November 2009
Greetings Brethren, We have once again been reminded of the old adage about the weather here in Minnesota. If you don’t like the weather, wait a few minutes, it’ll change. Unfortunately sometimes that might mean for the worse instead of for the better. It was a little disheartening to wake up on October 10th to see the ground colored white instead of green. Yes I’m talking about the sometimes dreaded S word, snow. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy the change of seasons here in Minnesota. I think it’s one of the things that makes life interesting here, but it can make you feel a little downcast to be riding a motorcycle one day and see snow on the ground the next. Hopefully by the time you read this we will have had at least a few days of Indian summer before we finally get into winter.
One of the words you over and over again within the fraternity is the word fellowship. What is fellowship exactly? Does it mean getting together after a Lodge meeting to enjoy the company of your Lodge Brothers? Does it mean having a Lodge picnic? It’s those things and more.
Among the definitions of fellowship on Dictionary.com are the following: The condition of sharing similar interests, ideals, or experiences, as by reason of profession, religion, or nationality. The companionship of individuals in a congenial atmosphere and on equal terms. A close association of friends or equals sharing similar interests.
Do the words association, equals, friendship, and ideals ring a bell? They should. They run throughout our ritual, books, and writings. But does this “association of friends or equals” mean more than attending a pancake breakfast, going to a picnic, or even having good conversation and a cigar after a Lodge meeting? I think that the answer to that question is yes.
Brother John Fort Newton of the Grand Lodge of Iowa wrote:
“Surely, in a world torn by strife and divided by so many feuds of race, religion and nationality, we have a right to rejoice in a fellowship, at once free, gentle and refining, which spans all distances of space and all differences of speech, and brings men together by a common impulse and inspiration in mutual respect and brotherly regard. Truly it needs no philosopher to discern that such a fraternity, the very existence of which is a fact eloquent beyond words, is an influence for good no one can measure in the present, and a prophecy for the future the meaning of which no one can reckon; and doubly so because by its very genius Freemasonry is international, and therefore ought to be responsive to the ideal world of fellowship.”
I think that Brother Newton is addressing the larger meaning of the word fellowship to a Mason. It is this larger meaning of Masonic fellowship that we must remember. This larger meaning I think is summed up in the Five Points of Fellowship from the Third Degree. Included in this month’s bulletin is an article from the Grand Lodge of Texas that does a very good job of discussing this very subject which I think get’s at the larger meaning of Masonic Fellowship.
November promises to be another busy month for Montgomery. We have a Stated Communications on November 5th and we will be having our Fellowcraft Degree on November 19th. I hope to see you on the sidelines so you can see the excellent Degree work being performed by the officers and members of Montgomery Lodge.
Fraternally Yours Mark Dreyer Master
