Brothers, as we approach the end of 2015 I would like to provide an update of activities at the Lodge.

We were excited to honor Brothers Robert Fray and William Rodgers with the presentation of pins commemorating 50 years of membership. Congratulations to Brothers Fray and Rodgers. It is always a pleasure to meet men who have been long time members of our Lodge and our organization.

On December 3rd we hosted RWB Scott Filkins, District Deputy Grand Master for our official visit. RWB Filkins delivered the latest message from the Grand Master.

The officers of Raytown Lodge are excited to have achieved the Bronze ritual award for opening and closing the lodge. This is a nice accomplishment. We are committed to continuing to perfect our Masonic ritual and we intend to achieve our Silver ritual award (conferring a first degree) in the near future. The officers are also committed to trying to earn a Gold ritual award this year. The Gold award is presented to lodges who successfully confer a third degree using all their own members. Raytown has not received this award for many years, and we intend to do our best to achieve it in 2016. This will require the assistance of all Lodge members who are knowledgeable in the ritual of the third degree. Please watch for more information soon.

To further education on ritual we continue to conduct our own Study Club on the first and third Wednesdays at 7:00pm. This effort is led by WB Michael Tatham, Lodge Education Officer. We encourage all officers and interested members to attend to take part in learning the ritual of opening and closing as well as degree conferral and other interesting Masonic education.

Raytown Lodge will be conferring a first degree at the next regular communication on Thursday, January 7, 2016. We will be starting at 7:00pm instead of our usual 7:30 start time. We encourage all members and brethren to join for this important event. In addition to this new member we have several other petitions in various stages of investigation so it appears we will have a busy winter and spring with degree work.

RWB Glenn Burrows, Regional Grand Lecturer, will conduct a regional School of Instruction at Raytown Lodge on Saturday, January 9, 2016. Breakfast will be served at 8:00am with the school to begin at 9:00am. Lunch will also be served. We hope Raytown Lodge is well represented and encourage all other brethren to join as well.

In closing, for myself and on behalf of the officers of Raytown Lodge I would like to thank each and every member and participating brother for your continued support of Freemasonry and of the Lodge. I would also like to wish each of you and your families the very best this Holiday season.

Please enjoy the holidays safely and we look forward to seeing you in 2016!

Fraternally,
Steven Holbrook
Worshipful Master

Brethren,

I would like to begin by wishing a Happy Thanksgiving to all the Brethren of Raytown Lodge #391. May the blessing of heaven be with you and your families on this Thanksgiving Day.

We have had a very busy fall at Raytown lodge. Our slate of officers for the 2015-2016 lodge year were installed on September 13th. This was followed by our annual Past Masters dinner.

At the end of September we completed the purchase of the adjacent parking lot that was formerly part of the bank property. This allowed us to secure the future use of the lot, protect the value of our lodge property and to have control over our parking area.

In October and early November, Raytown lodge officers and members participated in the 2015 Lodge of Instruction for the 19th Masonic district, and hosted the event on October 28th. Raytown lodge came in second overall in attendance which was a strong showing.

Our social committee has been busy planning the social calendar for 2015-2016 and have several nice events planned. The website calendar has been updated to show those events.

We have been very active in the membership area. Since installation we have passed four Entered Apprentices to the degree of Fellow Craft. Then, on Saturday, November 21st we conducted a day long special communication and raised those four worthy brothers to the sublime degree of Master Mason. We congratulate brothers Alex Keyworth, Grant Arnold, Bill Bishop and Lance Gilmore on their preferment. And special thanks to all members and brethren who came out to help deliver some excellent degree work!

In addition to raising our four newest Master Masons, we have three additional petitions under investigation at this time, with more possibly on the way. The winter looks to be busy with degree work.

The lodge membership has committed to conducting both our annual fireworks tent and the second annual lodge barbecue competition as fundraising events. We are also looking into other fundraising opportunities.

Our ritual study club, under the direction of our education officer Worshipful Brother Michael Tatham, is very active. We have a strong core of individuals who attend each club meeting to learn and practice degree and lodge ritual and encourage all interested members to join in the fun. Study club meets the first and third Wednesdays of each month (year round) at the lodge at 7:00pm. It is a great opportunity for learning and fellowship.

This update is being posted on the lodge website, but we also plan to reinstate a quarterly Trestleboard mailing to all members to help communicate with those who may not be aware of the website or have use of the internet. We encourage you to contribute items of interest for the new Trestleboard document. Please submit any material you would like considered for publishing to [email protected].

I am pleased to report that your lodge is a vibrant, active organization with many interested participants. We encourage all members to join in, whether you have been active recently or not. We love seeing members, both old and new, at meetings and invite all members to join us at our regular communications which are still held the first and third Thursdays of each month at 7:30pm.

Fraternally,

Steven Holbrook
Worshipful Master