From The East – January 2023
Greetings Brethren and Happy New Year!
I want to begin by thanking the Brethren of Acacia Lodge #94 for allowing me the honor of serving as your Worshipful Master for 2023. Your confidence in me to serve in this capacity is indeed humbling and I am grateful for the opportunity to serve
my Lodge once again in this capacity.
I want to thank WB Jeff Triplett for carrying the torch for the past 2 years. The Covid pandemic took a terrible toll on Freemasonry and we lost countless great men to this terrible virus.
We struggled with disharmony in our Grand Lodge, saw the expulsion of a Past Grand Master, lodges were locked down and meetings were not allowed for quite some time. Coming
out of the lockdowns, we struggled to get our attendance back up to a reasonable level, degree work struggled as we worked to reacquaint ourselves with ritual work and overcame many other obstacles.
Our Grand Master, Most Worshipful Ron Mitchum, had quite a task on his hands to restore some form or sanity to our Grand Jurisdiction. In my opinion, he has done a remarkable job reuniting the Craft and promoting peace, harmony and reconciliation to our gentle Craft. There is a newfound excitement in Masonry once again and Lodges are growing their membership, the appendant bodies are seeing a surge in new petitions and there is an excitement growing in our state.
Granted, this is not true in every single Lodge, but overall, we have had a great 2 years under MW Mitchum’s leadership.
As most of you know, Acacia has had its share of struggles in the past several years. However there is also some excitement brewing in our ranks. My goal is to continue this and grow it even further, but I need the help and support of each
and every member of this Lodge. We need to get back to quality Degree work and good education. This can only be accomplished if we all pull together, practice our work and help each other.
To the elected officers, my congratulations on your elevation.
To the appointed officers, congratulations on your selection to serve our Lodge. My hope is that we all take our positions seriously, dedicate the time to learn your parts, commit them to memory and be a supporter and encourager of others that need our help.
As Masons, that is what we committed to do when we each knelt at our Sacred Altar and obligated ourselves to the Lodge, to our Brethren and more importantly, to The Grand Architect of the Uni-
verse. We have grown our numbers in the past several months with the addition of 2 new Brothers, 2 Brothers have returned and reaffiliated after work took them out of town and we have an EA in
the process of continuing his journey.
Although we can’t openly solicit members, we can be the example that others would like to emulate. If we are always having great fellowship, good food and good Degree work, others want to share
in that. To plagiarize a line from the movies, “If we build it, they will come.” This is absolutely true. I have seen it in other organizations that I belong to. We are seeing attendance surge, younger men
joining with an excitement that is contagious and eagerly taking on parts in Degrees or other areas.
I have a strong connection to Acacia Lodge and I want to see each of us succeed in reaching our goals, whatever your individual goal may be. I commit to helping in any way I can Brothers,
but by the same token, I need your help. I know life has twists and turns, work sometimes gets in the way, family things come up.
All I ask is that we all make every effort to attend our meetings. Our date has not changed, it is still the first Thursday of every month. Please make a point to show up. We all count on each other to be present and it is sometimes difficult to fill empty chairs just before the gavel drops. We are at a critical point in the history of this Lodge and it is up to each of us to continue the legacy others have left for us and to pick up the torch and carry it forward.
Just sitting in the light won’t get us very far, we have to carry the light to others.
In closing, again. Thank you for the opportunity to serve your Lodge! I look forward to a successful year in 2023. If I can help with anything, please reach out. I am here to help wherever I can.
My phone # is 803.767.1298 and my email is 10thddgm@gmail.com.
Congratulations to all of my officers once again! I look forward to
working with each of you.
I hope you and your families had a joyous Christmas and my pray-
er for each of you is a prosperous and Happy New Year!
Fraternally,
Jeff Hall, PDDGM