Chili Cook-Off at Fraternal
Attention, chili lovers! Come and be a part of our first Chili Cook-Off Competition!
Join us on Saturday, October 14th, 2023, at noon at Fraternal Lodge No. 37 in McDonough to taste the most delicious chili creations around the area. And the best part is – You can taste all the entries for a $10 donation! Each taste ticket includes a drink and a door raffle ticket.
Got an award-winning recipe you want to enter? Click for Chili Cook-off Entry
Bring your appetite and come ready to sample, judge, and enjoy! See you there!”
Live Within the Compass, Part Upon the Square
My Brother, in the Courtyard
Each one of us has stood
Outside the tyled Temple door
Awaiting as we should.
Take heed, thou young Apprentices
The Word emblazoned there:
To meet upon the level
And part upon the square.
My Brother, at the Altar
Each one of us has knelt
With solemn Oath and Brotherhood
The Mystic Tie we’ve felt.
Take heed, my Brother Fellowcraft
The Word emblazoned there:
To act upon the plumb
And part upon the Square.
My Brother, in the Temple
Each one of us was Raised
And on receiving further light
Into the Light, we gazed.
Take heed, my Brothers, Masters all
The Word emblazoned there:
To Live within the compass
And part upon the Square.
– Author unknown
A Little Lodge Of Long Ago
The Little Lodge of long ago-
It wasn’t very much for show;
Men met above the village store,
And cotton more than satin wore,
And sometimes stumbled on a word,
But no one cared, or no one heard.
Then tin reflectors threw the light
Of kerosene across the night
And down the highway served to call
The faithful to Masonic Hall.
It wasn’t very much, I know,
The little lodge of long ago.
But, men who meet in finer halls,
Forgive me if the mind recalls
With love, not laughter, doors of pine,
And smoky lamps that dimly shine,
Regalia tarnished, garments frayed,
Or cheaply bought or simply made,
And floors uncarpeted, and men
Whose grammar falters now and then-
For Craft or Creed, or God Himself,
Is not a book upon a shelf:
They have a splendor that will touch
A Lodge that isn’t very much.
It isn’t very much- and yet
And, if a handful or a host,
This made it great: there Masons met-
That always matters, matters most.
The beauty of the meeting hour
Is not a thing of robe or flow’r,
However beautiful they seem:
The greatest beauty is the gleam
Of sympathy in honest eyes.
A Lodge is not a thing of size,
It is a thing of Brotherhood,
And that alone can make it good.
The Lambskin Apron
A Poem by Edgar A. Guest
It is not ornamental, the cost is not great,
There are other things far more useful, yet truly I state,
Tho of all my possessions, there’s none can compare,
With that white leather apron, which all Masons wear.
As a young lad, I wondered just what it all meant,
When Dad hustled around, and so much time was spent
On shaving and dressing and looking just right,
Until Mother would say: “It’s the Masons tonight.”
And some winter nights she said: “What makes you go,
Way up there tonight thru the sleet and the snow,
You see the same things every month of the year.”
Then Dad would reply: “Yes, I know it, my dear.”
Forty years I have seen the same things, it is true.
And though they are old, they always seem new,
For the hands that I clasp, and the friends that I greet,
Seem a little bit closer each time that we meet.”
Years later I stood at that very same door,
With good men and true who had entered before,
I knelt at the altar, and there I was taught
That virtue and honor can never be bought.
That the spotless white lambskin all Masons revere,
If worthily worn grows more precious each year,
That service to others brings blessings untold,
That man may be poor tho surrounded by gold.
I learned that true brotherhood flourishes there,
That enmities fade ‘neath the compass and square,
That wealth and position are all thrust aside,
As they’re on the level men meet and abide.
So, honor the lambskin, may it always remain
Forever unblemished, and free from all stains,
And when we are called to the Great Father’s love,
May we all take our place in that Lodge up above