Attended a funeral today

[yiostheoy]

I attended a funeral today for an 83 year old man who was/is a Freemason and a member of our fraternal lodge. He died last week.

His wife and daughter and son asked our Masonic lodge to participate.

He was a north German immigrant from after WW2 so he was Lutheran and so the memorial in the chapel was Lutheran. The minister thus led the service in the chapel.

The Lutheran litany is similar to that of the Catholics. Ultimately you end with The Lord's Prayer. The Lutheran minister also quoted the 23rd Psalm just before that.

At the graveside the Freemasons gave the ritualistic farewell, and the USAF gave taps and folded the flag, giving it to his surviving widow. The departed brother was a USAF veteran.

My part was to carry the tyler's sword and be the first in and the last out of the Freemasons in the line. Then afterwards we all paid our respects to the family and then departed.

This all reminded me that life is fleeting, and that ultimately we all die eventually.

The chapel was full for this departed brother, packed with about 200 visitors and family. They remembered and spoke of him fondly.

He is now in the next world that awaits all of us.

Funerals always remind me of that.

The youngest Freemason in attendance with us will probably bury all the rest of us. He sat next to me in the chapel. I told him:

"When you say the 23rd Psalm at my Masonic funeral, make sure you say the USMC version --

Yay though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil,
For there is nothing on this Earth that I cannot kill."

 

[mudwhistle]

Chuck Norris who art in Texas
Hallowed be thy name
Thy roundhouse flung
Thy wheelhouse spun
On Earth as it is in Heaven
Yea though he walks through the valley of the shadow of death
I shall fear no evil,
Because he's the baddest motherfucker there is.

 

[yiostheoy]

Holy art thou Chuck Norris
Hallowed be thy fame
Thy roundhouse flung
Thy wheelhouse spun
On Earth as it is in Heaven
Yea though he walks through the valley of the shadow of death
I shall fear no evil,
Because he's the baddest motherfucker there is.

Norris is getting really old though.

When he was young he was the US Karate Champion.

But now that he is old all he can do is teach.

You would need to be following MMA to find out who is the baddest mo fo in the valley now.

But whoever it is I can still kill it with the right choice of weapon.

All-time UFC heavyweight champions

 

[JakeStarkey]

I have attended two Masonic funerals. One was in the South, and there were several black brother masons in attendance. I asked my friend about that, knowing the South and being aware of the black Masonic lodges in the military. He told me that trying to get all balls and no cubes for acceptance was a several year event before the ban was lifted in his Lodge.

 

[yiostheoy]

The trend these days is for Prince Hall lodges which are all black.

In all my years of Freemasonry I have only seen one black person in any of our lodges. He was a physician and very smart. These guys are often called Oreo's -- black on the outside and white on the inside.

Sort of like Ben Carson.