identify each other in public, and in cities and concentration camps throughout
Europe. The Forget-Me-Not distinguished the lapels of countless brethren
who staunchly refused to allow the symbolic Light of Masonry to be completely
extinguished.
When the 'Grand Lodge of the Sun' was reopened in Bayreuth in 1947, by
Past Grand Master Beyer, a little pin in the shape of a Forget-Me-Not
was officially adopted as the emblem of that first annual convention of
the
brethren who had survived the bitter years of semi-darkness to rekindle
the Masonic Light.
At the first Annual Convent of the new United Grand Lodge of Germany
AF&AM (VGLvD), in 1948, the pin was adopted as an official Masonic
emblem in honor of the thousands of valiant Brethren who carried on their
Masonic work under adverse conditions. The following year, each delegate
to the Conference of Grand Masters in Washington, D.C., received one from
Dr. Theodor Vogel, Grand Master of the VGLvD.
Thus did a simple flower blossom forth into a symbol of the fraternity,
and become perhaps the most widely worn emblem among Freemasons in Germany;
a pin presented ceremoniously to newly-made Masons in most of the Lodges
of the American-Canadian Grand Lodge, AF&AM within the United Grand
Lodges of Germany. In the years since adoption, its significance world-wide
has been attested to by the tens of thousands of brethren who now display
it with meaningful pride.
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