Posts tagged “Virginia”

Sic semper tyrannis

Posted on September 6th, 2011

The Latin motto for the Commonwealth of Virginia is Sic semper tyrannis. I suggest we change it, as it is becoming a farce. I now have to apply for a one-use permit from Virginia’s Alcoholic Beverage Control every time I purchase wine for sacramental use at Immanuel. It won’t be that much of a burden, but it is utterly non-sensical, and does absolutely nothing to advance the welfare of the commonwealth.  So much for liberty in general, and religious liberty in particular. UPDATE: Apparently this has been a law for awhile, but our supplier was ignoring it. He got audited, and now he must. This makes me sad. The government of Virginia has nothing better to do than go after a small ecclesiastical goods supplier for…

Categories: Politics

Tagged: , , ,

Grammar matters

Posted on December 3rd, 2010

John G. Mendez was acquitted of the charge of failing to stop for a school bus because the law was poorly written. The judge who actually based his ruling on what the law said is my new hero. I’m not stopping for any school buses until Virginia changes the law. Just kidding. Or am I? Related: Punctuation matters

Categories: Humor

Tagged:

Canceling church

Posted on December 26th, 2009

Northern Virginia is a cowardly area when it comes to snow – schools have closed on the mere forecast of snow (including once when it ended up not snowing at all), and many churches cancel services if it snows. Last weekend, it seemed an awful lot of churches canceled Sunday services, but we don’t cancel the Lord’s Day at Immanuel. We had a very small number of worshippers – I think just under 40 – and about half the church ended up going out for lunch afterward at the same restaurant. The restaurant was full. I find it fascinating that schools and churches will cancel classes and services, and the people that we are trying to protect just go shopping or out to eat…

Categories: Theology

Tagged: ,

Its tyme 2 lern Engrish

Posted on August 17th, 2009

Anthony T. Lane School is just a few miles from my home in Fairfax County, Virginia. It’s a school for lower grade levels, the kind of school that used to be called a “grammar school.” After seeing this sign up for more than a week, it might be a good idea for the administrators to do some remedial grammar work of their own: I’m not sure what a government-school administrator makes, but I noticed a Lexus SC 430 in the assistant principal’s parking spot. Perhaps she has enough spare change to  invest in Eats, Shoots & Leaves.

Categories: Humor

Tagged: , , , , , ,

His blood's for you?

Posted on February 7th, 2009

I love the Crummy Church Signs blog, but for some reason this submission of mine didn’t make the cut. (For you locals, this church is on Franconia Road near Van Dorn St., almost across the street from sister congregation St. John’s Lutheran Church.) Besides the obvious blasphemy (and the image I have in my mind of little jiggers full of Budweiser being passed around), this pathetic attempt at relevance is several decades out of date! Here’s a blast from 1985. Yikes!

Categories: Theology

Tagged: , , , , , , , ,

Gerry Connolly's no-good, horrible, really bad joke

Posted on January 24th, 2009

Gerry Connolly was the chairman of Fairfax County’s Board of Supervisors. Under his leadership, taxes have soared and the county is in deep trouble financially, with a projected $400,000,000 deficit in the new fiscal year. For this, the wise voters of nothern Virginia elected him to congress. There will be a special election on Tuesday, Feb. 3 to elect a new chairman. In this video, Gerry Connolly urges Democrats to lie about the date of the election to Republicans. Is it just a bad joke? Perhaps. But as Connolly makes clear in the continuation of his speech, he wants to make sure that Republican turnout is non-existent. In my book, there’s nothing “democratic” about that.

Categories: Theology

Tagged: , , , , , , ,

Guest Post: An aggrieved voter speaks her mind

Posted on November 4th, 2008

The following guest post is by my wife, Kassie, who is almost never angry enough to confront someone or work out her frustrations with words. “Like water off a duck’s back,” she often says. Not this time! I’m angry. It turns out I had a choice to vote by paper ballot or electronically. I would prefer to vote electronically but no one told me it was an option. I am totally blind in my left eye, I wear coke-bottle glasses, I am constantly distracted by floaters and flashes, and the gorgeous fall foliage of northern Virginia is doing quite a number on my allergies, making my eyes itch and water. (Attractive, huh?)

Categories: Theology

Tagged: , , ,

Gravestones that confess

Posted on August 5th, 2008

It’s important to me that my tombstone confesses Christ and particularly the hope of the resurrection. When visiting Montpelier last weekend, we went to the Madison family graveyard to see the stones of President James and Dolley. After seeing them, I turned and saw this on another grave marker:   It’s not at all what I would choose, but I love walking through old graveyards and looking at the stones. You get the sense that this person actually believes what is chiseled into the stone. (Unfortunately, I didn’t even get to look at the other side because the fastest-moving storm I’ve ever witnessed came in and started pelting us with hailstones. Kassie’s umbrella broke in the wind, we got soaked to the bone trying…

Categories: Theology

Tagged: , ,