By J. Rafisura —Junior Warden
Greetings, Brethren! As we welcome the month of February, I wish all of you, including our dear ladies and widows, a Happy Valentine’s Day! It seems like it’s only been a few months since we had our February 2020 Dinner and Stated Meeting, in person! I can still vividly picture our brothers in their pristine coat and tie with a touch of red in their outfits. I can still picture the ladies gleaming with smiles as we offered stems of red roses as they entered the Masonic Hall. Little did we know that those were the last days before physical gatherings were prohibited due to the state-wide lockdown brought about by the global pandemic.
Since then, the fraternity adhered to all restrictions and initially struggled to exist without being able to meet in person. Lodges looked at and consulted with each other, and discussed new guidelines from the Grand Lodge, anticipated future possibilities and brain-stormed for best practices. Time stood still momentarily. But in true ancient Masonic fashion, the fraternity started to rise and adapt to the situation. While the rest of the population were hunkered down, lodge officers, past masters and several “pillar” members of our lodge continued to carry out our ancient traditions, in the dark, with minimal to no sideliners.
As Covid-19 was poorly understood at that time, lodge officers began identifying those who were willing to take the risk of getting the virus - the intent being to continue opening and closing the lodge on its regular stated meetings, pending definite guidelines from the Grand Lodge. Those identified lodge members were later fondly known as “The Expendables”. Boy, it feels like that was a very long time ago and it certainly sounds like a good story to tell our grandchildren. At present, we now have clear guidelines from the Grand Lodge to meet virtually and how we conduct our business.
So far, your Crow Canyon Lodge #551, on top of the monthly stated meetings, have done the Feast of St. John (The Baptist) in June, attended the Annual Communication in October, had the Officer’s Installation and celebrated the Feast of Saint John (The Evangelist) in December - - all done virtually! Kudos to the leadership of Worshipful Paul and all those who never ceased to actively participate in our activities.
As we move on and continue to navigate in this very fluid pandemic situation, I encourage every member to participate and get involved with lodge activities. Your lodge is still very much active and alive! There is no better time to be involved in our lodge than now. Let us reconnect and continue to rise from the ashes as we travel toward the East!
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