A Church of England vicar is blessing gadgets:
Vicar gives high-tech blessing to mobile phones, laptops and BlackBerries.
A vicar has blessed the mobile phones and laptops of city workers in a church ceremony.
The Rev Canon David Parrott blessed a pile of laptops and smart phones on the altar of London’s 17th-century St Lawrence Jewry church.
The ritual was an effort to remind the capital’s busy office workers that God’s grace can reach them in many ways, he said.
Blessed be: The congregation hold up their mobile phones and Blackberries as Canon David Parrot conducts a service at the City of London Corporation’s church, St Lawrence Jewry, on Monday
‘It’s the technology that is our daily working tool, and it’s a technology we should bless,’ Rev Parrott said.
What exactly does it mean to “bless” a collection of chips on a printed circuit board? Very little, I suspect; coincidentally, Rev. Keith Nethery, media relations officer for the Anglican Diocese of Huron, has been wriggling vigorously here trying to explain why, in the Diocese of Huron, it is kosher to Celebrate a same-sex marriage but not to Bless it. Would he have a problem blessing a Mac running Vista one wonders, or would it be sufficiently deviant to be merely Celebrated.
Most people would probably choose to have their computer exorcised rather than blessed. Come to think of it, perhaps that could apply to same-sex marriages, too.
If one has their Blackberry blessed, and soon thereafter curses it due to a service outage, is the blessing still valid? Enquiring minds want to know.
Who would have thought that a simple announcement post like that would generate so much talk?
Kate, yes indeed.
Warren, I am in awe of your patience, persistence and ability to nail the errors of the opposition.
I admit that I derive some amusement via these exchanges (which is probably a sin). I guess I live a very boring life.
Oh, and I suspect that, sometime in the near future, my dear, long-suffering wife will present me with a large framed version of this.
🙂 Ah, yes, I’m familiar with that problem.
I, of course, have no problems in that regard at all. 😉
Well, in former times, in England and perhaps elsewhere, clergy used to bless the plough, when the farming year began; the Church and Christian faith were intimately connected with rural/agricultural life (” …seed time and harvest …”)(but, yes, it is a bit dotty blessing phones and Blackberries) When they’re traded in for new ones, will there be a de-blessing ritual, before they’re re-cycled/crushed?