Brethren, time for another update on the exciting happenings at Raytown Lodge #391.

I am very pleased to report that the lodge has successfully achieved the Grand Lodge Gold ritual award. This is a tremendous accomplishment and took months of hard work by the members of the lodge. We are one of only a handful of lodges in Missouri to have completed this milestone, and the only lodge on our side of the state to have completed it in many years. It is a reflection of the dedication and focus on excellence of our lodge members that we were able to achieve this. My heartfelt thanks go out to every member who assisted with this important activity. Our ritual is how we keep the flame of Freemasonry burning, and it is evident that the brethren of Raytown Lodge #391 are worthy custodians of this important asset.

We also recently completed another successful year operating our fireworks tent. This is the largest fundraising activity for the lodge and despite rainy weather sales were brisk and the lodge will be well served by the activity. Thank you to everyone who donated their time and hard work to help with this important function. I’d also like to extend thanks to our brothers of Prince Hall Freemasonry, without whom this activity would not be successful.

Preparations continue for our 2nd annual barbecue competition which will take place on August 19-20. There is still time for teams to sign up and if you know of any businesses or individuals who would like to help sponsor the event there is also time to do so. Please contact me for more information. We hope to have many teams participate and also a number of Masonic teams to compete for our traveling lodge trophy.

Raytown Lodge is also sponsoring a barbecue class with famous pit master and chef Paul Kirk. Please contact me if you would like to sign up for this class as it will be very interesting and informative.

In June the lodge conducted a special meeting where we raised two brothers to the degree of Master Mason. Thank you to all of the members and brethren who gave time on a Saturday to help with this important function and congratulations to our two newest Master Masons. In addition we also have one Entered Apprentice and two petitions for membership under investigation at this time so interest in our lodge continues to be strong.

Our ritual study club continues to meet but for the summer will meet on the first and third Wednesdays of each month at 7pm. Attendance is open to all brethren and is important for all lodge officers to learn the ritual associated with your position and the positions ahead, and also for any brethren interested in learning more about lodge ritual and degree conferral. We have fun at our study club but also learn a great deal, and this is one of the reasons why our lodge was able to achieve ritual excellence and attain our Gold award.

A reminder that this year our lodge will continue to conduct meetings in July. Our next stated communication is Thursday, July 21st at 7:30pm. We hope to see a good turnout of members and brethren. Following our normal summer tradition the lodge will go ‘dark’ in August with no stated meetings, but beginning in September the schedule will resume with normal meetings the first and third Thursdays of each month at 7:30pm. Most of the meetings from this point forward will be ‘step up’ meetings with next year’s officers seated in their new positions, so come out and join us as we help our brothers learn their new roles for the coming year.

Fraternally,

Steven Holbrook
Worshipful Master