his year, the leaves seem to be
taking a long time falling from their branches. We have barely seen
any sign of frost in the morning. This year the season seems to be
changing, slowly. In years past, by this time of year,
we have already had snow and freezing weather. My point is, this time of year, our
lodge is a lot like the change of season.
We know change is coming. We learn
to adapt to whatever Mother Earth has in store for us. Some of us
look at winter and dread the cold and snow. Some of us look at
winter and cherish the sparkles in the snow and making snow angels.
In the end, we all get through it. We adapt to the seasons just as
we adapt to new lodge leadership.
So let’s make our transition as
smooth as we can, by giving our support to the incoming Master and
his officers. We found some things that worked well this year as
well as some things that didn’t. I’m sure Chris will promote the
positive things we identified, drop the things that didn’t work so
well and continue to build on the foundation that was started in
1860.
I appreciate all of your support this
last year. It was filled with many memorable events for me,
hopefully for you as well. I look back upon the year and I am very
proud of the officer achievements. These guys stepped up time and
again. One officer, who I think flew under the radar a little bit
this year as far as recognition goes but clearly had an effect on
the whole lodge, was our Junior Warden, Nick Mitchell. His menu
planning and programs were top notch. I can’t tell you how much it
means to the Master to know things are taken care of, without even
asking. Nick – Thank you! To all the officers for your dedication
and flexibility this year, thank you.
I believe that my love and respect
for our fraternity was evident in my work as your Master.
I leave the oriental chair in the
east with a clear conscience and renewed spirit, knowing that I did
the best job that I could.
I will continue to apply our Masonic
teachings in my daily life and encourage you to do the same.
And now may the blessings of Heaven
rest upon us and all regular Masons, may brotherly love prevail and
every moral and social virtue cement us, Amen.
Happy Holidays.
WB
Jim Wold, Immediate Past Master
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2009 MEMBERSHIP
DUES $13
Our annual dues remain at $13 and are
payable before the end of this year. In
this lodge, those who have been members of the Fraternity for 40
years, or are Life Members, or who have served as Master of St.
John’s (as well as our consolidated lodges) are no longer obligated
to pay dues.
|
The
tumbling market directly affects our lodge income and our
ability to maintain quality programming. Voluntary
contributions of any amount are gladly accepted to help defray
costs for our monthly dinners and programs. Brothers able to
help will find a box or basket near the dining room entrance.
SECRETS OF THE CHAIR
All Past
Masters are invited to attend the Secrets of the Chair Past Masters
degree following the installation of officers luncheon, Saturday,
December 13.
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CALENDAR |
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·
December 8:
Re-constitute Grand Mound Historical Lodge No. 3
·
December 13 (10am):
Installation of Officers (Saturday morning)
·
December 13 (1pm):
Past Masters Secrets of the Chair (Saturday)
·
December 17
(6:15pm) 7:30pm: St. John’s 9 (dinner) Stated
·
December 21 (meet
8am): Operation Kid Smile at Fort Lewis (meet at Brockway’s)
·
January 12
(7-9pm): Ritual instruction classes at Greenwood Masonic Center
·
January 21(6:15pm)
7:30pm: St. John’s 9 (dinner) Stated
·
January 23: Quarterly meeting of
Masonic Service Bureau (election of officers
·
January 28 (7pm):
District 5 LOMA meeting
LODGE TO INSTALL NEW
LINE OF OFFICERS
St. John’s brothers are encouraged to
invite their friends and family to our 149th annual
installation of officers as we arrive at the end of our Masonic
year. Members of our new leadership team will be installed into
their stations and places at the December 13 installation of
officers. Stepping into the East will be Bro. Chris Carney who will
be completing his sixth year as a Master Mason next March.
The ceremony will begin at 10am, with
lunch following.
Assisting WBro. Carney will be
Bro. Nick Mitchell as Senior Warden and Bro. George Rine as Junior
Warden. VWBro. Jim Russell will be entering his thirteenth year as
Secretary, while WBro. Ken Lane, Jr. will serve as Treasurer for a
sixth year. Other officers are Bros. Joe Oates, Jr., Senior Deacon;
David Flood, Junior Deacon; Rick Heston, Senior Steward; Brian
Downie, Junior Steward; John Samudio, Chaplain; Matt LaCroix,
Marshal; Adam Creighton, Musician; and WBro. Allan Pinch, Tyler.
WBro. Hans Wehl was re-elected to
complete another four-year term as Trustee, and re-joins WBros. Jeff
Lane, Bill Collison, and VWBro. Charles Brockway. WBro. Jim Wold
also serves on the Board of Trustees as the Immediate Past Master,
along with Senior Warden Bro. Mitchell, Secretary VWBro. Russell and
Treasurer WBro. Ken Lane, Jr.
Officers are
to assemble at 8am for a short practice and photo session.
WBro. Carney and his team of 2009
officers will open their first stated communication of the new term on
the very next Wednesday, December 17. Everyone is encouraged to bring a
children’s book which will be donated to the children of our family
Christmas giving.
Please
make your 6:15pm dinner reservations with the secretary at
stjohns9@seattlemasons.org or
206 623-0261 by Friday (December 12th) prior to the stated
meeting. Invite a brother to accompany you to lodge.
Scottish Rite
Presents Check to St. John’s
In 2000, St.
John’s Lodge No. 9 remodeled the Quick Room of the Scottish Rite,
including the refurbishment of the benches. When the Scottish Rite sold
the building, they removed the benches to storage for possible use in a
future home. When it was determined that they would not be using the
benches, they offered them to St. John's who referred them to the
Greenwood Temple Board. Following the decline by Greenwood, the benches
were purchased by Occidental Lodge to be placed in their lodge room.
The proceeds from that sale have now been donated back to St. John's
with grateful acknowledgement by the Scottish Rite.
A
group of chess enthusiasts
checked into a hotel and were standing in the lobby discussing their
recent tournament victories. After about
an hour, the manager came out of the office and asked them to disperse.
“But why?”
they asked, as they moved off.
“Because,” he
said, “I can't stand chess nuts boasting in an open foyer.”
Online Trestleboard?
If you would like your
monthly Trestleboard delivered to you online rather than by mail, please
let the secretary know at
stjohns9@seattlemasons.org.
Coming to Dinner at
6:15? RSVP at 206 623-0261 or email the Secretary at
stjohns9@seattlemasons.org.
District 5 LOMA has added a page on
its website which includes those brothers who are available to assist in
degree work. If you would like to add your name, please contact VWBro.
Mike Davis or VWBro. Mike Cuadra.
ST.
JOHN THE EVANGELIST FEAST DAY
On December
27th, 1725, the feast day of St. John the Evangelist became
the annual feast day of the Grand Lodge of England. St. John the
Evangelist, like St. John the Baptist, is a patron saint of Masonry. He
embodies not only the brotherhood of man, but is the “Bringer of Light,”
that which is the deity within each man. In colonial America, Masonic
elections were frequently held twice a year on the Holy Saints John
Days.
St. John the
Baptist is honored on June 24th. St. John’s Lodge No. 9 is
named for these two patron saints of Masonry. It’s not clear why St.
John’s Lodge is not named Sts. John Lodge.
BRING A CHILDREN’S BOOK TO LODGE
In the next
few days, look on your bookshelves and choose a book to bring with you
to St. John’s. That book, and others, will be among the gifts we hand
deliver to the families of our Christmas and Operation Kids Smile
giving.
Our
electronic screens are out of control. Educators know it and we parents
know it too. The time and money that we spend on computers, television,
cable services, phones, cells and gismos reflect our priorities. How
can we expect any school system to succeed in teaching our children to
read if we are not doing our share at home?
Parents, do
you read? Many of us do, but even more of us do not. Most of us
are too busy. We find it too easy to collapse in front of the TV screen
when we do have a few moments to spare. We are not modeling good
reading practices nor are we spending our money on books.
To overcome illiteracy, we must drop much of what is being fed to us and
begin prioritizing reading in our homes and in our schools.
Let’s help get this started by sharing our books with
children of our Christmas charity. Bring
a children's or young reader book
(in good condition) to our December stated communication.
BROTHERS
EXTEND THANKSGIVING AND CHRISTMAS CHEER TO NEEDY FAMILIES
Members of St. John’s again
provided food and clothing for families at Thanksgiving, and will
distribute food, clothing and toys for the children at Christmas.
Families given assistance at Thanksgiving were in the Seattle area. For
Christmas, we add many families living at Fort Lewis, whose loved ones
are in harm’s way overseas. We call this Operation Kid Smile,
and it really does bring happy expressions to the faces of the children
and their parents.
WBro. Hans Wehl will play Santa
Claus for the fifth year, mixing in a little of his own Jewish culture
with the spirit of Christmas. Our volunteers will meet at the Brockways
at 8am Sunday, December 21. Those wishing to assist should call VWBro.
Chuck Brockway 253 686-2309. WBro. Ken Lane, Jr. 206 783-6966 will
lead the team to assist Seattle families.
If you would like to help Darlene et al wrap gifts, give Ken a call.
GRAND MASTERS
RECEPTION
Sixteen
brothers from St. John's attended the District 4 & 5 Grand Master’s
reception at University Masonic Center last month. St. John's was
presented a Pillar of Progress award for outstanding Community
Involvement. Receiving the award on behalf of our lodge was Senior
Warden Chris Carney, presented by VWBro. Mike Cuadra representing the
Grand Lodge of Washington.
Walter F. Meier Lodge of Research No. 281
will be holding a tiled installation of officers on December 19,
following a 6:30pm dinner. MWBro. Richard Mecartea, Past Master of our
lodge, will be installed as Master.
Kit Carson b.
December 24, 1809
Brother Christopher Houston Carson 1809-1868 became a trapper and
mountain man early in life and served in the Union Military. During
the Civil War and attained the rank of Brigadier General. Kit
Carson joined Montezuma Lodge No. 109, New Mexico in 1859. He
demitted in December 1859 and joined Bent Lodge No. 204 in Taos, New
Mexico and became its first Junior Warden. When Bent Lodge No. 204
surrendered its charter, he returned to Montezuma Lodge No. 109,
remaining a member till his death.
MASONIC
INSTALLATION
Stallum
was the Late Latin for place, or seat, or proper position, which meaning
is preserved in our English “stall.” To “install” therefore means that
one has been placed in his seat or station—the "in" meaning here the
same as in English. A Masonic installation is a ceremony by which an
elected officer is officially placed in the seat to which his brethren
have elected him.
WHY WE MEET
We meet for the purpose
of admitting members to our fellowship, to instruct them in the lessons
and principles (of Masonry) and to strengthen each other in adherence
thereto, said George W. Speth, in a public lecture in 1892. We meet to
hand down to succeeding generations the knowledge and practice of
certain ceremonies, which we have ourselves inherited from our Masonic
ancestors, and the analogues of which can be traced in the remotest
antiquity... Lastly we meet to practice our three grand principles of
Brotherly Love, Relief and Truth.
HEAVENLY QUARRIES
GAIN TWENTY-TWO ST. JOHN’S LABORERS
In 2008, we
learned that these brothers were called to the Celestial Lodge:
George Atterson, Murray Barnett,
Marcus Bateman, David Cole, Clarence “Bud”
Glandon, Ralph Herth, Sr., Bedford Kilburn, Jr., Richard
Knott, Max “Lee” Leichtag, Mervin W. Lessley, James McCrary,
David Moffat, Douglas
Poland, Harold Reece, Jackson C. Richardson,
Cdr. Max J. Roushman, Jr.,
Jorgen Seather,
Jorvard Smith,
George
Warburton, Lawrence Watkins, Henry Wells, William Wisman.
“Thy day of
toil on earth, my Brother, is over. Thou hast entered upon a greater
field of labor and of love.”
OUR BILL OF RIGHTS
On Monday, December 15, our nation will, theoretically at
least, take a moment to observe one of the most important days in the
history of our republic.
What? You don't know what event we observe on Dec. 15?
Other than that there are only 10 more shopping days until Christmas?
You are, sadly, not unusual if Dec. 15 does not ring a
bell in your Christmas season-sodden brain. If we offered up that the
day became important in the United States back in 1791, would that help?
Would you suddenly remember that on Dec. 15, 1791, the
Bill of Rights containing the first 10 amendments to the Constitution
took effect?
Ah yes, the real guts of the Constitution were adopted
officially on that day. Our nation stipulated in writing that this list
of freedoms belongs to the people as individuals. If you haven't spent
any time with the Bill of Rights, Dec. 15 is a good day to devote a
little time to it.
Without the Bill of Rights, you might have had your
church chosen for you by the government, or not be allowed to belong to
a church at all. You might not be able to complain about it without
going to jail. You might not be able to read anything about the doings
of the government that was not officially sanctioned by the government.
You might not be able to protest anything the government does. And the
government might be able to simply thumb its nose at you if you tried.
And that covers only the First Amendment. If you can't
recall anything about the next nine, try this web site:
http://billofrightsinstitute.org/teach/freeresources/foundingdocuments/docs/thebillofrights.asp
Jesus might be the reason for the season. But it's the
Bill of Rights that gives you the freedom to observe it.
The Trestleboard is found in a MS Word file. 
here. Choose "open" when prompted.
Home
Worshipful Master:
(206) 229-2210
Senior Warden:
(206) 390-2173
Junior Warden:
(206) 784-9617
Secretary:
(206) 623-0261
Webmaster:
(206) 406-8670
