February 2011 Fulton Fellowcraft
From the East
We are all aware it takes a strong foundation
to make a structure.
However, what is a strong foundation for
a good lodge?
This is a question that has been asked by
many people for many years. I know that
I do not have the final answer, but can
only offer my take on it. I have taken the
time to observe many Masons, hoping
that I could learn how things are done, to
try and make me a better Mason, and a
better officer. What I actually received
was much more than that; it was a road
map to a strong lodge. With anything you
are trying to build— whether it is a building,
or maintaining a lodge —you must
have a strong foundation.
For Masons, a strong foundation is the
people. This means not only the new
brothers that we have in our lodge, but
also, our current brothers. It is easy to get
men to join an organization; people have
a desire to belong to something. The hard
part is to get people that are of good
moral character. Remember, Masons do
not make a man good; we take a good
man and make him better. You may be
asking what this means to you, well I am
about to tell you. While we cannot solicit
men to join our fraternity, we can promote
ourselves so people ask us about becoming
one. This means going out into the
community and volunteering as a group; it
means continuing to do our July 4th water
table for the racers, helping with GA
CHIP program, and much more.
The sky is the limit. Once we start getting
a favorable opinion of our craft, we
can start to build a stronger foundation for
the future.
Our current members are our foundation.
While it is strong, there is always room to
make it stronger. Not only can we make
our foundation stronger by bringing in
good men, we can make the foundation
stronger by getting our current members
re-involved in the craft. This will bring
back the knowledge that has left our
lodge, and it will start to pass on your extensive
knowledge to the younger brothers.
I am sure that your knowledge, experience
and friendship would be welcomed
by any brother. Come back to
lodge and bring another brother with you.
It is not only the job of the current line
officers to bring excitement into the
lodge; it is up to you as well.
Oh, if you have not figured it out, the road
map to a strong foundation is good people.
In the words of our esteemed Past Grand
Master, Joe Suttles:
“Let Brotherly Love Prevail!”
Jeffrey Krieger
Worshipful Master
