“Let There Be Light”
Wendell Lodge #565 AF&AM
2nd and 4th Tuesday
Fall/Winter 2011
Brethren,
It’s hard to believe that there are only two months left in the year and Lodge elections 6 weeks away. Your Lodge is in very good shape for next year and hopefully years to come. We raised three YOUNG men earlier this year and all three have been actively learning several places in the Lodge. All three have been working on passing back the Third Degree Catechism and have committed to do so before elections in December.
Elections will be held during our meeting on December 13. This is a meal night so Plan to attend to indicate your choices for the top offices next year.
Our charity/community programs have been active this year. Recently we joined with the Eastern Star for a yard sale. This added $358.00 to our program. The aluminum can bins have produced $1410.00. We expect to have another check for cans before we close the books for this year Thanks to all who have contributed to this program. Our combined total from all sources is $3122.00.
We have dispersed $800.00 to date, all within the Wendell community. The recreation department asked if we would sponsor a second ball team and we said yes. Several weeks ago, WM Jim Baker presented a check to the Boy Scout of the Year in Wendell. This was a suggestion from Br. Steve White and arranged by Past Master Ronald Thompson. We plan to make this an annual event. This is one way of letting the young men know that Masons support the same values as the Scouts. It might have an influence on them in the future. Earlier we sent $200.00 to the Wendell Middle School Library fund in memory of Br. O.G. Spell.
We have been saddened by the passing of our three oldest Brothers in years of service and age. Brothers Dover Hinton, Jessie Satterwhite and O.G. Spell were called to their celestial home.
This is your notice that your dues for 2012 are now due. They are $82.00
Please remit your payment when you attend Lodge or mail them to:
Wendell Masonic Lodge #565
PO Box 1116
Wendell, NC 27591
At this time, we have two brothers who have not responded to dues for 2011.
The next time you are by the Lodge, take a close look at our front room. We have been the recipient of a beautiful china cabinet and coffee table. It has completely changed the look of our lobby. If you have any books that you would like to donate to the Lodge, we will place them in this cabinet where they will be available to others.
Please remember our sick brothers and their families. Br. James Baker and WM Jim Baker have both had hospital stays recently. Br. David Ringley has not been able to attend Lodge and I am sure there are others who need our prayers.
James Baker III, Master Ray Burch, Secretary
If you are receiving this by mail, it means I do not have an e-mail or I do not have a correct e-mail. Please advise - rayb1641@aol.com
The Square
The Entered Apprentice is taught that the Square symbolizes Morality. Acting “upon the square” is a familiar metaphor for fair and honest dealings. A like symbolic meaning attached to this tool has been traced to China back 500 years before Christ. In the “Great Learning” it is stated that abstaining from doing unto others what one would not they should do unto him “is called the principle of acting on the square”
In 1830, workman engaged in rebuilding Baal Bridge near Limerick Ireland, found beneath the foundation stone a metallic square bearing the date 1517 and also the following inscription:
“I will strive to live with love & care,
Upon the level, by the square.”
Keanning’s Cyclopedia of Masonry (1878) p. 603
This indicates strongly that medieval operative masons attached to the Square the same symbolic meaning we do today.
Note: Taken from Symbolism of the Three Degrees by Oliver Day Street, donated by Br. Sherman McClaid
