Eminent Commander: George Edmiston III
Phone: 330-367.7614
Email: gedmisto@gmail.com
Recorder: Perry E. Coxson III
Phone: 330-646-3205
Email: jeepheader@gmail.com
Greeting Sir Knights!
I hope you are all doing well! Please take a moment this month to reach out to a Sir Knight you have not talked to in a while to see how he is doing. Perhaps you can give the Sir Knights an update at our virtual Stated Conclave on December 11th. The stated conclave will once again be held online or on the phone as a Virtual Meeting since we are not permitted to meet in person. If you are not sure how to join the meeting online or need the information to call in by phone, please email me at gedmisto@gmail.com or call me at 330-367-7614 to get the information. Please do not wait until the day of the meeting to reach out for the information.
At this Christmas Season I call on you to consider how we can be supportive of those in need, both in as well as outside the fraternity. Many of our family, friends, Sir Knights, Ladies and Brethren could use some good cheer and support. Consider the popular Christmas Carol of Good King Wenceslas who it turns out was a real person, the Duke of Bohemia, a 10th-century Christian Prince who they say was killed by his Brother.
Following his death, Wenceslas was recognized as a Saint for his kindness to the poor. The “Good King Wenceslas” legend was around for centuries and was originally sung in Latin as “Tempus adest floridum”, a springtime song celebrating nature’s powers of rebirth. It had verses in various languages, some of them adventurous in their descriptions of these celebrations.
Almost a thousand years after Wenceslas lived, a 19th-century Englishman by the name of John Mason Neale wrote the now-famous English lyric for the ancient melody. The history of this Christmas carol is a rich accumulation of music, image and legend that speaks beyond any one religious’ tradition. Its most basic message is summed up in its final lines: “Ye who now will bless the poor / shall yourselves find blessing.”
Sir Knights, while these may be difficult time, let us not forget who or what we are called to be as Christian Knights and as Freemasons. Let us remember to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, bind up the wounds of the afflicted and good unto all. I wish a Merry Christmas to all during this Christmas Season and look forward to 2021.
I look forward to seeing you at Commandery!
Sincerely and Fraternally,
George Edmiston, EC