

From the East
Joseph Wallach - Worshipful Master

Greetings Brethren,
Entering the second month of our Masonic year, I hope everyone had a wonderful January and is well rested.
As we look forward to what lies ahead, we will be busy with Lodge events and, in due time, welcoming new members and assisting our existing Brothers progress in their work.
A Brother’s journey is their own; there are many paths to the same end. A path may be short but steep, long but gradual, or a combination of the two grades.
As individuals, the work that we put in is proportional to the progress we make on our Masonic journey.
As we grow and become better men, so does the Lodge grow and become better as well. A Lodge is more than a structure where Brothers hold their meetings; it is the actual Brothers themselves. No matter where we congregate, the Lodge and the Light of Masonry illuminate like a candle in a dark room.
However, a source of illumination consumes the substance that burns over time. It is energy well spent and well appreciated but must be replenished occasionally.
This may come as a period reserved to rest and refresh oneself, but in many ways, it comes from the joy and excitement of welcoming newly raised Master Masons.
With each new Master Mason, fresh ideas and illumination are fueled by their participation in the Lodge's activities.
We are all here to support one another on this journey; do not hesitate to ask for support.
Those who are slightly further along the path are always willing to reach out a hand and help you forward.
Sincerely,


From the West
William Workman - Senior Warden

Harmony
Brethren,
Despite the turmoil of the peaceful transition of our government, some will find this to be either troubling or triumphant, depending on one's leaning. I encourage you all to follow the examples of our Founding Fathers' wisdom in keeping our Lodge in harmony, which I have come to know in my several years here in Washington 20. I rely on some of the following thoughts from a relatively current leader and of those who helped shape our UNITED States of America.
W. West Allen, Federal Bar Association president in 2021, stated, “We must understand, teach, and defend our Constitution and its foundational principles. It is time for a recurrence to these principles. Among these are indispensable, unspoken principles, seemingly forgotten by our nation collectively: Unity and Civic Charity. During the Constitutional Convention and immediately thereafter, these virtues were manifest by the Founders’ actions and genuine desire for national amity and mutual respect despite their extraordinary political differences. Our generation can learn from theirs.”
It is this generation's call for the wise and honest to repair the constitutional standard that protects the rights and freedom of all people throughout the world. We cannot, we must not, descend into political tribalism. America is inclusive. It’s the greatest hope of freedom to the world. Its Constitution is this hope. Here, we build bridges of understanding for liberty, not walls of segregation by tyranny.
As Abraham Lincoln reminded us, “We are not enemies, but friends.” Let us not now break our bonds of civic affection. It is time again to bind up the nation’s wounds. But we must also understand the unspoken fundamental principles of our American heritage.
George Washington, in his farewell address, taught us this critical lesson for a new republic: “Your Union ought to be considered as a main prop of your liberty and … the love of the one ought to endear you to the preservation of the other. Unity is interconnected with, and leads to, the advancement of liberty; therefore, Washington revealed, unity leads to individual and collective happiness. We should reflect on this again and again.”
W. West Allen continues with a quote from MLK and his final thoughts:
“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” – Reverend Martin Luther King Jr.
May each of us hear and understand the wise lessons of the Constitution that our Founders left for our discovery. May the Hand of Providence continue to guide this nation and its leaders as our Founders testified it did in their generation. May all those who serve the People of this great nation have the humility and wisdom to understand the power of unity and civic charity.”
George Washington said in envisioning happiness, “I think I see a path, as clear and direct as a ray of light,” he wrote to his friend and protégé the Marquis de Lafayette in 1789. “Nothing but harmony, honesty, industry and frugality are necessary to make us a great and happy people.”
Washington’s formula for happiness confirmed by the French historian Alexis de Tocqueville, in his writing Democracy in America in 1831 :
“[Americans] Enjoy explaining almost every act of their lives on the principle of self-interest properly understood. It gives them pleasure to point out how an enlightened self-love continually leads them to help one another and disposes them freely to give part of their time and wealth for the good of the state.... The doctrine of self-interest properly understood does not inspire great sacrifices, but every day it prompts some small ones; by itself it cannot make a man virtuous, but its discipline shapes a lot of orderly, temperate, moderate, careful and self-controlled citizens. If it does not lead the will directly to virtue, it establishes habits which unconsciously turn it that way.”
Despite 200 years of argument, Thomas Jefferson has not been proven to be or not to be a Freemason and has the following reflections regarding discourse and harmony. A truly extraordinary portion of his address helped him cement his legacy on the American dream. It is most definitely worth reading.
An excerpt from Thomas Jefferson’s first Inaugural Address 1801: “Let us, then, fellow-citizens, unite with one heart and one mind. Let us restore to social intercourse that harmony and affection without which liberty and even life itself are but dreary things. And let us reflect that, having banished from our land that religious intolerance under which mankind so long bled and suffered, we have yet gained little if we countenance a political intolerance as despotic, as wicked, and capable of as bitter and bloody persecutions. During the throes and convulsions of the ancient world, during the agonizing spasms of infuriated man, seeking through blood and slaughter his long-lost liberty, it was not wonderful that the agitation of the billows should reach even this distant and peaceful shore; that this should be more felt and feared by some and less by others, and should divide opinions as to measures of safety. But every difference of opinion is not a difference of principle. We have called by different names brethren of the same principle. We are all Republicans, we are all Federalists.
If there be any among us who would wish to dissolve this Union or to change its republican form, let them stand undisturbed as monuments of the safety with which error of opinion may be tolerated where reason is left free to combat it. I know, indeed, that some honest men fear that a republican government can not be strong, that this Government is not strong enough; but would the honest patriot, in the full tide of successful experiment, abandon a government which has so far kept us free and firm on the theoretic and visionary fear that this Government, the world’s best hope, may by possibility want energy to preserve itself? I trust not. I believe this, on the contrary, the strongest Government on earth. I believe it the only one where every man, at the call of the law, would fly to the standard of the law, and would meet invasions of the public order as his own personal concern. Sometimes it is said that man can not be trusted with the government of himself. Can he, then, be trusted with the government of others? Or have we found angels in the forms of kings to govern him? Let history answer this question.
Let us, then, with courage and confidence pursue our own Federal and Republican principles, our attachment to union and representative government. Kindly separated by nature and a wide ocean from the exterminating havoc of one quarter of the globe; too high-minded to endure the degradations of the others; possessing a chosen country, with room enough for our descendants to the thousandth and thousandth generation.
Entertaining a due sense of our equal right to the use of our own faculties, to the acquisitions of our own industry, to honor and confidence from our fellow-citizens, resulting not from birth, but from our actions and their sense of them; enlightened by a benign religion, professed, indeed, and practiced in various forms, yet all of them inculcating honesty, truth, temperance, gratitude, and the love of man.
Acknowledging and adoring an overruling Providence, which by all its dispensations proves that it delights in the happiness of man here and his greater happiness hereafter – with all these blessings, what more is necessary to make us a happy and a prosperous people? Still one thing more, fellow-citizens – a wise and frugal Government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government, and this is necessary to close the circle of our felicities.
About to enter, fellow citizens, on the exercise of duties which comprehend everything dear and valuable to you, it is proper you should understand what I deem the essential principles of our Government and, consequently, those which ought to shape its Administration. I will compress them within the narrowest compass they will bear, stating the general principle but not all its limitations.
Equal and exact justice to all men, of whatever state or persuasion, religious or political; peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations, entangling alliances with none; the support of the State governments in all their rights, as the most competent administrations for our domestic concerns and the surest bulwarks against antirepublican tendencies; the preservation of the General Government in its whole constitutional vigor, as the sheet anchor of our peace at home and safety abroad; a jealous care of the right of election by the people – a mild and safe corrective of abuses which are lopped by the sword of revolution where peaceable remedies are unprovided.
Absolute acquiescence in the decisions of the majority, the vital principle of republics, from which is no appeal but to force, the vital principle and immediate parent of despotism; a well-disciplined militia, our best reliance in peace and for the first moments of war till regulars may relieve them; the supremacy of the civil over the military authority; economy in the public expense, that labor may be lightly burthened; the honest payment of our debts and sacred preservation of the public faith; encouragement of agriculture, and of commerce as its handmaid; the diffusion of information and arraignment of all abuses at the bar of the public reason; freedom of religion; freedom of the press, and freedom of person under the protection of the habeas corpus, and trial by juries impartially selected.
These principles form the bright constellation that has gone before us and guided our steps through an age of revolution and reformation. The wisdom of our sages and the blood of our heroes have been devoted to their attainment. They should be the creed of our political faith, the text of civic instruction, the touchstone by which to try the services of those we trust; and should we wander from them in moments of error or of alarm, let us hasten to retrace our steps and to regain the road which alone leads to peace, liberty, and safety.”
Avoiding Political Dispute
Thomas Jefferson again drives home his advice on arguing about politics, something that we in Washington 20, while we are assembled as one Fraternity spouting Brotherly Love and Harmony, should carefully consider as wise and true to this day.
"Never [enter] into dispute or argument with another. I never yet saw an instance of one of two disputants convincing the other by argument. I have seen many on their getting warm, becoming rude and shooting one another. Conviction is the effect of our own dispassionate reasoning, either in solitude or weighing within ourselves dispassionately what we hear from others, standing uncommitted in argument ourselves... In the fevered state of our country, no good can ever result from any attempt to set... fiery zealots to rights either in fact or principle. They are determined as to the facts they will believe, and the opinions on which they will act. Get by them, therefore, as you would by an angry bull; it is not for a man of sense to dispute the road with such an animal." --Thomas Jefferson to Thomas Jefferson Randolph, 1808.
Avoiding Intolerance
Though we are all of differing opinion on many of today’s social and political leanings, take this account from one of our founding fathers that I consider to be one of the wisest influencers of our great nation:
"That differences of opinion should arise among men on politics, on religion and on every other topic of human inquiry, and that these should be freely expressed in a country where all our faculties are free, is to be expected. But these valuable privileges are much perverted when permitted to disturb the harmony of social intercourse, and to lessen the tolerance of opinion." --Thomas Jefferson: Reply to Citizens of Washington, 1809.
May the coming together on the level and the sounding call of harmony, brotherly love, wisdom, charity, humility, virtuousness, and mutual respect continue to actively maintain a strong connection and closeness with each other, ensuring that we remain important and present in each other’s lives, even when circumstances might try to separate us.
I want to emphasize the importance of staying connected and prioritizing this to keep our Fraternity in HARMONY!!!


From the South
Brandon Jenkins - Junior Warden

While I was studying for my degree in English, one of the professors gave the students a list of requirements to include when writing a critical essay. First, the paper needed to be concise. There is no reason to say in three sentences that which can be conveyed in one. Secondly, the writing needed to be pithy; it needed to specifically appeal to the mind of the reader and have the power to compel. Finally, the topic and arguments needed to be controversial.
Controversial? I immediately struggled with that last requirement. I didn’t understand why controversy would be a requirement for a good paper, but that feeling was based on my own misinterpretation of the meaning. In my mind, controversy was bad, a negative connotation towards any subject, which should be avoided if possible. To me, controversial meant “scandalous” or a word to describe poor behavior.
Although this is sometimes how the word is employed, “scandal” is not the true meaning of controversy. Merriam-Webster describes Controversy as “a discussion marked especially by the expression of opposing views.”
This exchange of opposing ideas is the crux of every opportunity for change or growth, a concept which my professor was trying to instill in his students. If our papers only contained information readily agreeable to all, it wasn’t worth writing. There is no reason to put on paper something which is an inherently understood principle to the reader. Only that which can be argued and discussed by those with opposing thoughts was worth writing about. The papers should invite discussion of the points it contained, and should argue the claims it makes with facts and examples.
I have often considered this definition when I have heard Freemasonry described as “controversial.” Although those that use the term usually mean it negatively, I see it as a compliment. One of the tenets of our Masonic beliefs is the free exchange of ideas, whatever the source. We encourage each other to speak our minds, share our thoughts, and express ourselves “on the level.” All of our brothers are expected to make our beliefs known to each other, especially when discussing or voting on something that will affect the entire lodge.
The free expression of thought has also made Freemasonry a target of tyrants and despots.
From King Philip IV of France in 1314 to Francisco Franco of the White Terror during the Spanish Civil War, and including countless other depraved leaders since time immemorial, Freemasonry has suffered under the hands of those that wish to limit liberty and the open exchange of intellectual discourse.
Withholding information and seeking to control how others perceive their world is one of the first steps dictators employ to suppress the populace they wish to control.
In this regard, Freemasonry, being considered controversial, is a badge of honor. We not only allow unfettered thought, we encourage it, even demand it. From the outset, we demonstrate that all who knock on the doors of our hallowed halls must approach us “of their own free will and accord.” One cannot, will not, be compelled, coerced, or recruited into this fraternity. If it were not so, their journey toward the light of intelligence could never truly be of their own resolve but that of those who push.
But one will only be pushed so far. Eventually, the loss of the sense of self, the degradation, or conditions of life will become too much to bear. A person may submit to force initially, but eventually, as evidenced by the history of civilizations the world over, it is a divinely appointed human attribute to echo the sentiment of Patrick Henry, “Give me liberty, or give me death!”
It is my feeling that Freemasonry should always be considered controversial. Within the lodge, we should always encourage the free exchange of cognitive thought. Within the lodge, we should always welcome those with opposing ideas the opportunity to convince others of their viewpoint. Within the lodge, we should always meet on the level, act by the plumb, and part upon the square. I am proud to belong to an organization that promotes these ideals, even when faced with extreme peril, for how could we otherwise be of any worth to the Supreme Architect as he leads us to erect our house not made with hands?
The ashlar must oppose the chisel, otherwise it will never become a perfect stone.

CALENDAR OF EVENTS
FEBRUARY
• 04 Monthly Executive Committee Meeting (Zoom) Tuesday 06:30 PM
• 06 Monthly Stated Meeting Dinner (Banquet Room) Thursday 06:00 PM
• 06 Monthly Stated Meeting (LR1) Thursday 07:30 PM
• 13 DARK
• 19 Officers' School of Instruction (LR3) Wednesday 07:00 PM
(Second Degree, First Session) (Hosted by WLN20)
• 20 Officers' Practice (LR1) Thursday 07:00 PM
• 25 Masonic Education (Further Light in Masonry) Tuesday 07:00 PM
• 27 First Degree (LR1) Thursday 07:00 PM
MARCH
• 04 Monthly Executive Committee Meeting (Zoom) Tuesday 06:30 PM
• 06 Roll Call Dinner (Banquet Room) Thursday 06:00 PM
• 06 Monthly Stated Meeting (LR1) Thursday 07:30 PM
• 13 Officers' Practice (LR1) Thursday 07:00 PM
• 19 Officers' School of Instruction (LR3) Wednesday 07:00 PM
(Third Degree, First Session, Closing)
• 20 DARK Thursday
• 27 First Degree (LR1) Thursday 07:00 PM
FEBRUARY
BIRTHDAYS
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03 Joseph Dongo (Past Master)
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05 George Jamison, Jr. (Past Master)
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05 Allan Harlan (Entered Apprentice)
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07 William Dillon (Master Mason)
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08 Richard Redmond (Master Mason)
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09 Joaquin Lopez (Entered Apprentice)
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10 Bradley Mitchell (Master Mason)
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13 David W. Cameron (Master Mason)
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13 William D. Cameron (Master Mason)
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16 Angel Lopez, Sr. (Master Mason)
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17 Wally Clark (Master Mason)
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17 Garth Tanner (Master Mason)
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18 Phil Hardiman (Past Master)
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18 Craig Spilman (Master Mason)
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19 Eric Hardiman (Master Mason)
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19 Ryan Gooch (Master Mason)
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27 Dallas Calmes (Master Mason)
MASTER MASON ANNIVERSARIES
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11 Michael Mc Glone (37 Years)
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16 Michael Allen (08 Years)
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20 Carlos Brusel-Casals (Junior Steward) (11 Years)
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20 Douglas Pope (56 Years)
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21 Richard "Smokey" Stover (06 Years)
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21 Paul McNamee (12 Years)
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22 Nick Johnston (Junior Deacon) (7 Years)
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22 Richard Pullen (Past Master) (24 Years)
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23 David W. Cameron (13 Years)
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23 Gerald Singer (41 Years)
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24 David H. Cameron (Past Master) (20 Years)
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25 Douglas Arrington (43 Years)
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25 Victor Novak (26 Years)
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26 Cyril Shah (27 Years)
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27 D. Edward Entrican (Past Master) (63 Years)
Washington Lodge No. 20 F. & A. M.
Mission Statement
To practice and promote a way of life that binds like-minded men in a worldwide
brotherhood that transcends all religious, ethnic, cultural, social and educational differences.
Through Masonic principles and tradition, and by the outward expression of these
through its fellowship and compassion, Washington Lodge No.20 Free & Accepted Masons provides ways in which to serve God, family, country, neighbors, and self in an environment that contributes to the enrichment and betterment of its members, mankind, and its communities.
Freemasonry is
Kindness in the home,
Honesty in business,
Courtesy in society,
Fairness in work,
Pity and concern for the unfortunate,
Resistance toward evil,
Help for the weak,
Forgiveness for the penitent,
Love for one another and,
Above all, reverence and love for God.
Freemasonry is many things but
Most of all:
Freemasonry is a way of life.
G. Washington: Master Mason
by Allen E. Roberts
If you’re looking for insight into the lives of famous Freemasons, there’s no better place to start than with the life of Worshipful George Washington.
Worshipful Roberts illuminates Washington’s life, his influences, and his peers' thoughts based on research of hundreds of letters and texts.
Washington’s original writings are also peppered throughout, telling his story in his own words. You are sure to learn something new about Washington by reading this biography!
This is one of the few books which approaches the man from a human interest standpoint.
Here, we learn what the man was really like--how his friends, neighbors, soldiers, and statesmen regarded him.
From his birth to his death, we learn what influenced Washington. We find that he was far ahead of his time. Learn things about Washington you never knew before.
Roberts covers areas in Washington's life such as medals, academic honors, Municipal and Fraternal Honors, and his Masonic activities.
A list of Founding Fathers who were Freemasons is also included.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
The many books and writings of Allen E. Roberts helped to shape the Masonic experience of countless Masons, as well as introducing compelling images of this diverse fraternity to people not familiar with the craft. Among the evidence of his influence was the renaming of the library and museum of the Grand Lodge of Virginia as the Allen E. Roberts Masonic Library and Museum in 1994.
Born in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, on October 11, 1917, Allen served in World War II aboard the U.S.S. Alabama and L.S.T. 877. Upon his discharge from the U.S. Navy in 1946, he settled in Highland Springs, Virginia, where he became active in Freemasonry.
Also interested in motion pictures, Allen produced a number of films--often dealing with Freemasonry--as well as four plays. He founded two companies, Imagination Unlimited! and Anchor Communications, the second of which continues to be operated by his family.
Allen was married to Dorothy Marie Grimes for fifty years and had five children: Allen, Wayne, Kenneth, Brian, and Marcia Lynne Roberts Weber. In return, they gave him five grandchildren and ten great-grandchildren.
ISBN-10 : 088053060X
ISBN-13 : 978-0880530606
Built on Freedom

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Washington Lodge No. 20 F. & A. M.
2025 Officers
Joseph Wallach
Worshipful Master
William Workman
Senior Warden
Brandon Jenkins
Junior Warden
Eric Hixson (PM)
Treasurer
Francisco Marques (PM)
Secretary
Ramey Packer
Chaplain
David Cameron (PM)
Assistant Secretary
Kevin Hall
Senior Deacon
Nicholas Johnston
Junior Deacon
Christopher Hamilton
Marshal
Maury Hicks
Senior Steward
Carlos Brusel-Casals
Senior Steward
James Dimmitt
Organist
Martin Buff
Tiler
Matthew Mason (PM)
Junior Past Master
D. Edward Entrican (PM)
Treasurer Emeritus
Matthew Mason (PM)
Officers' Coach
Joseph Dongo (PM)
Head Candidates' Coach
David Lagala (PM)
Inspector 414th Masonic District
Brandon Jenkins
Hall Association Board President
