The Friendly Word
Greetings from the east at Liverpool/Syracuse Lodge #501.
We enjoyed a great month of March as we put on a stellar second degree! I am proud of the level of participation that we are seeing from our newly raised brothers. Not to mention the quality of their ritual. We are looking forward to the better weather of spring! Please keep in mind our annual Easter egg hunt the on April 19th. Bring your kids to this fantastic event! The same day we are hosting a boating safety certification course taught by none other than our own Bro. Michael Hoff. If you need this course or are otherwise interested please contact out lodge for more information. As in years past, our lodge plans to participate in the annual Memorial Day parade on May 26th at 9:00 am. Please arrive at Johnson park if you want to join us. Thanks to all our officers and brethren, and all their hard work as we start to wrap up another fantastic year.
Fraternally,
Christian Woodhead, Master
The Friendly Word
Happy New Year from your brothers at Liverpool-Syracuse #501!
While we are enduring a frozen wonderland outside, inside the lodge we are starting to do more and more educational programs. We are lucky to have such an eclectic group of experienced and knowledgeable brothers at our lodge. Bro. Geoff Linehan gave a fantastic presentation on the Kabbalah (“tree of life”) and Masonry. Next month we are looking forward to an “introduction to concordant bodies” presentation by our venerable Chaplain the V.’.W.’. Norm Kruth. Our lodge is very fortunate to have many distinguished brothers that are very involved in the higher levels of these bodies. We look forward to hearing from them as well. This should be of particular interest to the newly raised, and any other brother who wishes to learn more. Jan 20th we put on another fantastic first degree, as always we welcome brothers to participate in our rituals or to join us for fellowship. I would like to thank all the brothers that helped me get through this year so far, and to all a happy and prosperous 2014 to you and your families.
Fraternally,
Christian Woodhead
The Friendly Word
Greetings from the east at Liverpool-Syracuse Lodge #501.
We hope that thanksgiving was a wonderful family filled event for all. We are privileged and proud to have been part of the Liverpool community for the past 150 years, and to have gotten to host the community with refreshments during the annual Christmas in the park across the street from us.
We served 50-60 people coffee, cocoa doughnuts and cookies. It was wonderful to see the young ones enjoy themselves so much and we even got a visit from Santa and one of his reindeer! Don’t worry if you missed it because Santa will be back on December 21st for breakfast at our lodge. December 16th is our open meeting and holiday dinner. Please join us. We look forward to seeing you all during the rest of this year and into 2014.
The Friendly Word
Fraternal Greetings Brothers! We had a great set of First Degrees in December, which brought in over 10 new candidates into our wonderful fraternity. Please join me in welcoming them to the fraternity.
With the holidays now behind us this New Year brings, for me, a time of reflection. So I thought this month, I would share a few of the lessons and observations that I’ve gathered from my time in the East. These observations are just my opinions to those who may govern our lodges in the future:
- Leading individuals who depend on a paycheck that you have control over is not nearly as difficult as leading individuals who can say “kiss my ***” when they don’t want to do something that needs to get done.
- Running a lodge requires a multitude of people doing different jobs. No one man, master or not, can do it successfully.
- To the Masters – Keep your Senior Warden in the loop and give him some leadership responsibilities so that he is prepared to take the east. Additionally, your offers are their to help run the lodge’s operation so that you, as master, can concentrate on running your programs and making meetings interesting.
- To the Senior Wardens – You are the second in command. While it is still the Master’s year, your wisdom, decisions and insights are extremely valuable and sought after from those all around you. A Master looks to you to stay on top of committees and make sure that they are functioning and can report on their findings in acceptable time.
- To the Junior Wardens – It is often described that this is the hardest chair to serve as an elected position. The Junior Warden has to manage his stewards and manage events. It should be the Stewards who you teach to secure and implement meals while you oversee the event. Stewards should not be treated as “cabin boys” whose sole purpose is to clean up after an event.
- To the Deacons – Your management skills lie in making sure the lodge room is set up properly for the meeting. Additionally, as individuals come into the lodge room – you should be shaking hands and saying hello to them – to make sure they feel welcomed and appreciate being there.
- To the Masters of Ceremonies – You prepare the candidates and brothers for taking the degrees. While everyone else is dressed in suits and other formal wear – you assist individuals in getting duly and truly prepared. You need to assure and explain the reasoning behind the costume and assure the candidates that what they are wearing is not a form of hazing.
Stay tuned for further updates here in The Word. Also, check us out on the web at www.SyracuseMasons.com. You can also find updates on what is going on in the Lodge by checking out our Facebook page which can be accessed directly off our website or by going to www.facebook.com/SyracuseMasons. There are also many interesting new pages on our companion Historical website at www.omdhs.SyracuseMasons.com.
W.’. Kevin L. Razawich
Master
