glendale lodge #368 · 2017/7/10 · glendale lodge #368 july—aug 2014 “masonic labor is...
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Glendale Lodge #368 July—Aug 2014
“Masonic labor is purely a labor of love. He who seeks to draw Mason-
ic wages in gold and silver will be disappointed. The wages of a Mason
are earned and paid in their dealings with one another; sympathy that
begets sympathy, kindness begets kindness, helpfulness begets help-
fulness, and these are the wages of a Mason.”
- Bro. Benjamin Franklin
From the East—Wor. Bilavian
Greetings Brethren,
On June 3rd, it was our Stated Meeting
and as always it was very successful. On
June 10th, it was the Past Masters
meeting and I want to emphasize how
great and useful this meeting was. It was
very important to sit down with the past
masters and listen to their ideas and
thoughts about lodge’s future. I would
like to thank all the Past Masters who
attended this meeting.
On June 17th, the lodge gathered at the
bowling alley in Montrose and we had an
amazing time with the brethren. It has
been a while since we had an activity like
this outside of the lodge and it showed
how important it is for us to socialize with
each other outside of the lodge. I would
like to thank Worshipful Brother Hamlet
Khatcherian for organizing this great
event and also our JR warden, Brother
Hrag Bekerian for arranging the refresh-
ment.
On June 24th we had our Administrative
Tuesday; Besides the executive com-
mittee having their meeting, Wor. Karekin
Karazian and Bro. Arman Petrosian were
teaching and reviewing the CMC with our
members, and I would like to thank them
for their great work on that night. Again, I
recommend everyone to attend and be
part of the CMC reading every last Tues-
day of the month.
July 1st is our stated meeting and we are
going to have a special guest Most Wor-
shipful Larry L. Adamson who will be vis-
iting us and also enlighten us more about
the Midnight Mission. The lodge will be
dark for the rest of the month in July.
After last year’s success with our annual
picnic, we will be hosting it again this year
on August 24th. Hope to see you all
there.
On September 16th, the Grand Master of
the Masons of California Most Worshipful
John L Cooper III will be visiting Glendale
Lodge and be our guest speaker. The sec-
ond one will be on September 23rd at the
District OSI at Glendale Lodge. Wor.
George Whitmore who is a district Inspec-
tor will be our guest speaker and the top-
ic will be on the proper way to incorpo-
rate with handicapped Masons in the
ritual. It is open for all masons.
We will be holding our Annual Dinner
Dance this year in October.
On November 11th, we will have Very
Worshipful Allen L. Casalou as our guest
speaker at the lodge. Please mark your
calendar.
Happy Independence Day to everyone.
Enjoy your summer vacation and will see
you all at the stated meeting in August.
Fun Night—Bowling Night
The Middle Chamber
There were three stories of
side chambers built around the
Temple on three sixths; what,
therefore, is called in the au-
thorized aversion a middle
Clamber was really the middle
story of those three. The He-
brew word is yatsang. They are
thus described in First Kings vi,
5, 6, 03: And against the wall
of the house he built chambers
round about, against the walls of the house round about, both of
the temple and of the oracle: and he made chambers round about.
The nethermost chamber was five cubits broad and the middle was
six cubits broad, and the third was seven cubits broad: for without
in the wall of the house he made narrowed rests round about, that
the beams should not be fastened in the walls of the house. The
door for the middle chamber was in the right side of the house: and
they went up with winding stairs into the middle chamber, and out
of the middle into the third.
These chambers, after the Temple was completed, served for the
accommodation of the priests when upon duty; in them they de-
posited their vestments and the sacred vessels- But the knowledge
of the purpose to which the middle chamber was appropriated
while the Temple was in the course of construction, is only pre-
served in Masonic tradition. This tradition is, however, altogether
mythical and symbolical in its character, and belongs to the symbol-
ism of the Winding Stairs, which see.
“Tending to Your Inner Life” by Steve Goodier—Submitted by Bro. Arman Petrosian
Where is a person of character when you need one?
A whole and healthy life -- a life of character and integrity -- is shaped from the in-
side. Author Anthony J. D'Angelo says that “the greatest gift you can ever give your-
self is a little bit of your own attention.” Authenticity has little to do with outward
appearances, or even reputations. It's all about giving your life, especially your inner
life, the attention it needs so you may grow into a person you can fully respect. You
might say it's an inside job.
But becoming that person doesn't happen all at once. An authentic and genuine life
grows like a sturdy tree. And like a tree, it grows slowly.
Every time you make a different and better decision, it grows a little. Every time you
choose to do the right thing, even when nobody would find out otherwise, it grows
a little. Every time you act with compassion, relinquish your right to strike back, take
a courageous stand, admit fault or accept responsibility, it grows a little.
A life of character is like a well-tended tree. And if your life is a gift given to you,
then what you do with it is the gift you return. But be patient.
No work you'll ever complete;
no project you'll ever attempt;
no skill you'll ever master;
no book you'll ever write;
no race you'll ever run;
no sculpture you'll ever create;
no task you'll ever perform;
no structure you'll ever build;
nothing you will ever do --
is more important than the life you shape
one day at a time.
Tend to your inner life, give it the attention it needs, and I promise you one thing:
you won't be disappointed with the results.
Glendale #368 F. & A. M.
Meets at 244 N. Maryland Ave., Glendale CA 91206
P.O. Box 329 Glendale, California, 91209
E-Mail: [email protected]
2014 Officers
Master Wor. Nikoul Bilavian (818) 745-3245 [email protected]
S. Warden Wor. Travis Robinson
PM
(805) 217-2636 [email protected]
J. Warden Hrag Bekerian (626) 487-9445 [email protected]
Treasurer Alex Ashjian (626) 354-7272 [email protected]
Secretary Vram Martirosyan (818) 241-9516 [email protected]
Asst
Secretary
Armen Keshmeshian (818) 445-4213 [email protected]
Chaplain John R. Carlton (818) 545-7278 [email protected]
S. Deacon Arman Petrosian (818) 621-4120 [email protected]
J. Deacon Varouj Meneshian (818) 720-7983 [email protected]
Marshal Mike M. Israyelyan (818) 445-7070
S. Steward Shant Hamamjian (818) 968-6694 [email protected]
J. Steward Andranik Ovsepyan (818) 400-6565 [email protected]
Tiler
Organist Shant Sarkisian (818) 400-3730 [email protected]
Officers
Coach
Wor. Travis Robinson
PM
(805) 217-2636 [email protected]
Candidates
Coach
Alex Meloyan (805)813-6666 [email protected]
Inspector Wor. Jeff Yates PM (818) 568-9756
Shaping A New Nation—The Declaration The month of July is special to all Americans because we celebrate the birth of our nation on the fourth of July. On that date in the year 1776, representatives of the thirteen Amer-ican colonies, assembled at what is now known as Independence Hall in Philadelphia, adopted a manifesto asserting their political independence from the British crown. We know that document as the American Declara-tion of Independence.
Over the last two centuries various Masonic writers have often attempt-ed to inflate the involvement of members of the Masonic fraternity in the events leading up to and resulting from this important historic event. It has often been claimed that all or most of the signers of the Declaration of Independence were Freemasons; or that all or most of the general officers serving under Washington were Freemasons. These claims have been made to bolster the theory that the events of the American Revolu-tion and the formation of the Ameri-can colonies into an independent re-public were carried out according to some Masonic plan, and in accord-ance with universal Masonic princi-ples.
It is always best that such claims be tempered by the light of responsible and accurate historic research, not for the purpose of discounting the patriotic nature of our early American Masonic forbearers, but rather to
understand the role that Freemasons did play in the formation of this great nation. Probably the best accounting of Masonic membership among the signers of the Declaration of Inde-pendence is provided in the book Ma-sonic Membership of the Founding Fathers, by Ronald E. Heaton, pub-lished by the Masonic Service Associ-ation at Silver Spring, Maryland. Ac-cording to this well researched and documented work, proof of Masonic membership can be found for only eight of the fifty-six signers of the Declaration of Independence. They are:
Benjamin Franklin, of the Tun Tavern Lodge at Philadelphia;
John Hancock, of St. Andrew's Lodge in Boston;
Joseph Hewes, who was recorded as a Masonic visitor to Unanimity Lodge No. 7, Edenton, North Carolina, in December 1776;
William Hooper, of Hanover Lodge, Masonborough, North Carolina;
Robert Treat Payne, present at Grand Lodge at Roxbury, Massachusetts, in June 1759;
Richard Stockton, charter Master of St. John's Lodge, Princeton, Massa-chusetts in 1765;
George Walton, of Solomon's Lodge No. 1, Savannah, Georgia; and
William Whipple, of St. John's Lodge, Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
Additionally, another five or six sign-ers have from time to time been iden-tified as members of the fraternity based on inconclusive or unsubstanti-ated evidence.
As for the Masonic membership among Washington’s generals, it is true that many were members of the fraternity, but many were not. The recognized modern authority on the subject is James R. Case, former Grand Historian of the Grand Lodge of Connecticut, who published his findings in the 1955 booklet Fifty Ear-ly American Military Freemasons.
When examining the participation of Freemasons in the American Revolu-tion we should first remember the Ancient Charges of a Freemason, and especially that charge concerning “the Civil Magistrates, Supreme and Subordinate,” which enjoins the Ma-son to be “a peaceable subject to the Civil Powers” and “never to be con-cern'd in plots and conspiracies against the peace and welfare of the
nation.” This charge was listed as the second of those contained in the Con-stitutions adopted by the Premier Grand Lodge at London in 1723, long before the American Revolution. How then can we justify the participation of American Freemasons in their re-bellion against the King?
The answer can be given in two parts. First, the Masonic fraternity in the American colonies took no part in the Revolution, following Masonic tradi-tion by taking no official stance. How-ever, the fraternity’s official neutrality may have owed as much to the divid-ed loyalties of its leadership as it did to Masonic tradition. Many Masons were Loyalists. And second, rebellion against the state, whether justified or unjustified, is not a Masonic offense. The Old Charges state clearly “if a Brother should be a Rebel against the State, ... if convicted of no other Crime, ... they cannot expel him from the Lodge, and his Relation to it re-mains indefeasible.” This simply means that, in the case of the Ameri-can Revolution, many brethren, feel-ing that the actions of the crown war-ranted revolution and independence, were justified in following their con-sciences without fear of violating their Masonic obligations or any Ma-sonic law.
As the charge concerning the Civil Magistrates reminds us, “Masonry hath been always injured by War, Bloodshed, and Confusion,” the fra-ternity was indeed injured by the war. General Joseph Warren, Grand Mas-
ter of the Ancient’s Provincial Grand Lodge of Massachusetts, lost his life at the Battle of Bunker Hill in June 1775 and his body was thrown into an un-marked grave. While he had led the American troops during that battle, his lodge brother, Dr. John Jeffries assist-ed the British troops. Nearly a year later, his body was exhumed and iden-tified by another Lodge brother, Paul Revere.
Even before the Declaration of Inde-pendence, colonial Masonry suffered from the disruptions of the war, and the division of loyalties among its members. Many lodges found it diffi-cult to meet regularly, and others ceased to meet at all. Many lodges were disbanded as occupying British forces prohibited private assemblies, and loyalist Masons fled the country or joined the British forces.
Although the Masonic fraternity played no part in the Revolutionary War, it can easily be shown that in many ways the revolutionary ideals of equality, freedom, and democracy were espoused by the Masonic frater-nity long before the American colonies began to complain about the injustices of British taxation. The revolutionary ideals expressed in the Bill of Rights, the Declaration of Independence, and the writings of Thomas Paine, were ideals that had come to fruition over a century before in the early speculative lodges of the seventeenth and eight-eenth centuries, where men sat as equals, governed themselves by a Constitution, and elected their own
leaders from their midst. In many ways, the self-governing Masonic lodges of the previous centuries had been learning laboratories for the con-cept of self-government.
On September 18, 1793, President George Washington, dressed in his Masonic apron, leveled the corner-stone of the United States Capitol with the traditional Masonic ceremony. Historian Stephen Bullock in his book Revolutionary Brotherhood carefully notes the historic and symbolic signifi-cance of that ceremony. The Masonic brethren, dressed in their fraternal regalia, had assembled in grand pro-cession, and were formed for that oc-casion as representative of Freema-sonry's new found place of honor in an independent American society. At that moment, the occasion of the laying of the new Republic's foundations, Free-masons assumed the mantles “high priests” of that “first temple dedicated to the sovereignty of the people,” and they “helped form the symbolic foun-dations of what the Great Seal called ‘the new order for the ages’.”
August Birthdays
Hamlet Khatcherian
Edgar Ter-Hovhannisyan
Robert Burnes
Robert Smith
Sarkis Daldumyan
Alexis Gandara
Alexander Keith
Martiros Novshadyan
Leonard Manoukian
Grigor Grigoryan
John Carlton
Alton Ward
Alex Ashjian
Jan Cemcem
Waldamar Miller
Robert Gonzales
Ruben Aloyan
Keith Mc Connell
Valentin Radu
Hrag Bekerian
Sevak Araradian
Nazar Hadidian
Andranik Ovsepyan
Ernest Pooleon
Robert Thomson
Diran Afarian
Henrik Sarhadian
Felix Colon
Nick Stoisor
Dayle Bailey
Randall Murphy
George Lyall
Christopher Minassian
Ambrose Quintero
Calendar July-1 6:30pm Stated Meeting Dinner
7:30pm Stated Meeting
July-8 - 22 Dark
Aug-5 6:30pm Stated Meeting Dinner
7:30pm Stated Meeting
Aug-12 1st Degree
Aug-19 TBA
Aug-24 Annual Picnic
Aug-26 7:30pm Admin Tuesday
Sep-2 6:30pm Stated Meeting Dinner
7:30pm Stated Meeting
Sep-16 Guest speaker. The Grand Master of the Masons of California—MW John L. Cooper III
Sep-23 District OSI, Guest speaker Worshipful George Whitmore
Sep-30 7:30pm Admin Tuesday
Oct-7 6:30pm Stated Meeting Dinner
7:30pm Stated Meeting
For the most updated list of upcoming dates and events
please visit
www.GlendaleMasons.com or
facebook.com/GlendaleMasons
Board of Trustees: TBD Hall Association: TBD
Committee Meetings
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