Brethren,
As I write this we have just completed our annual Installation of Officers and Past Masters dinner. It was a wonderful event and I’d like to thank everyone who joined us as we installed our lodge officers for the ensuing year and honored our Past Masters with a great dinner. We were honored to have Most Worshipful Brother Stanton T. Brown II, Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Ancient Free and Accepted Masons of the State of Missouri join us for the event. Special thanks to Worshipful Brother Steven Holbrook for preparing the feast and to Service Assembly #9 of the International Order of Rainbow for Girls for their assistance setting up and serving.
I am honored to have been elected to serve as your Worshipful Master for the coming year. My journey in Freemasonry began at Raytown Lodge in December of 1993. This was unfortunately followed by a long period of inactivity as work and life intervened, but since I’ve become active again it’s been a tremendous experience to get to know all of the current brethren and I look forward to serving you in the East this year. I have served as Master of a lodge previously, but the honor of serving my home lodge, where I began my Masonic journey, is special.
I would like to start by extending heartfelt thanks to Worshipful Brother Tom Ballieu for his leadership during the past lodge year. Through his tireless efforts and leadership we accomplished a great deal. During his year we completed three MOChip events, adopted a new charity, achieved the Bronze, Silver and Gold ritual awards, ran a successful barbecue contest and ran two fireworks tents. Thank you Worshipful Brother Tom, your efforts are recognized and appreciated.
Keeping things fresh and interesting is always good. Your officers have plans to change things up somewhat this year. We have ideas for a number of interesting and innovative activities which we will share in the coming weeks. We plan for Raytown Lodge to maintain our tradition of excellence in Masonic ritual, but we will also spend more time pursuing community and charitable activities. Additionally we plan to put together a robust calendar of social and family events and activities.
One activity I am pleased to announce immediately is that we will be changing the concept of our meals. We traditionally serve dinner before each lodge meeting. On the 2nd meeting of each month we will now have a pot luck dinner with families invited to join us. The Lodge will provide the main entrée and others can bring side dishes, desserts and treats. We will welcome spouses, children, grandchildren and families for the dinner each month. We hope this will help us get to know one another as more than individuals and develop a bond among the Masonic families of Raytown Lodge.
For those who may not be aware, I have also been appointed to serve as District Deputy Grand Lecturer for the 19th Masonic district this year. I am very honored to have been asked to serve the Grand Lodge in this capacity and will do my best for the brethren of Raytown Lodge as well as the other lodges in the district. This appointment will mean that I will need to miss a few meetings in the East this year as there is another lodge in the district who shares our meeting night. My commitment to Raytown Lodge is that I will attend as many meetings as possible and will assure that our officers are positioned to continue to serve the brethren well in the event I am absent.
We will be placing new emphasis on communication with our members, both through social media as well as our website. We will be posting regular updates on the website, with a Trestleboard update at least monthly and news items when appropriate.
Lastly, just a reminder that if you haven’t attended lodge in a while we would love to see you. We’ve set a goal of having 30+ members and visitors at each meeting. We still have good attendance but are a ways from hitting that goal. Please come out and support your lodge!
Fraternally,
Rick Kingcade
Worshipful Master