Compass Points

June 2005

Lodge Officers

Worshipful Master – Paul E. Rainey

   kirbyman@sigecom.net  812-490-2213

Senior Warden – Randall E. Beem

Beem_ agency@msn.com 812-853-9448

Junior Warden – Garry Bradley

Garry.bradley@SBCglobal.net  812- 567-4047

Treasurer - Hugh E. Metz

(812) 897-2602

Secretary - E. Ray Bradley

(812) 479-1874

Senior Deacon – Frank Bolin

Junior Deacon -  Donald Niehaus

Chaplain – Ronald Millikan

Senior Steward – looking to fill this chair if you are interested contact Paul Rainey.

Junior Steward – Bobby LaRue

Tyler – Edward Krohn

Planning Calendar

June 11 – Breakfast fundraiser ( Newburgh Parade) 7am till 10am Bring the family the Clowns will be there for the children and the folks that are young at heart.

   June 18 – 150 years of Masonry at Newburgh. Meal at noon, rededication starts at 1:15pm. Grand Lodge officers will be putting on the ceremony. Bring family and friends.

   June 19- Feast of Saint John the Baptist

at Boonville, Ind.  Main St. United Methodist Church 10:30am.

   June 21- Stated meeting. Eat at 6:00 PM family night. Meeting at 7:00pm

   July 9- Family Picnic at Noon till? Otter’s baseball game later that evening. Bring the family.

   July 30- Open air eat 4:30-6:30 7pm degree

   Aug 02-Scholarship dinner 6:00pm.

   Aug 12- Otters baseball game. Bring the family.

 Past Events

  On May 14^th we had the second annual Prime Rib dinner. This event was a real success thanks to all the brothers that came out to show there support and many others. Thanks also go out to all the helpers for the entire day. Without the support or help it would not have happened!

     We had a Profit of $1557.26 after our expense.

 Looking From the West

Randy Beem, Senior Warden

EGO

(Has been revised to fit page)

This Short Talk Bulletin is the last scheduled to be published under the Editorship of RW Brother Stewart Pollard who has served for the past ten years as Executive Secretary of The Masonic Service Association. In it he expresses personal opinions based upon his observations in travels to almost every Jurisdiction in the United States.

All too frequently we hear of Masonic leaders being on an "ego trip." Or, we hear that they are "stumbling over their own egos." Then there are such remarks as, "He turned into a 'monster' after he went into office," or "whatever happened to 'meeting on the level'?"

Those comments are not all without some foundation. There are, and have been, Masonic leaders who are carried away with their own importance. Yes, and there are some who let the title go to their heads, and who forget from whence they came.

Ego is a strange thing. We all should have a certain amount of it to demonstrate our pride in our abilities, in our accomplishments, and in our self-respect. It is only when we get to the point that we tend to believe that we're better, smarter or more important than the next fellow that ego gets in our way.

Masonry has never been considered a democratic society. The Master of a Lodge is not only its leader, but more importantly, he is its greatest servant. As such, he has an obligation to serve his lodge and his brethren, not for his own glory and honor, but for the good of the lodge. He must be prudent in all of his words and actions, and if necessary, subjugate his own desires to those of the lodge.

Masters, though, are not the only ones whose egos have a tendency to hurt the Craft. Longfellow said, "Into each life some rain must fall...." The phrase might well be reworded to "In almost every lodge there is a nitpicker." Or so it seems. There are some of our brethren who are never satisfied. They look for an excuse to criticize; to complain; to "jaw", to sound off; to grouch; -- to nit-pick. Their ego, as shown by their need to be heard, is frequently a thorn in the side of the Master and officers. They have a tendency to ruffle feathers.

The Masonic Service Association recently received a letter from an irate Past Grand Master who had read in a Masonic publication a paper bearing the by-line of a Grand Lodge Officer in a sister jurisdiction. It was a good, thought provoking well-written article that caused the Past Grand Master to do added research on the topic.

What prompted his ire and disgust was that in his research he came across a Short Talk Bulletin of twenty-five years ago which sounded very familiar. When he compared it with the recent publication, he found that it was word-for-word, sentence-by-sentence and paragraph-for paragraph, identical to the Short Talk Bulletin, yet the "author" had not had the courtesy to give credit where credit was due. His ego had permitted him to let readers think it was his words and his thoughts.

 And then there are PAST Masters whose egos won't let them relinquish the gavel. Two people with their hands on the steering wheel at the same time can make it an unpleasant trip for the other passengers. If the Master is not in control of the lodge, it’s an unpleasant experience for the brethren. The old expression, too many cooks spoil the broth, is equally applicable to the management of a lodge or a grand lodge.Yes! An overzealous ego can and does damage our Craft. It is a by-product of poor leadership traits, which we need to identify early in our progressive lines. In many cases, ego can be tempered by "whispering words of wise counsel in the ear of an erring brother." In a "worse-case scenario," when it is obvious that the over-blown ego cannot be controlled, it may be necessary to pass the brother over at the next election.

In The Freemason's Monitor, written by Thomas Smith Webb in 1799, he observes: "that all who accept offices and exercise authority, should be properly qualified to discharge the task assigned them, with honor to themselves, and credit to their sundry stations." The same is just as true almost two hundred years later.

When elected to office, the brothers are confident that the one elected has the qualifications and ability to lead and has the best interests of the lodge at heart. He is expected to conform to the principle of the order, "by steadily persevering in the practice of very commendable virtue."

 An often-quoted verse, titled "The Indispensable Man," is frequently used to illustrate the unnecessary value of egotism. It bears repeating:

Sometime when you're feeling important, sometime when your ego's in bloom,

Sometime when you take it for granted you're the best qualified in the room;

Sometime when you feel that your going would leave an unfillable hole,

Just follow these simple instructions and see how they humble your soul.

Take a bucket and fill it with water, put your hand in it up to the wrist,

Pull it out, and the hole that's remaining is a measure of how you'll be missed.

You can splash all you want when you enter, you may stir up the water galore

But stop, and you find that in no time it looks quite the same as before.

The moral in this quaint example is to do just the best that you can;

Be proud of yourself, but remember there's no indispensable man.A noted management psychologist, Dr. James G. Carr of Charlotte, North Carolina, in an article in PACE magazine, summed it up this way:

"A Power-hungry people do occupy high stations in life at times and some abuse their power; but to condemn all leaders on those grounds-including those whose primary motive was to serve or those who simply filled a vacuum left by the less competent or less motivated--is ridiculous.Even the selfish did not attain those positions by selfishness alone. With predictable exceptions, authority usually has something to do with accomplishment and contribution, and in the final analysis, we may have to concede that those who get the most--whether selfishly motivated or not--are sometimes those who have given the most."

The Master who completes his year in the East with satisfaction can quote those famous American philosophers, Bartles and Jaymes, by saying to the brethren, "Thank you for your support."

Looking From The South

 Garry Bradley, Junior Warden

Welcome to Summer time Brethren,

 I hope that this find us all well and ready for work.

We have many things coming up this summer, our 150^th years to celebrate our service to the community and the fraternity, Open Air is coming in July and we are also busy with Degree Work. Not as busy, perhaps, as we want to be or need to be.

Brothers, we need you. We need you to become active in your lodge. As we look to the future, we need those of you who are “waiting for the right time,” to find that time right now.

I was one of you. I paid my dues and attended lodge only sporadically for many years. I had the same reasons for holding back on my participation and many of you are listing in your minds as you read this. Family obligations, working to support myself and family, etc, I had many reasons for not participating. These are certainly valid. We are taught to meet are obligations to God, our country, our neighbor and ourselves and to never let the lodge displace these things as our priority.

I am not addressing the young members who are trying to establish there place in the community and raise families.

I want to address the men who, like me, can no longer say that they have a ballgame to attend or (fill in the blank) to use as a reason for not getting involved. Your lodge needs you now. We need men who will step in and learn Ritual parts and be willing to attend the degrees and participate. We need men who have “always wanted” to be an officer but didn’t feel that he could devote the time because of all of the things that need to be done at home or work or wherever.

We definitely have a place for you to get plugged in and do the things that will involve you in the lodge again.

Please, give this some thought. How many times have you said, “One of these days I’d like to ….?”

Brethren, that day is here. Don’t be bashful, get involved.

Looking From The East

 We have made it into June, but we still have a lot of work coming up for the remainder of the year.   There are a couple of petitions to be read in the June stated meeting.  I hope that there are other brothers that have a petition to bring in for the stated meeting to also be read.

     My visit to the Grand Lodge this year will always stay with me. It was a neat experience to see the Grand Lodge officers installed. Congratulations to all the Grand Lodge officers.

     Brethren, Newburgh is having a milestone of 150 years. Come out support this great milestone on June 18^th. Don’t miss the food and fellowship that day. The Grand Lodge officers will put on the ceremony. Come out in force, bring the family and friends.

     Let’s not forget the scholarship applicants. Names of the successful applicants are:

Andrew G. Bradley, Jennifer B. Leslie, Jonathan D. Rodgers, Matthew R. Lackey, Jeannie R. Downing. July 17 at 11:00 AM Doors open at 11:30 AM Program, this will be held at the Scottish Rite Cathedral at Indianapolis, In. For the young adults and Family.

Please visit  the Newburgh Lodge web site at http://www.mastermason.com/newburgh174/

The site gives other information such as the dates to all the degree work that we plan as well as all the other activities in the works.

“See You In Lodge” 

WM. Paul E. Rainey