Hello Brothers. This newsletter and the Stated meeting on June 14th will be our last communications before we go dark for July and August. Therefore, I want to highlight several important coming events, and ask you to show this newsletter to your ladies and keep it as a reference.
On Saturday June 2nd we will present the 3rd degree to our five new Brother Fellowcrafts. Our doors will open at 9am for coffee, juice, muffins etc. Everyone please arrive no later than 9:30am so that we can start the degree at 9:45 sharp. We will go across the street to Georges' for lunch at 11:30am and return to dress and start the 2nd half at 1pm. As you know, the cast for this degree is large and includes most of our active members. What we really need is additional Master Masons to sit along the sidelines and help us welcome our new Brothers. If you're not part of this year's cast, please try to make time and be present for our new Master Masons.
Our Stated meeting on June 14th will also be Ladies Night. Be sure to remind your lady that she is invited to join us for dinner and a special Ladies program while the Brothers are in our meeting. We have a very special LEO program lined up for the men's meeting, and our Sr. Warden's wife Jane Peterson has arranged a very interesting event for the ladies meeting. Dinner will be catered in so that our Sisters from Carmel chapter OES can join us for dinner. Then, we will all have coffee and desert together after our respective meetings. Please join us if you can.
Sunday afternoon June 24th will be our fourth annual Masonic Day at the Races at Canterbury Downs. It's a very fun day with great food and drinks at a great price, (the lodge picks up part of the cost). It's also a very good opportunity to invite non-masons to meet some of your Masonic friends and all have fun together. See Chris Buck's article in this newsletter for all the specifics.
Boots and Ron Larson will again host our annual summertime backyard Barbeque on Saturday July 14th starting at 2pm. This is an absolute must do event. The Lodge provides steaks and chicken, you are asked to bring something to share. (I.e. salads, chips and dips, deserts etc.) There will be beverages available, and Ron's wonderful neighbor has again agreed to make homemade hand cut onion rings for our group. Those people must be Saints. This is an event for the whole family and again, a very good time to introduce non-masons to our members. Be sure to call the Lodge and leave a message telling us how many steaks or chicken breasts to purchase for your family or group.
Last on my list is the upcoming Canadian Visitation starting on Friday night August 31st. This bi-annual Labor Day weekend event has been a tradition between our two Lodges for over 50 years. Do not allow yourself to miss these festivities. Look at the schedule of events that follows, select as many of the events as you can attend, and send in your reservation as soon as possible. Obviously, we need to know how many to expect. Also, since our Saturday night banquet will include fine dining and perhaps drinking and even dancing and music late into the night, you may want to reserve a room at the hotel. Make it a weekend to remember.
I look forward to seeing you all through the summer.
Todd Henderson, Master
The 154th Grand Lodge was held in Mankato on April 13th and 14th this year. WB Bruce Sherman was installed as Grand Marshal and WM Todd Henderson was installed as District Representitive No. 36.
Congratulations Brothers!
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Tuesday, July 3 2007 |
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Reading the newspapers today, you can’t help but read about all the foreclosures in homes. The economy is not bad, unemployment isn’t high. Foreclosures doubled last year and it appears foreclosures will double again this year over last year. The only reason for the increased foreclosures needs to rest on the fraud in the industry and the lack of enforcement in the federal and state administrations in the last 4 years.
What is fraud? Simply stated, fraud is cheating or deceiving another for personal gain. Let’s say you are at this moment, a loan officer or real estate agent. Pick one. Now ask yourself, if I don’t provide this information (Didn’t explain that the interest rate will increase 20% to 50% in 2 years), or provided information that was not correct (you coerced the appraiser to get a higher value), and you did this because either the lender would not borrow or the borrower would know that they could not afford the payment 2 years after, then it’s fraud. BUT you got paid your commission because it closed. It comes down to hiding information and telling lies for your own benefit or gain.
God’s gift is about our ability to think.
Masonry’s gift is the lessons to understand and the expectation to follow accordingly. It’s about walking uprightly in our many stations before God and Man, not hurting anyone intentionally. It’s also about making good men better by providing the proper information to make better decisions leading to better lives.
Alan Peterson, SW
It’s interesting how summer has a tendency to sneak up on a person, especially here in Minnesota. One moment we are in the midst of a Minnesota winter that never seems to go away and the next moment we are poised on the brink of Ancient Landmark Lodge #5 going dark for the summer. Well, if you are anything like I am and feel the same way that I feel about our lodge; it means that we will both be going through what is tantamount to Masonic withdrawal symptoms or MWS. Hmmm, that doesn’t quite describe it. All right, since I’m referring to Ancient Landmark in particular, then we will be going through AL5MWS, which for us is much different from MACMWS or MONTMWS (that’s what our Brothers in Macalester and Montgomery go through). Then, again, since we are in Minnesota, we will be going through AL5MWSINMN. But we are part of Metro East, aren’t we! So, we must be going through AL5MWSINMNME.
Of course, since we are talking about the summer of 2007, then we will be going through AL5MWSINMNMESUM07. Also, since we normally meet on Thursdays, our withdrawal symptoms really only apply to Thursdays, right? This gives us the abbreviation AL5WSINMNMESUM07THS representing our symptoms. Of course, I could go on with this nonsense, but if I do, guess what! That’s right, if I go on trying to get the correct abbreviation to cover everything, summer will have come and gone and so will have the symptoms of withdrawal and the abbreviation will no longer be valid! It’s a vicious cycle, isn’t it? Well, I suppose the best thing for me to do now is to advise you not to bother reading this article, since the symptoms are going to disappear on their own in September. So, in the interest of brevity and not having you waste your time, I’m advising you like a brother don’t bother reading anything that I’ve written above and just read this: I wish you and yours the healthiest and most rewarding summer possible and if I don’t see you at Ron Larson’s barbeque, then I’ll see you in the fall.
Bro. James McKenna,
Junior Warden
Geometry is one of the most important elements in understanding the mysteries of masonry. Not only does it provide the necessary relationships of mass and form to enable the builder but it also speaks of basic laws of reality that we tend to ignore at our own peril in this age of relativism. I invite you to dwell for a time on this tread of the seven winding stairs and experience the sense of the holy that comes from an awareness of eternal and immutable truths. I am including a reference from the internet and a challenge to look into the golden ratio and Phi. Be prepared to be amazed.
Sacred geometry is geometry that is sacred to the observer or discoverer. This meaning is sometimes described as being the language of the God of the religion of the people who discovered or used it. Sacred geometry can be described as attributing a religious or cultural value to the graphical representation of the mathematical relationships and the design of the man-made objects that symbolize or represent these mathematical relationships.
The golden ratio was often used in the design of Greek and Roman architecture. A contemporary usage of the term describes a supposed re-discovered mathematical order to the intrinsic nature of the Universe that is represented in crop circles and in ancient architecture such as the Great Pyramid and Stonehenge.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Ratio
San Graal School of Sacred Geometry
http://www.sangraal.com/
Austin Harris, LEO
On Sunday June 24th the Lodge will hold its 4th Annual "Day at the Races" at Canterbury Park in Shakopee. We're doing this on a Sunday this year due to the fact that Canterbury no longer has Saturday afternoon races. The Lodge subsidizes the cost of this event, providing a discounted cost of $20.00 per person. You will receive a great buffet dinner, betting voucher, betting tip sheet and the official program and guide showing Ancient Landmark #5's name on one of the races. This year's event will again be held at the private "Longshots Party Area" where we will be served our buffet lunch and have our own beverage bar service. This area is exclusively reserved for Ancient Landmark Lodge #5. You should plan to arrive at noon for the 1:30 PM 1st race.
The menu will include Chef-Carved Prime Rib of Beef served with Au jus and Horseradish Sauce, Chicken Supreme, Tossed Greens with Assorted Dressings, Parsley-Buttered Potatoes, Fresh Vegetable Blend, Dinner Rolls, Coffee, Iced Tea and Lemonade.
This year the Lodge will again have its own betting advisor allocated to the group for the entire day. He will again orchestrate the "group bet" for the Lodge and advise all who need it on the various techniques of playing the horses. Last year the group bet was done with the complimentary betting vouchers that the track provided to each person, giving us a chance to root together for one horse that we collectively chose. It was lots of fun.
The Lodge again will have its picture taken in the Winner's Circle after "our" race. When you're next in the Lodge secretary's office, check out the Lodge members in the framed pictures from previous years at Canterbury Park. We're not getting any younger!
Get your tickets from Lodge Secretary Bruce Sherman or from Chris Buck for the 4th Annual Lodge Day at the Races.
Published monthly except July and August by Ancient Landmark Lodge No. 5. Non subscription newsletter to members and friends.
Any article appearing in this publication expresses only the opinion of the writer, and does not reflect the official position of Ancient Landmark Lodge No. 5 or the Grand Lodge of Minnesota.
Permission to reprint articles appearing in this publication will be granted only on request to the Lodge Secretary. When reprinted, articles should note "Reprinted with permission of Ancient Landmark Lodge No.5 Newsletter, month and year" All articles subject to editing and become the property of Ancient Landmark Lodge No. 5.