Newsletter for January 2026 Meeting

Our Next Meeting is January 10, 2026

Our agenda includes our usual business.  In this issue of our newsletter you will find informational items that may be of use during our meeting.

Potential Commemorative Coin

A proposal for a commemorative coin has been received. This initial proposal for 100 coins in color soft enamel in a two inch diameter polished silver plating would total an estimated $559 or in antiqued silver plating for an estimated $594.

Below is the proof art of the coins:

Approx $594 per 100

Approx. $559 per 100

When Can Lodges Meet?

• Every Lodge shall meet at least once in three months, and a Lodge failing to do so shall forfeit all its rights and privileges.
  
  
• No Lodge in this jurisdiction shall meet on Sunday, except for the  purpose of conducting the funeral ceremony of a Brother ... or with the approval of the Grand Master, or to lay the cornerstone of a church building or house of worship.
  
  
• June 24 is Saint John the Baptist Day, and December 27 is Saint John the Divine Day. These are feast days on which no Stated Meeting shall be held. Called Meetings may be held on June 24 for the installation of officers, and on either of such days to confer degrees or conduct funerals. …
  
  
• This Grand Lodge shall meet in Annual Communication in the City of Waco at 1:30 p.m. on the Thursday before the third Friday in January, unless ... and it goes on to describe a call for starting on Thursday instead of Friday, with no conduct of business until the opening on the third Friday. ... and while in session for the transaction of business, no Constituent Lodge owing obedience to it shall hold any meeting either Stated or Called for any purpose except for funerals … or for valid emergencies approved by the Grand Master.  In the event of a severe emergency, the Grand Master and the Grand Lodge Trustees may specify the labors of a Grand Annual Communication to be transacted in a Special Communication of the Grand Lodge …. To defray the expenses incurred ... each Member of Grand Lodge ..., each … must pay a twenty-five dollar ($25.00) registration fee to attend an annual or called meeting of the Grand Lodge of Texas. 

Food For Thought: Who Were the “Original Masons?”

 

This little article is not intended to be an authoritative statement, but it IS useful food for thought.

Who were the “original masons?”  The earliest "masons" were our Stone Age ancestors who began arranging stones for basic shelters, moving beyond just using natural caves.  According to science the Stone Age lasted from about 3.3 million years ago up until 3000 B.C. with the beginning of the Bronze Age. 

 

As the ice age receded and sustained agriculture arose, human culture transitioned from a predominantly hunter/gatherer nomadic lifestyle and into a more settled agrarian lifestyle.  They slowly developed communities of humans often settling around rivers and other water sources.  As humans settled into farming communities, they developed better techniques using fire, mud, and straw to build more permanent, weatherproof homes.   

 

Ancient builders refined their art to the point that ancient civilizations like the Egyptians, the Indus Valley peoples and Mesopotamians, the Greeks, the Romans, the Central and South American peoples such as the Maya, Aztec, and Inca, and other peoples around the world, developed “monumental masonry” of various styles. These “monumental masons” slowly evolved into the operative guilds of the Middle Ages and eventually into the speculative Freemasonry we enjoy today.  

 

 

Here’s another little tidbit for you.  The word speculative indicates theoretical, scientific, and worth great attention. By the 15th century it also referred to contemplative – devoted to sacred contemplation.