SOCIAL: Master’s Table Dinner | Corner Brewery
If you are free and interested in learning more about Ann Arbor Fraternity No. 262, be sure to stop by Wednesday at 6:30PM for dinner and fellowship at our monthly Masters Table dinner.
Corner Brewery is a cozy microbrewery, located in Ypsilanti, MI - just north of the Depot Town area. Large tables, laughs and a menu full of both food and drink await you!
Our Master’s Table Dinners are monthly social events and are open to ALL Masons, candidates, their male friends and those interested in Freemasonry.
Corner Brewery
720 Norris Street
Ypsilanti, MI 48198
http://www.cornerbrewery.com
MORE INFO: http://bit.ly/2010-04-masters-table
Master’s Letter | April 2010
March was a busy month and saw the conclusion - for the time being - of our E.A. degree work. While we continue to receive new petitions, our focus will now shift to advancing our 16 or so Entered Apprentices. If you are not already aware, our regular meeting nights have shifted to the 1st Wednesday of the month. Degree work will be performed on the 3rd Wednesday.
However, this month we are doing something special. There will be NO degree night on Wednesday, April 21 in Ann Arbor. Instead, we will be convening a lodge of Fellowcrafts on Saturday, April 17, at 10:30 a.m. at the Detroit Masonic Temple (Edit: Venue Change!) to confer this degree on as many candidates as we can arrange to attend. I am told by our Secretary that we will be meeting in the “Egyptian Room” and certain Detroit brothers will be honoring us with a special presentation. It will be a memorable event, with lunch following at a nearby restaurant, and I trust that we have a good sideline turn out.
The Fellowcraft degree is rich with symbolism and, in my opinion, contains some of our most important Masonic lessons and admonitions. It is definitely not a pass through degree as some have deemed it.
The earliest Masonic catechisms make clear that originally there were only two degrees in Freemasonry - Entered Apprentice and Fellowcraft. In fact, there is no record of the Master Mason degree being conferred before 1711. The Fellowcraft degree establishes us as fully instructed craftsmen, armed with the requisite moral and symbolic tools to build an honorable and meaningful life or - to quote Allen Roberts:
“You have become a Perfect Ashlar ready for the builder’s use. The Builder is the Great Architect of the Universe; the building is your Spiritual Temple.”
Notwithstanding, the Masonic knowledge communicated in this degree is not an end in itself; it is a jumping off point from which every Mason should embark on his own intellectual investigations. The cultivation and application of this knowledge is the Fellowcraft’s true work and, though he ultimately advances to the sublime degree of Master Mason, remains the duty and challenge of a lifetime.
One of the nice things about our lodge is the many fellowship opportunities we share. Without exaggerating, there is always something for everybody. Last month we caravanned down to the Detroit Masonic Temple to watch the Pistolwhippers and the Devil’s Night Dames duke it out in a roller derby match (Thanks Bro. Bob for setting us up with another great Detroit Derby Girls outing!). This month, on April 23, will be holding our annual Ladies Night at the Hunt Club in Plymouth. The Hunt Club is a private dining club with an outstanding menu and drinks. Should you wish to attend, you must RSVP with W.Bro. Seymour no later than Friday, April 16, so that he can make the necessary arrangements. His contact information is listed at the bottom of this website.
It is hard to believe that after April a third of my year in the East will have passed. We are doing great things. Below are some of our upcoming events. As always brothers, I hope to see you in lodge.
S & F
Robert Blackburn, WM
UPCOMING EVENTS
-
April 7, 2010
Regular Communication
Hathaways Hideaway -
April 16, 2010
RSVPs due for Ladies Night Dinner
Contact W. Bro Seymour Greenstone
734.455.6121 | secretary@aaf262.org -
April 17, 2010
Special FC Degree
Valley of Detroit | Scottish Rite Center -
April 23, 2010
Ladies Night Dinner
Huron River Hunting & Fishing Club -
April 28, 2010
Masters Table Dinner
Location to be determined | Trestleboard -
May 18, 2010
MM Degree | Conducted by Chris Fultz, PM
Hathaway’s Hideaway -
May 18 & 19, 2010
Annual Grand Lodge Communication
Soaring Eagle Casino | Mount Pleasant, MI -
May 21, 2010
Official Lodge Visitation & Master Mason Degree Presentation
Windsor Lodge No. 403, G.L. of Canada in the Province of Ontario
Master’s Letter | March 2010
Things continue to clip along at lodge. On January 27 we initiated 4 new brothers into Masonry. Though these were the first degrees of the year and we did not have a chance to practice, everything went smoothly. Thanks to all who assisted. January 29 was the Freemasons’ Haiti Relief Party which we put on jointly with the Grotto. It was a memorable night. We enjoyed great fellowship and fun with brothers from around Washtenaw County and beyond. There was also a great cover band. The event raised more than $1,000 which will be forwarded to the Masonic Service Association, N.A., for Haiti Relief.
On February 10, we held our regular monthly meeting. We covered a lot of ground. The lodge is looking to establish a new building fund and reformatting of our investment portfolio. Bro. Chuck Nagy expressed interest and will move forward with establishing a chapter of the Widow’s Sons Masonic motorcycle club at the lodge. Bro. Luis, who will be leaving us in May for a post doctoral position in Mathematics at the Universite du Quebec in Montreal (congratulations Bro. Luis!), had to postpone his talk on the Grand Lodge of Columbia until next month. Instead, we had a discussion regarding the symbol of “Jacob’s Ladder” in antiquity and as it came to be adopted in Masonry.
At the time of this letter, AAF 262 looks forward to its Awards/Past Master Night on Feb. 19 and to initiating another four brothers on February 24. You might think we are catching up on our E.A. backlog. Far from it; we’ve got several more new petitioners in the pipeline. It is going to be a record year for degree work. After this month, we have 14 Fellowcraft degrees we need to confer. These with either begin next month or we may reserve a room in the Detroit Temple for some special Saturday work. Keep an eye on the trestle board and your email for updates.
Our regular meeting night will change to the 1st Wednesday starting March (degree work will typically be performed on the 3rd Wednesday). W.Bro. Seymour Greenstone will also be leading a new, quarterly Masonic study club at Hathaway’s Hideaway on March 24. As Albert Mackey once noted:
“The brother who…supposes that the only requisite of a skillful Mason consists in repeating with fluency the ordinary lectures, or correctly opening and closing the lodge, or in giving with sufficient accuracy the modes of recognition… has scarcely advanced beyond the rudiments of our science. There is a far nobler series of doctrines with which Freemasonry is connected, and which no student ever began to investigate who did not find himself insensibly led on, from step to step in his researches, love and admiration of the order… It is this which constitutes the science of Freemasonry, and it is this alone which will return the scholar who devotes himself to the task a sevenfold reward for his labor.”
Please give due consideration to this important education opportunity and join W.Bro. Seymour in exploring the deeper layers of Masonry.
Below are some other upcoming events. As always brothers, I hope to see you in lodge.
S & F
Robert Blackburn, WM
UPCOMING EVENTS
-
March 13, 2010
Roller Derby Night at the Detroit Masonic Temple
[RSVP and payment due on March 6th!] -
March 24, 2010
Study Club: “Masonry and its Place in the World” and -
April 23, 2010
Ladies Night at the Huron River Hunting & Fishing Club -
May 21, 2010
Official lodge visitation and Master Mason degree presentation, Windsor Lodge No. 403, G.L. of Canada in the Province of Ontario.
Masters Table | February 2010
Metzger’s German Restaurant - Ann Arbor, MI
SOCIAL: Past Master’s Night & Membership Awards
Past Master’s Night & Membership Awards
Friday, February 19, 2010 | 6:30PM
Quarter Bistro & Tavern
300 South Maple Road, Ann Arbor, MI
Brothers, their ladies and guests will share an evening of fellowship, food and recognition of those who have given so much to the success of our Lodge - especially our immediate Past Master Chris Fultz and his wife Jill. It is especially hoped that many of our Past Masters will be in attendance to share their thoughts on the Fraternity and the Lodge.
DINNER MENU CHOICES:
All choices include bread, hummus, an entrée, salad, dessert and non-alcoholic beverage.
-
Chicken San Francisco
Chicken poached in white wine, lemon, shallots, artichokes, mushrooms, cream and sour cream. -
Pan-Seared Tilapia Filet
Lightly crusted with panko bread crumbs, parmigiano-reggiano cheese and herbs, finished with white wine, lemon, capers and artichoke hearts. -
Butternut Squash Ravioli Florentine
Tossed with roasted garlic, leeks, baby spinach, Vidalia onions and herb.
PRICE AND RESERVATIONS:
BEFORE FEBRUARY 12, 2010
$20/person, payable to Ann Arbor Fraternity No. 262 if placed by 02/12/2010.
Send orders to:
Clinton Bartholomew
816 Patricia Ave.
Ann Arbor, MI 48103
clinton.r.bartholomew@gmail.com
734.389.5317
DATE OF THE EVENT
$25/person at the door.
EVENT LOCATION:
Quarter Bistro & Tavern
300 South Maple Road Ann Arbor, MI
48103-3833
734.929.9200
http://www.thequarterbistro.com
