The Laws of the Grand Lodge of Texas A.F. & A.M.

I can't upload the file to Blogger - so please refer to my Google Drive link.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/12CZgcJT48kDRyfDwjAoEPwWMGJYrydbp/view?usp=sharing

The Trust Reposed

Damn, I'm a busy guy.

Yesterday, we had our Craft Lodge installation of officers. I was part of the Knight Templar Standard Guard that presented the colors! Here's the thing, though: we had a ton of things going on!

In the morning, we had to show up to Tarrant Lodge at 8 AM for breakfast and rehearsal. At 9:20 or so, we presented the colors at Tarrant Lodge, then immediately left and drove straight to the Fort Worth Masonic Temple. There, we presented the colors for the Fort Worth Lodge installation, immediately left the room, changed out of the KT gear, changed into suits, and walked back in to be installed as officers in Fort Worth Lodge. 

I was installed as Senior Deacon (a junior officer). However, I don't remember it. I was so sleep-deprived from panicking about sleeping in, that I don't remember presenting the colors or being installed! This is even funnier to me because I was the captain of the flag detail and did all the talking. 

That being said, I'm still recovering from the lack of sleep, but man, I'm so happy that I'm going to be able to serve my lodge in an official capacity!

Elevator Speeches

There will come a time when you need to explain what the heck Masonry is. Sometimes, you won’t have very long. It’s best to come up with an "elevator speech" for those occasions. My answer is a little dramatic:

The world is an awful place, and there’s not much that we can do about that on the macro scale. What we can do, however, is give men the opportunity to change and improve themselves using moral tools and teachings centered around love of God and love of one another in order to better implement the moral values they already had. By doing this, a man not only changes himself, but the world immediately around him - and sometimes reaching even further than that. So, we can’t change the world on a macro scale, but we can change it many, many times on a micro scale. Masonry is an organized effort to save the world through love, one man at a time.

Handley Lodge Captures the Travel Gavel

Handley Lodge Captures the Travel Gavel

Where the magic happens:

Last night was pretty great!

Fort Worth Lodge had its stated meeting night, and I was pleasantly surprised to see so many visitors - at first only minorly so, then majorly so. I shared the elevator with three or four brothers from Handley Lodge on the way up to our dining hall... Then I quickly realized, as the time went on, that they were coming out in force! Our little dining hall was packed. Handley Lodge brought out 15 brothers to come help take the travel gavel.

The Grand Lodge of Texas (AF&AM) 64th District Traveling Gavel:

The room was abuzz with excitement. Many of the Fort Worth Members were whispering to each other over the food - cooked on the Fort Worth Lodge #148 Smoker, of course - as we were and are totally psyched to get so many visitors. I pro-tem'd the Senior Deacon's part, and began running around the dining hall, collecting names and titles as fast as I could.

The time to file into the lodge room came, and we ran out of aprons! We had to dig in the closet for a third box of aprons. We had a total attendance of 54 brothers. Once visitors were introduced, all first time visitors were given a Fort Worth Lodge pin.

One of my little treasures, the Fort Worth Lodge #148 pin that was given to me the night that I was raised:

We blasted through the regular business, with some minor delays during a slightly more free-form portion of lodge, and then got to the presentation of the Travel Gavel. Unfortunately, I don't have pictures of that, since we were in open lodge at the time (meaning photography is verboten), but it was wonderful. In addition to the travel gavel on the plaque, Fort Worth Lodge has decided to toss in the Mega Gavel as well. Now, in addition to the existing stipulations on the gavel, the Mega Gavel will be travelling with the regular plaque. After our Brother Hando Nahkur played a very stirring piece, we closed out and Hollywooded for the camera. All in all, a great night in Texas Masonry.

A group photo (most of us are in here):

14 of the 15 brothers from Handley, with guest appearance by the Mega Gavel (Worshipful Master of Handley Lodge, Haskell Rogers III, is in the middle with the plaque):

Our pro-tem WM Greg Wright (on the left) poses with some of our brothers from Webb Lodge! We really hope that they are the next ones to get the gavel. Ed (on the right) is a Past Master of both Webb Lodge and Handley Lodge:

Life is good.

The Traveling Gavel

The Traveling Gavel

Competitive Brotherhood

The Grand Lodge of Texas (AF&AM) 64th District Traveling Gavel:



Tonight we had the privilege of visiting Handley Lodge. It was a pretty great experience! They had, up to this point, been the holders of the GLoTX 64th District Traveling Gavel. This was a program that was originally started by my lodge (148). In order to capture the gavel, your lodge has to show up with 7 or more brothers. The visit can be either during a stated meeting, or a called meeting. If multiple lodge attempt a capture, whichever lodge has the most lodges present takes it home, with a coin toss being the method used to break ties.

The brothers from Handley welcomed us with open arms and we had an absolutely great time. This was a very well-attended stated meeting! Even Arlington Lodge (438, I think) sent a contingent of brothers in their own attempt to make a capture. At one point, someone from Sweet Home Lodge tried to see if there were enough plural members of Sweet Home Lodoge for them to take it! That would have been a very difficult retrieval as they only open lodge in the Master’s Degree, and as such, would require us to send only our Master Masons.

The food was great - the OES chapter at Handley really knows how to knock it out of the park.

Here we are with the Worshipful Master of Handley Lodge, Haskell Rogers (III):



Bonus picture of our group in front of the very-appropriate "COME AND TAKE IT" flag:



For more information on the Traveling Gavel, check out the 64th district's page on it. I sincerely urge anyone in the 64th district to "COME AND TAKE IT," so to speak, as we will try our damndest to take it right back.