November 2025 Trestleboard

November always brings to mind gratitude. It’s the season of Thanksgiving, but it’s also the month when our Lodge elects its officers for the coming year, a reminder that leadership in Freemasonry is itself an act of gratitude. Every Brother who agrees to serve, whether in an elected or an appointed role, gives back to the Lodge that first brought him to light. It is a quiet, deliberate way of saying thank you for the lessons, friendships, and sense of belonging we’ve each received here.

Our November Stated Communication will include a lecture on Compassion in Freemasonry by Past Master Hunter Bronson. Compassion, rightly understood, is a type of lived gratitude. It’s a way we translate our appreciation for the Craft into care for one another. It’s a natural outgrowth of the lessons imparted to us in our degrees.

We’ll also be conferring the Fellowcraft Degree this month, a timely reminder that Masonry is alive and growing, that we continue to initiate, pass, and raise good men seeking to become better. We can be grateful for every opportunity to participate in a degree and connect once again to the ritual and symbols that form us into better men. 

And fittingly, we will have a lecture from Past Master Ted Balestreri on the symbolism within the Lodge room itself. If you have sat in Lodge in Beaverton in the past decade, you will have noticed the variety of images and symbols that adorn the walls and ceiling. Worshipful Brother Balestreri was instrumental in imbuing the space with these rich reminders of the deeper teachings we inherit and the meanings behind them. Gratitude asks us to be good stewards of both.

As we gather this month around the altar, the ballot box, and our own Thanksgiving tables, may we remember that gratitude is not only spoken, but practiced. In service, in compassion, in the making of Masons, and in the faithful care of the Lodge entrusted to us.