A Charge for the 2016 Masonic Year

by Joseph Grist, PM
2015-2016 State Rainbow Dad

The 237th Grand Annual Communication of the Most Worshipful Grand Lodge, A.F. & A.M., of Virginia, was held in Richmond, November 4th through 7th, 2015. Over 900 of Virginia’s more than 35,000 Master Masons attended Grand Lodge this year representing over 150 of the more than 300 Lodges of Virginia. There were numerous Assembly and Past State Rainbow Dads in attendance, and we can all say that our Grand Worthy Advisor, Rachel Cochrane, did an outstanding job with her speech to the Grand Lodge.

The outgoing Grand Master of Masons in Virginia, Most Worshipful Reese Edward Carroll Jr., provided our Masonic family a great motto to follow this past year: Together We Can Make a Difference. And we know that when you work together, there is nothing our Rainbow Girls cannot accomplish. Recently this was represented perfectly as Fairfax and Springfield Assemblies provided an excellent and moving program for the Grand Visitation of our Grand Worthy Advisor.

Now, as we move into our 238th Masonic year, we have a new Grand Master of Masons in Virginia, Most Worshipful James Edward Litten, and during his Installation he provided us a moving speech focusing on how we should be setting a good example through Freemasonry. This message was not directed just to the Freemasons, but to all of our Masonic Family; no matter the time of day or day of the week, no matter the place or setting, we should always strive to set a good example for others to follow.

Most Worshipful Litten made note of some interesting statistics during his Installation speech, but there is one I will paraphrase in closing. The average household spends over 7 hours a day watching TV. With the use of computers and smartphones and all of the Facebooking, Snapchatting, Instagramming, and Tweeting that is happening, a lot of time is being used to communicate things impersonally. What if we were to use just 7 hours of just one of those days doing something good for another (a Brother or Sister in Freemasonry), for the community, or for an organization. What a difference we would make if we all did this, and what a good example we would set.

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