December 19, 2009
First, let me thank my brothers for giving me the opportunity to sit in the east for the ensuing year. Our lodge was originally chartered in 1853. Our country had recently celebrated its 75th anniversary. Franklin Pierce was the 14th President of the United States. Does anybody even remember him? His presidency was two terms prior to the presidency of Abraham Lincoln. The first automobile was still a dream. Downtown Santa Cruz consisted of two streets, Pacific and Front, which were at that time known as Willow and Main streets. From the time that Santa Cruz consisted of primarily two dirt roads, our lodge has had a presence in this county. Our lodge does indeed have a long and rich history. Since the founding of our lodge, approximately one-hundred fifty men have sat in this chair behind me. Their photographs, which adorn the walls of the adjacent room to our lodge, remind me that every member of our lodge is relying upon me to make correct decisions every day. I hope the collective wisdom of those past masters comes with the oriental chair.
For well over three hundred years, and some Masonic scholars believe even longer, the principle tenets of freemasonry; brotherly love, relief and truth have not changed. These are our core values. They define who we are and what we represent to everyone else who inhabits this planet. By the exercise of brotherly love, masonry believes that all humans are created equal. It does not matter what your nationality is, whether you’re wealthy or indigent, or any of the other human traits or characteristics that define us as individuals. Included within the principle of brotherly love is the practice of tolerance. We don’t speak of it much in lodge, but it is inherent in the very way our lodges operate. We teach prudence, justice and temperance, and advocate brotherly love and good neighborliness in Freemasonry. A Mason should be one who tolerates opinions or practices differing from his own. He should also be prepared to defend another’s right to have a differing opinion. Tolerance can be said to be a Mason’s recognition of the right of private judgment, including his own.
Masons believe it is their solemn obligation to be charitable. This is the practice of relief. There are numerous Masonic charities such as, Masonic outreach programs, Masonic Homes, Scholarships and other education assistance programs. Each year, the California Masonic Foundation awards more than one million dollars in four-year college scholarships to high school students throughout the state. Since 1970, more than 2,000 students have been assisted with scholarships ranging from $10,000 to $40,000 per student over four years. In addition to these charities, we are at our best when we are charitable toward another human being in our own neighborhood, when we don’t seek recognition; we do it anonymously because we believe there is no higher calling than helping others.
Masons believe there are Moral Truths and Natural Laws, which are individually given to us by our creator. We also believe that every person has a God given right to worship their creator as they desire. As masons we understand the responsibility associated with this basic right, which is so important, it is listed first in our nation’s Bill of Rights. I believe Eighteenth Century English Philosopher Edmund Burke said it best when he stated; Truth resides in every human heart, and one has to search for it there, and to be guided by truth as one sees it. But no one has a right to coerce others to act according to his own view of truth. The body of all true religion consists, to be sure, in obedience to the will of the Sovereign of the world, in a confidence in His declarations, and in imitation of His perfection.
Our principle tenets have not changed since their inception; however, the men who are joining masonry have changed. Our present generation of candidates is not looking for social activities. Most of them are so busy with their families, educations and careers and all of the demands associated with those endeavors they don’t need any more activities to occupy their lives. They have very little free time to devote to Masonry. With the time they do have, our new brothers are looking for passive education, philosophical enlightenment, a better understanding of what is occurring in our communities and how they can help improve them. They leave when we don’t fill this profound need in their lives. That being said, some of our existing members are looking for fellowship and a chance to socialize with like-minded men. We need to meet their needs as well. We need to engage our membership and provide them a reason to come to lodge.
In addition to my obligation associated with sitting in the east and ensuring the tenets of our fraternity are faithfully taught to our current and future members, I have established the following four objectives for 2010. They are; engage our membership, develop a Non-Masonic income source for the lodge, further develop the planned giving program that was initiated by Worshipful Robert Morgan and continue to educate our members.
One way we are going to help meet this need in 2010 is by introducing community speakers during our stated meeting dinners. These speakers are specifically chosen based on their positions in the community and their ability to effectively communicate the issues which affect our daily lives. For the first six months of 2010, we have confirmed the following speakers; Mr. Fred Keeley, Santa Cruz County Treasurer, Fred is going to talk about California and Government in the twenty first century. County Supervisor Mark Stone, is going to share with us his experience of swimming across the English Channel. District Attorney Bill Lee, will be discussing issues affecting the county from the District Attorney’s point of view. County Superintendent of Education Michael Watkins, will be sharing his thoughts on education. Coincidentally his speech coincides with our school observation program. Santa Cruz Sentinel editor Don Miller, will be sharing with us his thoughts about the news paper industry and will it survive, and Santa Cruz County Sheriff Phil Wowak, is going to share with us what the Sheriff’s office is doing to keep our neighborhoods safe. That is just the first six months. The balance of our speakers is listed in your program and we are working on confirming their participation.
Some of our members have said they have lost interest in the fraternity. I believe we have lost touch with our members. We have failed to keep in contact with them and we have not met their needs. Can we meet everybody’s individual needs? Probably not, but we can reach out to them and let them know what we are doing. Effective and efficient communication will be required to keep our members informed.
Thankfully, there are tools that enable us to accomplish this task. They are; our lodge website, e-mail, the trestle-board and even that antiquated tool known as the telephone. In order to effect change in the participation efforts of our members we will need to continuously remind them of what we are doing. It may take several months before we see any improvement but we need to start now. It is no longer acceptable to only inform our membership of what is going on in the monthly trestle-board. Our primary means of communication to our membership will be through the lodge website. We will use the trestle-board, e-mail and even the telephone; however, we need to get everyone associated with our lodge and its concordant bodies, in the habit of thinking of the lodge website as having the answers to their questions about what our fraternity is doing. To that end, we will be updating the lodge website on a very regular basis, sometimes daily, in order to keep the information relevant and informative. Our lodge website includes information about our committees, officer projects, the trestle-board, and our newest committee regarding development of the lodge property. We will be adding individual sections for the youth groups, there will be information for our widows, including information and links to Masonic Outreach Services, there is an event section where current photos are uploaded. If you are curious about the history of our lodge and our vision for the future, that information is available on the website right now. Even this message as of a few moments ago is posted on the website so those brothers who are not able to attend this evening can read what we will be doing during 2010 and hopefully for several years to come.
The lodge website also includes a monthly calendar. Where you can find out what is happening at the lodge or what the lodge is doing on a daily basis. Should you want to know when a degree is planned and who the recipient is you only need to go the lodge calendar. As of right now we have numerous activities planned though the middle of May, including a visit by our Grand Master, Ken Nagel. The activities of our concordant bodies are also listed. My hope is they along with our youth groups will take advantage of this resource as well.
We are fortunate to be the beneficiaries of this facility, which our lodge brothers from the middle of the previous century foresaw the need to create. Now it is our turn to look to the future and ensure that our descendants will have a place to meet and educate our future Masonic brothers. To that goal, we have established a lodge development committee. Their objective is to: Develop a Non-Masonic outside source of monthly income that will sustain the lodge’s annual operating budget in the short term and provide for long term financial growth to meet its scholarship and charitable objectives.
My brothers, we all have taken a solemn obligation. The words of our obligation are not short of meaning and symbology. They are words that have a powerful influence on our lives. They affect our daily actions. Although it is not specifically stated in our obligation, we all have a responsibility to ensure that Santa Cruz – San Lorenzo Valley Lodge No 38 continues to provide light to the citizens of our community. If we fail in this endeavor we are not only failing to educate our future citizens but we will have also not honored those who have come before us. The singular objective of the lodge development committee is the single most important issue to come before this lodge in several years. We must not, and we cannot fail.
I believe that in addition to creating Masons, one of the original goals of Masonry was to educate the populace. This goal was a major undertaking in the seventeen and eighteen hundreds. Public education as we presently know it did not exist. In fact, our Masonic Fraternity founded and funded some of the original public schools. As I outlined in my opening comments, Masons continue to charitably provide a significant amount of funds every year in the furtherance of education. An enlightened mind is a worthy goal for all mankind.
Educating our members in lodge is no less important. Whether it is informed discussions regarding a lodge project or discussing an enlightened philosophical paper, time will be allotted during our lodge activities in the furtherance of this objective. Peace and Harmony are worthy goals but if I had my choice, I would rather participate in a passionate, respectful discussion anytime.
My brothers, the three principal tenets of our fraternity are written in stone. They have weathered the centuries of time, and they define us. We have four cardinal virtues that guide our actions; we have a vision of what we want our lodge to be and how it should be seen. We have established goals and objectives for the near future. In almost all cases we have a plan to achieve our goals and objectives and even though we don’t have a plan regarding development of the lodge right now, we have something better. We have the ability to improve ourselves, to be better every day and to make a difference; not only in our lives, but in our community, and our country.
Thank you