Tidings from the East - For the New Year
2006
Greetings Brothers,
It is my pleasure to bring you tidings and fraternal greetings and hope for a blessed new year.
You have honored me by selecting me to lead the lodge for the ensuing year. As we prepare to celebrate the coming new year and bid the old goodbye, I thought it appropriate to share some thoughts with you and show you a little insight into where I would like to lead us during my time in the east.
Our fraternity’s roots run deep and it’s branches reach far and wide. No other organization can claim to be as global and yet be focused on the local. Lodges grow and take their members from a local community. The villages, towns and cities throughout the United States contain one or more lodges. They all, from the largest to the most small all operate similarly.
Charity is the cornerstone of all lodges. Because we are community-focused, it is here that the bulk of our charity goes. This was the way the founding fathers viewed not only the role, but also the scope of the government they sought to leave as their legacy. Their vision of government instilled in the documents that forged this great nation was one of community, city, state, then federal. This idea was one whereby the community took care of its own with minimal interference by state or national bodies. The care of those unable to care for themselves flowed through the local churches, and yes lodges, first and foremost. It is here that I want to base my year. Not on ideals of anything larger than the community from whom we draw our membership.
To that end I will endeavor to work throughout the year. To accomplish this I intend to begin at the end. I know that sounds contradictory so please bear with me. I will begin by tasking our charity and Christmas committees to work closely together. They will meet and identify no less than one family who cannot afford to celebrate Christmas in 2006. It will then be our job to provide that Christmas for them. They will provide the budget required, along with the requirements needed from the lodge. This will not take the place of our yearly contributions to the widows of the lodge. This family may be Masonic, however we will also be looking outside the fraternity for a deserving family.
My fondest hope is not to provide Christmas those less fortunate. I hope to provide it to several families and start a new tradition, continuing year after year. The greatest gift I could give would be a legacy of giving.
In closing, I would like to again give you my thanks. I look forward to seeing you all at our January communication and meeting with you, on the level.
Sincerely, and fraternally,
Chris Grantham
Worshipful Master
“They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety” – Benjamin Franklin