Church of England Gives Sacred Blessing of the Smartphone

Your wife is always telling you to put your BlackBerry away at the dinner table. The movies want you to have it on silent. But there’s at least one place we know where you can go where your smartphone will be appreciated. Nay, even blessed.

The UK’s Times newspaper reports that at the St. Lawrence Jewry in London, part of the Anglican Church, the Reverend Canon David Parrott is ushering his congregation into modern times. At a recent service, Rev. Parrott gave his version of "Plough Monday," traditionally a day when farmers brought their ploughs and other tools to be blessed by the church. The Reverend’s thinking, says the Times went something like this: "Men and women coming to his church no longer used ploughs; their tools were their laptops, their iPhones and their BlackBerries."

For the many who already worship their phones, the Reverend was preaching to the choir. But he also reminded his parish the way in which these devices are a reminder of the Almighty. "By your blessing, may these phones and computers, symbols of all the technology and communication in our daily lives, be a reminder to us that you are a God who communicates with us and who speaks by your Word. Amen."

Thus, the Reverend asked his congregation to hold their phones up so he could bless them. On an altar behind him, said the Times, "laid out like holy relics, were four smartphones, one Apple laptop and one Dell." Because, analog or smart phone, Mac or PC, they are all God’s creatures.

Photo courtesy edans via Flickr