Bros,
This trestle board marks the beginning of a new era in the lodge and a new era in my life, being the new master of LA Harbor Masonic Lodge. I am truly honored by the opportunity and humbled by the faith my brothers and their families have put in me to lead the lodge into the future of freemasonry. With that there are a number of things that I wish to concentrate on in the ensuing year.

1. Lodge Membership: It is imperative that in order to further grow as a lodge that we put ourselves into the community as masons and bring the community into the lodge. Specifically, that means at the very least that members should be making a concerted effort to bring friends and family to our Pub Nights and Family Night Dinners. This is the most convenient opportunity for members to introduce potential candidates to the membership.

2. Reservations: As Junior Warden, Worshipful Mike Logan, points out in his “From the South” article it is imperative that we receive reservations for the upcoming family night dinners and social events in order to properly plan for the amount of food to prepare, the tables to set up, and the extent of the entertainment. Please diligently drop him an email or phone call letting him know that you will be attending one of our social events.

3. Social Events: I have asked each of the officers to adopt a month to head up one social event per month. I would ask the same of the membership generally. If you have an idea for a social event this year please do not hesitate to email or call myself or the Junior Warden Mike Logan and we can make it happen. A diversity of social events will cut across a broader spectrum of our membership, increasing participation and fellowship.

4. Community Service: I am anxious to hear ideas from the membership regarding community service efforts. If there are any members who would like to facilitate a community pancake breakfast, beach clean up, Child ID program, and communication with other community service organizations, e.g. Kiwanis, Rotary, Elks, etc., please let me know as soon as possible. In order to be relevant for the 21st century the lodge must reach out into the community. To do that we can not always perform community service inside the lodge and must interface with other groups trying to accomplish the same things.

5. Budget: Given the limited extent of the budget, management has been forced to be more selective and disciplined with planning the calendar overall. I have made every effort to preserve the traditional program of LA Harbor Masonic Lodge to the extent possible. In order to do this it is important to remind each member to fulfill his obligation to pay his dues on time and in full. Everyone should be aware that the option of paying via credit card is available on our website www.laharborlodge.org. Together as brothers we can make 2012 a year of growth, unity, and most importantly fun! I welcome your input and assistance in invigorating our lodge. As Woody Allen once said, “Being successful is 80 percent showing up.” I look forward to an exciting year!

Fraternally,
Ken Fuller,
Worshipful Master
worshipfulmaster332@gmail.com
 

Sisters & Brothers,
These last three months have been exciting with the revealing of the new Associate Grand Patron Designee – Brother Art Weiss and the Reception of our own Jeff Baker, Grand Chaplain.
The end of August on the 29th at 7:30 pm will be the Honor Night for our Deputy Grand Matron, our own Sister Melissa Cronin. The theme will be Hawaiian so come on out for a relaxed evening of fellowship to honor our Deputy Grand Matron.

A big thank you goes to the members of San Pedro Harbor and Alpha Star for making Jeffs reception a wonderful success. It was well planned and executed by the Chairmen – Mike and Robin Logan. There were over 250 in attendance. The Dinner was great and the entertainment (Jeffs band) was super, especially Jeffs RAP.

August will bring Brothers Nights and the revealing of the Associate Patron Designees for our District. You will have to attend the Chapter meetings to find out who they are. In September we will find out who our new Grand Officers will be as well as our new Deputy Grand Matron for 2012.

There are only two months before Grand Chapter. The Galloping Gavel will be returning to San Pedro Harbor so that it can start up again for 2012, if the new Worthy Matrons and Worthy Patrons decide to continue this Travel program for next year. Christie and I extend our thanks for all of our members as well as the members of Districts #30, #31 & #32 for all the traveling and support we experienced this year – it was awesome!
Please remember to attend and support our Æbleskiver Breakfast on September 18th at San Pedro Harbor Chapter, 8:00 to 12:00 Noon. Tickets are $7.00 each ($5.00 Children under 12). Melissa is the Chairman and it looks like we will have Outside Vendors as well as our Rada Knives and Bazaar items available. Please come
on out for the food, fellowship and fun. If you are willing to work please contact Melissa (310) 324-2020, she will be more than happy to sign you up.

The Craftsman
Can we brothers better our natures? Can we brothers improve ourselves in Freemasonry? There are a good many self help systems out there. You can find 'Unlimited Power' through Tony Robbins. You can learn the 'Power of Intention' under the tutelage of Dr. Wayne Dyer. You could try manifesting and attracting your wealth, security and happiness via 'The Laws of Attraction.' Perhaps Kevin Trudeau has that 'Natural Cure' you've been looking for? Learn to see with 'The Teachings of Don Juan' by Carlos Castaneda. Allow Eckhart Tolle to show you 'A New Earth,' or Norman Vincent Peale to guide you with 'The Power of Positive Thinking.' Religions are something like self help systems as well. Perhaps you can find your personal answer in one of them. Christianity sacrifices the ego. Judaism is an enlightened path. Islam submits man's will to a Higher Authority. Hinduism contains a rare beauty of ideas. Buddhism harnesses desires through
compassion. Are the answers there? It really doesn’t matter if there are answers in the myriad self help tomes and systems available to the general public. And here is not the place for religious discussions; beliefs all too subjective to the believers. What Freemasons really want to know is whether or not Freemasonry actually 'can' help a man improve himself. Many Freemasons even want to know exactly how it can. Most Masons are seekers on the path. They have followed that first step with many after. But they want to know...in the end...where that path is leading them. Does the Masonic Path...do those steps up the ladder lead to the York Rite?; perhaps the Scottish Rite and Albert Pike's opus 'Morals and Dogma of the Scottish Rite?; or is it into those halls of fellowship and frivolity found in the Mystic Shrine?

I have followed the Path from its beginning in the Blue Lodge and continued my journey through each of these Masonic 'systems'. And so
like Alice moving through the dreaming depths of Wonderland I have met brothers and friends along my travels and faced dangers, challenges and even an enemy or two. We men who seek to learn to improve ourselves in Freemasonry must begin with the belief that Masonry is a system of ideas, symbols and even instructions. But we must go fearless onto that Path and begin first at the side of the Angel of Faith. Soon enough we will have Hope. And if we toil long enough...and learn well enough...perhaps we shall rectify ourselves at that higher plane where alone waits the Angel of Charity...Love. If you are indeed a Freemason then you should already be aware that atop that stairway to heaven is the Light. And before that Light is the Angel of Charity...the Angel of Love. This is a symbol...the most profound of Masonic symbols. The author Ram Dass recently released his third book in his trilogy of enlightened works entitled 'Be Love Now.' Love is a state of Being he insists. It is the key to the true mastery of the self and the revelation of the infinite Light. Call that what you will. Where have we many Masons misplaced our Brotherly Love? I have still found waiting daggers in the hands of Brothers. Men set foot on the Path and lose their way...discouraged because the Light is unclear to them for all the secrets we keep...even from ourselves. Unworthy men have set foot on that same True Path.

These men are brothers but to themselves. Worthy Brothers, discarded Ruffians, keep your heads along the way...and Pay attention! It is true that you will find what you are looking for. Certainly we Masons are all looking for brothers in the Order...friends...family. But Do Not take that first step of Freemasonry and shame yourself and your Order along the Path because you are content that Masonry is a means to a social end...or empowerment in business or something else. Freemasonry is a Light in the Darkness. But so long have men clouded the way with their own preconceptions, desires and prejudices that you will likely find the Path a perilous one...with little reward for your undertaking. If you are daring you will cast aside your preconceptions, remove the hoodwink and cable tow to stand at last on the edge of a yawning precipice. Your world, the self you were, lies behind you. The Angel of Faith awaits you and you must walk where the ground is uncertain...where the familiar is no more. There are many answers for the true seeker in Freemasonry. How many Masons, too afraid, cast aside the teaching in 'Morals and Dogma'? How many Masons know the Order's teachings save the Lodge procedures and degree rituals? So many brothers have I spoken with who were yet lost along the way and simply disgusted because they have learned to improve themselves only in fellowship. There is more...much more. But most either do not know, pay attention or dare to look into or apply those most relevant of Masonic teachings. To learn to improve yourself in Freemasonry is not simply a call to learn the motions of the Order.

It is an Oath to apply the teachings of the Order...teachings obscured because many Masons are afraid to face that most fearful of all things...themselves. Wait in the chamber of reflection and look well at what you see. Mortal man, alone and weak enough before the tides of time and fate. The other Angel waiting...Death. Are we not all rough ashlar, so like an unfinished cast out corner stone? Each day we live, our character is revealed as that coarseness is chipped away. What is the Image of the Man we will each find inside once we are finished? Man in the Image of God?...or simply so obscured by passions, jealousies, hatreds and small mindedness that what remains is too awful to look upon? Masonry is artistry. It is a profession with tools and labors. And we are each the Craftsmen of our own likeness. In its teachings and through its admonishments, our works - and that final 'self portrait' - is often tried by that Great Architect. Only a worthy work...only an Image revealed at last beneath the ashlar to be as beautiful as the Original can stand before the Light. Take up your work not without care then. Safeguard your tools and learn your Master's teachings well.