The Trestleboard is an official publication of Twin Peaks Lodge No. 32, which is a legally constituted Masonic Lodge operating under charter granted by the Most Worshipful Grand Lodge of Free & Accepted Masons of Utah. The Trestleboard is published for the sole and exclusive use of the members of Twin Peaks Lodge No. 32, and any other use is expressly forbidden. The editor of The Trestleboard is Glen Van Steeter. Submissions of educational articles or other announcements may be sent to the editor at [email protected], and if selected for publication, will be given full attribution. All submissions are subject to the approval of the Worshipful Master of Twin Peaks Lodge No. 32 and the editor of the Trestleboard.
The Lodge Secretary endeavors to keep our roster as accurate as possible. If you are moving, changing your mailing address, phone number or email address, please update your information in GrandView or notify the Secretary so that your information can be kept current.
Twin Peaks Lodge Secretary
May Calendar
Monday, May 1 @ 7:30pm – May Stated Meeting. We will have a special presentation by Job’s Daughters. Dinner will be served at 6:15pm prior to the meeting. Friends and family are invited. Guests are also invited to the Job’s Daughters presentation at 7:00pm. Stated Meeting opens at 7:30. Dress is business.
Saturday, May 6 @ 8:00am – Volunteering at the Utah Food Bank. Open to all family and guests. Please RSVP to Ephraim.
Monday, May 8 @ 7:00pm – Master Mason Degree Practice
Monday, May 15 @ 7:00pm -Master Mason Degree
Monday, May 22 @ 7:00pm – Meetup Fellowship Dinner at Archibald’s Restaurant at Gardner Village.
Monday, May 29 @ 7:00pm – Memorial Day. No Lodge.
Sickness and Distress
Fortunately, I believe all brothers and families are in overall good health. Let’s express our gratitude and keep it that way!
If you happen to hear about a brother who is in distress, please contact either the Worshipful Master or the Lodge Secretary ASAP so that the Lodge can put itself in a position to assist.
FROM THE EAST
Spring is in the air. With spring usually comes spring cleaning. A few brothers in our lodge helped with cleaning and doing maintenance of our lodge building. Since we put in a lot of effort last year, it was much easier this time around.
I noticed that my apron could use a little cleaning of it’s own. This apron was presented to me at my raising and has traveled around the world with me. It has been with me to lodges in England, Scotland, Hong Kong, Singapore, India, Japan, Taiwan, Australia and throughout the United States. Over time and in my travels, it has become a little dirty.
In the Apron Lecture, we are taught, “Let its pure and spotless surface be to you an ever-present reminder of purity of life, of rectitude of conduct, a never-ending argument for higher thoughts, for nobler deeds, for greater achievements;”
While cleaning my apron, I couldn’t help but draw a comparison between this simple act and the importance of maintenance in our own lives. Craftsman don’t keep their aprons clean by avoiding work, they are intended to be in the quarries laboring. So how do we keep our aprons spotless as a reminder of a purity of life and higher thoughts while working in the dusty quarries of life?
As human beings, we accumulate emotional and physical baggage over time, we make mistakes, and we get dirty with the grit of everyday life. If we don’t take the time to self-reflect and address these issues, they can weigh us down and make it difficult to move forward as we lose the vision of what we are striving to be. Similarly, just like an apron that is stained and dirty from repeated use, our lives can become cluttered and messy if we don’t take the time to clean and maintain them.
What are areas in your life that may have become dirty over time? How can you restore it to it’s pure and spotless state that the record of your life be as pure and spotless as this fair emblem?
On the Square, Ephraim Sng Worshipful Master
Masonic Anniversaries
These brethren were raised to the Sublime Degree of Master Mason in the month of May.
Brother Richard Scott, raised on May 11, 2017 and has 6 years of service.
Brother Jonnathan Tenorio, raised May 11, 2015 and has 8 years of service
Brother Jeremy Estes, raised on May 21, 2014 and has 9 years of service.
Brother Jacob Arun, raised on May 19, 2014 and has 9 years of service.
Brother Sam Korologos, raised on May 12, 1984 and has 41 years of service.
Happy Birthdays!
These brethren were born in May. Make sure and wish them a “Happy Birthday!” when you see them this month!
Brother Richard Lee, born on May 2
Brother Jacob Arum, born on May 3
Brother Trent Norton, born on May 22
Brother Chris Kinsley, born on May 22
Brother Albert Shahinaian, born on May 28
Worshipful Brother Lyle Millar, born on May 30
Report on Past Events
DeMolay’s Presentation of The Father’s Talk
The DeMolay held a wonderful presentation of the Father’s Talk before our stated meeting last month. It was well attended and seeing the support of the Masonic family. We also had eight interested parties in attendance who were not a part of the masonic family who expressed interest in learning more.
Esoteric Night: A discussion on the Symbolisms of the Entered Apprentice Degree
Worshipful Brother Glen Van Steeter led a great discussion on the symbols of the Entered Apprentice Degree with several of our Entered Apprentice brothers in attendance. Obviously we cannot discuss too many detail here, but it was enlightening to share insights into the symbols and allegories of the first degree, as well as the historical context behind some of them. A few of my takeaways is that the first degree is largely based off of questions. And that all faiths has a teaching centered around the Golden Rule:
Spring Cleaning
Many thanks to the brothers who came out and helped with our annual lodge spring cleaning. We replaced the burnt and flicking lights in the lobby, including tubes and ballasts, vacuumed the lobby and lodge room, thoroughly wiped down the chairs and gave them a good cleaning, cleaned the bathroom and replaced batteries in the dispensers.
And Bob said, “Let There Be Light”And There was LightBefore / After. What a difference a good clean makes!
Fellowship Dinner and Double EA Degree
We hosted our fellowship dinner at the lodge and joined Oquirrh Lodge #19 for their double EA Degree. It was awesome to see the lodge room full of brothers. Twin Peaks had seven brothers in attendance.
Upcoming Events
Bethel #16 of the Job’s Daughters will be performing the robe ceremony in a special presentation before our stated meeting. This will be open to family, friends, and guests.
Utah Food Bank
We will be volunteering at the Utah Food Bank on Saturday, May 6 at 8am. Please inform Worshipful Brother Robert Hartman or Worshipful Brother Ephraim Sng if you are planning on attending. This will be open to family, friends, and guests. We hope to see you there.
Masons at Work Picnic
How do you make a hard working Mason and his family as happy as this fellow? By coming to the Masons at Work Picnic, sponsored by Twin Peaks Lodge #32!
This fun-filled, appetite-satisfying event will be held at Big Bear Park, 930 Onyx Lane (9600 South) in Sandy, Utah on June 25, 2023. Our members will be grilling up Top Sirloin Steaks, we’ll have baked potatoes, other side dishes, and drinks.
Twin Peaks will have an auction of Masonic and other valuable items, there will be games for adults and children (and there is a play area for the younger ones). Bring your family, friends, in-laws, out-laws, and enjoy great food and wonderful fellowship. There is a potential for a softball game between the Masonic youth and the Masonic adults, details still to be ironed out. So, here’s the short form: What: Masons at Work Picnic When: June 25, 2023 Where: Big Bear Park, 930 Onyx Lane, Sandy UT Time: 11 AM-3 PM Other details will follow. Our Senior Warden, Past Master Bob Hartman, can answer questions you may have. His cell number is 801-803-0836 or email [email protected].
Masonic Education
We’ve Always Done it this Way
I’m a constant reader and was wondering why there have been a lot of train derailments lately. I recently came across an interesting story about the history of railroad track widths:
“A history lesson for people who think that history doesn’t matter: What’s the big deal about railroad tracks? The US standard railroad gauge (distance between the rails) is 4 feet, 8.5 inches. That’s an exceedingly odd number. Why was that gauge used? Well, because that’s the way they built them in England, and English engineers designed the first US railroads.
Why did the English build them like that? Because the first rail lines were built by the same people who built the wagon tramways, and that’s the gauge they used.
So, why did ‘they’ use that gauge then? Because the people who built the tramways used the same jigs and tools that they had used for building wagons, which used that same wheel spacing. Why did the wagons have that particular odd wheel spacing? Well, if they tried to use any other spacing, the wagon wheels would break more often on some of the old, long distance roads in England . You see, that’s the spacing of the wheel ruts. So who built those old rutted roads? Imperial Rome built the first long distance roads in Europe (including England) for their legions. Those roads have been used ever since.
And what about the ruts in the roads? Roman war chariots formed the initial ruts, which everyone else had to match or run the risk of destroying their wagon wheels. Since the chariots were made for Imperial Rome , they were all alike in the matter of wheel spacing. Therefore the United States standard railroad gauge of 4 feet, 8.5 inches is derived from the original specifications for an Imperial Roman war chariot. Bureaucracies live forever.
So the next time you are handed a specification/procedure/process and wonder ‘What horse’s ass came up with this?’, you may be exactly right. Imperial Roman army chariots were made just wide enough to accommodate the rear ends of two war horses (Two horses’ asses).
When you see a Space Shuttle sitting on its launch pad, there are two big booster rockets attached to the sides of the main fuel tank. These are solid rocket boosters, or SRBs. The SRBs are made by Thiokol at their factory in Utah . The engineers who designed the SRBs would have preferred to make them a bit fatter, but they had to be shipped by train from the factory to the launch site. The railroad line from the factory happens to run through a tunnel in the mountains, and the SRBs had to fit through that tunnel. The tunnel is slightly wider than the railroad track, and the railroad track, as you now know, is about as wide as two horses’ behinds.
So, a major Space Shuttle design feature, of what is arguably the world’s most advanced transportation system, was determined over two thousand years ago by the width of a horse’s ass!
Now, being the incessant researcher that I am, I looked into it further and sure enough, the story contains a lot of exaggeration and stretched truths. So I’m not saying this is 100% accurate.
But nevertheless, I still found the idea of “We’ve always done it this way” very intriguing. I asked myself what processes do we hold on to that could be a detriment to progress? Simply because we’ve “always done it this way?”
Just as we hear of train derailing due to lack of standards or holding on to antiquated methods, could we risk derailing the progress of Freemasonry in the future simply because we aren’t willing to innovate?
Some things in Masonry shouldn’t change. It’s lessons principles are timeless. I don’t dispute this and am a strong advocate that we don’t cheapen this experience at all.
But I believe the way we operate lodge business may change to suit modern needs. We can incorporate latests technology standards into our communications and degrees.
What are your thoughts on ways that Masonry can advance into the modern frontier?
