May 2023 Trestle Board
Faithful Brethren of Kilwinning Crosse 2-237
Ah, the refreshing showers of April have resulted in the blooming of the wonderful flower of May – the Lily of the Valley…signifying rebirth and majesty. The Lily of the Valley flower is a bloom entrenched in deep cultural significance. In Germanic mythology, the flower was associated with the purity of the goddess Ostara, a virgin known for her humility. In Victorian times the flower signified a return to happiness. If you’re a Christian, you might recognize this flower as a symbol of Eve’s tears as she was banished from the Garden of Eden. Her tears were later transformed into the lily of the valley. With vigilance, I’m certain this beautiful flower can be found in many locations around Bowling Green, a city known for its floral beauty.
Speaking of rebirth, I do feel we have experienced a rebirth in our Lodge with the addition of three newest Master Masons added to our midst. Jesse James Bruce Jr., Lee Mathena, and Kenneth Reese Van Wyen received all three degrees of Freemasonry, and are our newest Master Masons! It was a great conferral, and in total, approximately 20 new master masons were raised within the 8th Masonic District. It was a glorious day. Please introduce yourselves to these new Master Masons, each of which are working through a significant amount of material and mentoring to be declared proficient in the degrees by 31 July, so the conferral work continues. Please be attentive, as I feel sure they will be eager to learn from us all, and remember them, our local/state/federal governing bodies, and our nation during your devotions to deity.
Also Brethren, please join us for the evening meal prior to Stated. Dinner meal will consist of a smoked turkey along with a selection of side dishes. Come out early for a great evening; dinner starts at 6:30 pm.
Upcoming Events:
April 29, 2023, 7:30 AM – District Ritual School; Fredericksburg Lodge #4; 7pm
May Masonic Birthdays:
Right Worshipful Thomas Lewis May 07, 1973
Brother Burl Pack May 11, 1970
Brother Earnest Chilton May 12, 1969
Worshipful Terry Bullock Lewis May 18, 1981
You may have noticed on the top line of masonic birthdays, we have our own Right Worshipful Thomas “Tom” Lewis celebrating his 50Th year of Masonry. All masonic birthdays rightfully deserve a moment of acknowledgment and recognition – but looking to the right of RW Tom’s name, you will see that he is celebrating his 50th Masonic Year…What an accomplishment!! As part of the agenda this coming stated meeting, we will honor RW Tom with a 50th Year Pin celebration. Please congratulate him accordingly.
Finally, brethren, I was reading through several online articles this week on masonry, and stumbled upon the following that seemed so appropriate after the district conferral. I pray you find it worthy, and further reason to pause for reflection.
May the God of peace and love delight to dwell with, and bless you.
Respectfully,
Huey Allen
WM, Kilwinning Crosse 2-237
A MASTER’S WAGES
by Carl H. Claudy
THE MASTER MASON – MAY 1925
WHEN MASONRY was operative, the Fellow of the Craft labored long and earnestly to fit himself to produce his Master’s piece, by which he would be enabled to prove himself fit to receive the Mason word – what we know as “the Secret Word of a Master Mason” – that he might go where he would, prove himself a Master and receive a Master’s wages.
Now that Masonry is speculative only, many who apply and receive the degrees think that the mere possession of the secret word makes them fit to receive a Master’s wages, forgetting that it was not the word, but the fitness to receive it, which qualified their ancient operative brethren for a Master’s wages.
But the speculative Mason can no more receive a Master’s wages today than in days of old, unless he be truly a Master. Writing “Master Mason” after one’s name does not make one such in the speculative sense. Having one’s name inscribed upon the by-laws of a Lodge does not make one truly a Master Mason.
Being a Master Mason is wholly a matter of the heart and mind; unless the one be humble, the other eager to learn and willing to study, a man may never truly be a Master Mason-aye, though he take every degree in every Rite and wear a jewel pin for every title he assumes.
In ancient days a Master’s wages were paid in coin of the realm. They are no less so paid today, but the realm is of the Inner man, not the world of society. The wages received by a Master Mason who has fitted himself to earn them are paid in that which money cannot purchase. Not by favoritism or influence or high estate can any man win a Master’s wages; if he receives them, it is because of what he is, what he thinks, and how he thinks it. From the time a Fellowcraft goes alone to the Altar to make his petition to Deity, he stands alone or falls. When he is raised to the Sublime Degree, his brethren and his lodge have done all they can for him; if he is ever to receive a Master’s wages, it will he because of what he does for himself.
A Master’s wages are paid in the knowledge of the human heart; its dependence upon love and friendship, its eagerness to give for the love of giving, its humble hope of receiving for the simple human joy of being beloved. They are paid in knowledge which girds a man in armor through which misfortune, hard times, ill luck, cannot pierce. They are paid in the security which comes from certain knowledge of millions of brethren sworn to your aid and support – and make no mistake about this, my brother; though you may never need to make appeal, though no man spreads his call for help throughout the whole Masonic world, no matter where that call echoes, there will be some who hear and heed. A Master’s wages are paid in friends of the heart; friends who make life rich with its fairest treasures. The sentimentalist- sings of the friend of his youth. It is true that friendship deepens with time; a common past is the foundation on which many a friendship is based.
Freemasonry supplies such a past. Men linked in the Mystic Tie can think, symbolically, of their friendship beginning thousands of years ago! The friends made in Masonry are of tested steel; there are none better. A Master’s wages are paid in the knowledge of closeness to and communion with the Great Architect of the Universe. In the practice of Freemasonry a Master Mason draws close to God. The All Seeing Eye to him is a friendly one. No man spends time in a lodge without having his faith strengthened; in days when mental confusion, doubt, debate and argument undermine beliefs less solidly founded, the firm foundation for simple beliefs which comes from Freemasonry is surely not the least of the coins in which a Master receives his wages.
And a Master’s wages are paid in strength to endure, in courage to proceed, in hope of the future and in joy in the present. These are wages worth working for! These are coins besides which those of minted gold show themselves to be the dross they are! For these are the wages given to character.
Freemasonry gives us wages according to our labor; and if we work faithfully, we may be sure, as in the parable, we shall receive each man his penny. But Freemasonry, like any other institution, pays in a sliding scale according to the worth of the labor given; the Apprentice receives less than the Fellow of the Craft, and he less than a Master. See to it, my brother, that you are a Master in fact as well as in name; so shall you learn the real meaning of the Word by which some day you will travel in a far, far country, where there is neither gold nor silver, and where, indeed, the only coins which can be used are those you here fit yourself to receive – a Master’s wages.
