Thursday, July 28, 2022

You Can Find "Heraldry" Everywhere!


In this specific instance, you can find "heraldry" in a news story about an armed robbery at a church.

Bishop Lamor Miller-Whitehead and his wife were robbed at their Leaders of Tomorrow International Church in Brooklyn, New York, on Sunday, July 24, 2022.

The pastor, who eschews the description "flashy" while wearing "designer outfits and extravagant jewelry," and his wife were robbed at gunpoint of their jewelry (worth $1 million, according to another story) in front of about 25 congregants.

But the real part of the story to me are the large, glitzy "coats of arms" shown on the stage behind the lectern.


Both pieces of heraldry are pretty much "poster children" for the worst excesses of American "kitchen sink heraldry". (You can, as always, click on the image above to go to a larger, more detailed photograph.)

Now, I am sure that each and every element of both "coats of arms" are rife with meaning. Nonetheless, it is entirely possible to put a lot of meaning on a shield without throwing in "everything but the kitchen sink" onto it; I mean, how many different ways do both of the shields shout "Christianity" at you in all of their quarters? This "heraldry, just like the pastor's gold-embroidered frock coat and large gold ring, seen in the picture above, are visible examples of the term "excess" in all of its overstated glory. It's just too much.

(And why doesn't the "motto scroll" under the arms for the church have motto on it? Asking for a "friend".)

Anyway, you can read the article about the robbery over on CNN's website at https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/25/us/brooklyn-pastor-robbery/index.html

I'd tell you to "enjoy", but I wouldn't really mean it.

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