Brethren of the FIFTH HOUSE,

For those of you who are just getting acquainted with this EAC website, do know that the inaugural Ministerial Moment post [ centering upon ‘Purpose’ ] and subsequent follow up post #2 [ centering upon ‘Perspective’ ] are yet available for your viewing.  Just look through the sidebar menu for ” ALL POSTS ” and select any previous posting.  Prepare to be thereby edified.

TIME has a way of both illuminating and dissolving.  Military soldiers ‘mark’ it, while marching in cadence.  Children ( young and elderly ) lose track of it.  And deoxyribonucleic acid ( DNA ) literally immortalizes it.  Just look at your genetic connections – your parents or your children.  A Creator God instructed Mankind to reproduce ( Genesis 1:27-28 ) … which has been ‘done’ ever since.  Fast forward to fifty years ago.  A TIME when my Sands and I stood blindfolded [ at night mind you ] holding a rectangular unit of masonry with arms fully extended above each of our heads, while reciting emphatically aloud : ” THIS IS THE LIGHT OF ALPHA  ……. I WILL FOREVER HOLD IT ALOFT ! ”  Anyone else reading this post might recall making that very same declaration.  FOREVER … means FOR EVER.  Either we as ALPHA men become about the business of “illuminating” ( like TIME ), or dissolving.  I believe that there is no greater nor rewarding obligation as ALPHA MEN ( especially FIFTH HOUSE inductees ) than embracing the promise to ” FOREVER … HOLD IT ALOFT “.

Now for the Ministerial Moment ( you may now click on the music link – if you’ve not already done so ).  Brother Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.         ( Sigma Chapter, 1952 ) spoke to a packed assembly of students [ an actual ‘overflow’ gathering ] at Oberlin College on October 22, 1964.  During which he exhorted them using the profoundly timeless statement : ” The TIME is always right, to do what is right “.  Don’t fight it Brothers, I can hear you saying ‘Amen’.  Attorneys often cite the concept of “perpetuity ” – usually prefaced by the word ” in “.  It is cited in estate settlements, copyright opportunities and even consumer disclosures to engender infinite ownership – beyond immediate jurisdiction.  An accepted promise with unending legal effect.  I am reminded of my upbringing, when elder members of my parents’ congregation would sing :  ” I promised Him that I … would serve Him until I die ; I’m on the battlefield for my Lord “.  No, we’re not passing the offering plate at this juncture of the post ….. just yet.  But I am also remembering a recent EAC Zoom meeting when it appeared that the LIGHT OF ALPHA may have been ‘flickering’ – or maybe even dropped from outstretched hands.  No matter the circumstances or misunderstandings that challenge our ONE bond of brotherhood, we must FOREVER hold intact the SPIRIT OF ALPHA – striving for excellence and accepting nothing less.  THAT is Epsilon, as I remember.  I also believe that every FIFTH HOUSE Brother knows the teachings from both William Ernest Henley and Sir Rudyard Kipling.  They were literally acquainted with one another.  Henley was an editor of poems and became acquainted with the works of Rudyard Kipling – before he became SIR.  Throughout TIME, you will become ‘acquainted’ with MEN who like yourselves, have been initiated into the ” School for the better making of Men “.  And I submit that if we allow Him, the TRUE SPIRIT OF FRATERNITY will enjoin our corporate efforts toward the outcome from both Henley ( ” It matters not how strait the gate, how charged with punishment the scroll … ” ) and Kipling ( ” If you can TRUST yourself when all men doubt you, YET make allowance for their doubting too ” ).  In other words, ALPHA MEN are called to persevere, while not thinking too highly of ourselves.  Therein lies the conundrum.

In the pursuit of FOREVER holding the LIGHT OF ALPHA aloft, FRATERNAL SPIRIT BINDS – while causing ‘self’ to become less emphasized.  It becomes all about the greater good ( ” MANLY DEEDS, …SCHOLARSHIP, … AND LOVE FOR ALL MANKIND ) – as no more succinctly spoken than by our own beloved FIFTH HOUSE Brother, Sir Reginald Armstrong : ” It’s not about Me ….. it’s about E “.  TIME has a way of mellowing without castrating the PURPOSE, PERSPECTIVE, or PERPETUITY of one’s gift (s).  We take pleasure in quoting the scripture ( in reference to ALPHA ) : ” Many are called, but few are chosen ” [ Matthew 22 : 14 ].  However, in recognizing one’s set apartness, one must be willing to discern the responsibility of having been called to the table.  Simply refresh yourself with the words of CHRIST from the thirteen verses that precede our quoted verse in Matthew chapter 22.  Our charge as FIFTH HOUSE brethren is to collectively ensure the prevailing strength of our initiation ( shout out to both The GESTAPO, and The Chosen Few – celebrating 50 ), and to continue to FOREVER HOLD THE LIGHT OF ALPHA ALOFT ….. in perpetuity, as ONE.

Further deponet sayeth I not.

Reverend Brother Carl L. Baker
Pastor, New Creation Church / Flint
GESTAPO Line ( 1973, April 15 @ 12:01 a.m. )