April 2009 Trestleboard Robert Burns #243

During my time as master of Robert Burns, I would like to encourage the Lodge to be more involved in the community. On June 13th, the American Cancer Society will hold a Relay for Life at Pilchuck High School. I intend to have Robert Burns field a relay team for this event. This particular charity is meaningful to me because my mother-in-law is a cancer survivor. If you are interested in being a part of this event, please contact me.

On March 12th, we visited Edmonds #165 there were about a dozen Robert Burns Brothers at the meeting, who came out to support Bro. Jim Moran's Son at his initiation. We also had an ulterior motive, and looked at the Temple as potential tenants. The Temple seems like it would be a good meeting place. The moving committee will review our potential meeting places. They also have been working on an inventory of our regalia stored at the EMC, to see if we will need to rent a storage area, and if so what size.

Bethel 50 IOJD will be selling baked goods before the stated meeting on April 7th. Please come out and support our youth.

One of the issues facing Freemasonry today is effective leadership. In our stations in life we have seen those who stand out and inspire those around them to achieve goals or attain objectives. These people are not born with these skills, they are learned.

VWB Sam Roberts and WB Steve Wandel recently finished facilitating a program called The Exceptional Lodge Leader. T.E.L.L. was commissioned by the Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons in Ohio for the express purpose of developing Masonic Leaders. While it has been a few years since the materials were written, the leadership concepts taught have not changed or become less relevant.

Over several months a group met to read, hear and discuss key principles on leadership and Freemasonry. These key principles range from knowing the core values of Freemasonry (Key Principle #1) to developing effective Masonic teams. If just some of the key principles were put into practice Lodges would be more effective, attendance would increase and more members would be involved in the success of the Fraternity.

One of the important messages I gleaned was leaders do not have to sit in the East. A Lodge can flourish even with a less than perfect Master but there must be someone to fill any gaps left open. The leader could be that Brother sitting on the sidelines, the Junior Steward or, yes, the Worshipful Master in the East. Freemasonry must have strong, effective leaders or we will not gain new members, we will not maintain a positive image in our communities and there will be a general decline in the Fraternity.

If you have an opportunity to attend the TELL program, please do. Leaders are made not born and by applying the concepts presented, you can become an even more effective leader.

Stay tuned, I hear another session is in the works.

After returning from the Wardens Conference in Yakima (which involved an extended drive home via I-84 down the Colombia--7 hours with a 2- and 5- year old on board), I continue to marvel at the variety and quality of men that have joined our Fraternity. On the agenda was everything from pointers on how to memorize ritual to a genuinely inspirational talk that was supposed to have been about mentoring. I am not sure that I learned much about mentoring from this class, but it was one of the most inspirational moments I have had since being made a Mason. I left that particular talk with, as Sam Roberts likes to say, my "hair on fire" to go out and be a better man and a better Mason. (On second thought, that may be what mentoring is about...)

I have often asked myself about what we say at our meetings and what we do at our meetings. We speak a great deal of how we have labored to improve ourselves and humanity, but I wonder if we do. I do not doubt that we become somewhat better men by meeting on the level with men we would not otherwise know and engaging in fellowship or conducting the business of the Lodge. However, it seems that we rarely discuss ways to improve ourselves, or the meaning behind what we do. Sometimes I worry that our Ritual has become empty and we just are looking for the cake afterwards.

Of course, the pendulum can swing too far in the other direction, too. I don't think too many Brothers would want to be lectured once a month on how they should be better, nor would they want to attend meetings that were nothing but a series of talks from a motivational speaker.

In short, I have come to think a bit harder on what Masonry means to me, and how I can stop this burning feeling on the top of my head by going out and being a better man. I want to learn the lessons of Friendship, Morality and Brotherly Love; practice Prudence, Temperance, and Discretion. How can we make the words we say into a change in our hearts and minds? I am interested to hear if you have any ideas on how to do this in the Lodge. Please let me know, give me a call or e-mail me at juniorwarden@robertburns243.org.

"I'd like to take this opportunity to ask every person listening in, whoever and wherever they may be, to pause for a moment and contemplate the events of the past few hours, and to give thanks in his or her own way."