Greetings, Sir Knights! It’s great to be back in the swing of things and getting 2024 moving along fairly smoothly. Maryland is very busy in January with every Blue Lodge (100+) installing officers. I was honored to install the Master of Germania Lodge 160 again this year. Germania, as the name suggests, is the last German-speaking lodge in the Grand Lodge of Maryland, and for the first time in its 152 years of existence, does not have a German immigrant/first-generation American sitting in a chair. We still open and close in the German language, though!
As I prepare this message, we are approaching the start of Masonic Week 2024 here in the metropolitan DC area. I wish I had the time to be there the entire time, but long ago I made a promise to my beloved wife that 51 weeks of the year might be open to Masonic activities that we might attend, but our anniversary week is one where I would never ask her to join me for “rubber chicken” dinners. So, with our anniversary being on Sunday, I’ll just be there for Friday and part of Saturday. I look forward to being with so many of my brethren from across the nation and around the world.
As many gather to conduct the business and ritual work of many appendant orders, some with a connection to the Allied Masonic Degrees, I have found the best part of Masonic Week happens outside of the meeting rooms, where brethren join for conversation, breaking bread together, and a few beverages and cigars are shared. In many ways, it is how every Masonic gathering should feel. Yes, we meet for our business and the secret work that must be conducted, but the bulk of our time is spent in conversation and fellowship. Much is shared, and much is learned.
Masonic Week in DC (or the metro area) has been going on for decades. Originally tied to the Conference of Grand Masters of North America session, it became a stand-alone event when COGMNA started moving locations. It is also not a “week,” but five days (Thursday through Sunday currently). I’d like to suggest that we celebrate this week not just in DC, but across our Fraternity. No, I am not suggesting we move the location, but that we set aside this week annually for events in DC as well as across the country, or even globally, to promote our Order and bring public attention to the work we do in our communities and elsewhere for the good of all people.
A nationwide Masonic Week would not be an expensive thing to do, and we could all benefit from a concentrated week of events and activities to promote our work and help educate our communities that we are here to serve and do good works while helping one another become better men,leaders, and citizens. We can also promote our appendent groups for women and youth. This is an idea that we certainly need to explore, and I hope you will share your thoughts with me and others.
In the meantime, I look forward to seeing you this week. Welcome to my “neighborhood.”
I appreciate your time and would also appreciate your support and vote to be the next Deputy Grand Master when we gather in Conclave in August 2024.