{"id":169228,"date":"2010-01-12T06:04:37","date_gmt":"2010-01-12T11:04:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.skyscrapercity.com\/showthread.php?t=1043717"},"modified":"2010-01-12T06:04:37","modified_gmt":"2010-01-12T11:04:37","slug":"i-bless-this-phone-in-the-name-of-the-lord","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/169228","title":{"rendered":"I bless this phone in the name of the lord."},"content":{"rendered":"
This made me laugh when I read it this morning. Humans are just insane!<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\tBlessed be the mobile phone users and those called the children of iPod<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n

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http:\/\/www.timesonline.co.uk\/tol\/com…cle6984258.ece<\/a><\/p>\n

Two hymns had been sung and the sermon preached when the Rev Canon David Parrott lifted his right hand to begin the blessing of the smart phones. <\/p>\n

The congregation at St Lawrence Jewry in the City of London raised their mobiles and iPods above their heads and Canon Parrott raised his voice to the heavens to address the Lord God of all Creation. \u0093May our tongues be gentle, our e-mails be simple and our websites be accessible,\u0094 he said. <\/p>\n

Great efforts have been made to modernise the Church of England, but its liturgy dates from before the arrival of the Nokia 6310, and until yesterday, none had been brave enough to adapt its ceremonies to address the modern mysteries of 3G network coverage, iPhone apps and variable battery life. <\/p>\n

But if anyone can, the Canon can. Even before he came to St Lawrence Jewry, Canon Parrott was known for his dynamic approach. In his former parish, he once dressed up as a Christmas tree to promote the message of Christmas. <\/p>\n

Yesterday, in the church of the City of London Corporation, he presented an updated version of Plow Monday, an observance that dates from medieval times. On this day, the first Monday after Twelfth Night, farm labourers would bring a plough to the door of the church to be blessed. <\/p>\n

\u0093When I arrived a few months ago I looked at this service and thought, \u0091Why do we have a Plow Monday?\u0092,\u0094 Canon Parrott said. Men and women coming to his church no longer used ploughs; their tools were their laptops, their iPhones and their BlackBerries. <\/p>\n

So he wrote a blessing and strode out to deliver it before a congregation of eighty, the white heat of technology shining from his every pronouncement. \u0093I invite you to have your mobile phone out … though I would like you to put it on silent,\u0094 he said. <\/p>\n

This was Church 2.0. Behind him, the altar resembled a counter at PC World. Upon it, laid out like holy relics, were four smart phones, one Apple laptop and one Dell. <\/p>\n

When he stepped up to deliver his sermon, the melody of a million ringtones played on the organ. One almost expected Canon Parrott to bellow: \u0093Hello! I\u0092m just giving a service!\u0094 <\/p>\n

Instead, he expounded upon some verses from Exodus that contained a lesson \u0093which is exactly what the Corporation of London’s training department is delivering in their sessions and teamwork today\u0094. <\/p>\n

Then, after another hymn, came the blessing of the smart phones. The Lord Mayor of London offered his BlackBerry to Canon Parrott, which was received with due reverence and placed upon the altar. <\/p>\n

Then the congregation held their phones in the air, and Canon Parrott addressed the Almighty. \u0093By 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.\u0094 <\/p>\n

Worshippers left the church to return to their desks and computers, a place where the Word is not the living gospel but a piece of software that formats documents. <\/p>\n

Colin Ashcroft, 47, who works in IT, said that he had been pleased to be remembered directly in the prayers. Did he sense the presence of God within the operations of mobile phone software? \u0093Certainly it has a mind of its own sometimes,\u0094 he said. \u0093Whether that\u0092s God or not I don\u0092t know.\u0094 <\/p>\n

Others felt uncomfortable. Rita Bullough, 60, a retired secretary, said that she found the blessing \u0093quite amusing\u0094 and she was not sure if amusement had any place within a church service. \u0093I wasn\u0092t entirely comfortable with it,\u0094 she said. <\/p>\n

Nick Anstee, the Lord Mayor was delighted, however. \u0093My BlackBerry is two years old but it\u0092s a fantastic model,\u0094 he said. Now it was also a blessed instrument. <\/p>\n

\u0093I was asked whether I had a message during the service,\u0094 he said. \u0093I will check later, though I don\u0092t suppose He has provided the message.\u0094 <\/p>\n

Even on a good day, the Vodafone network does not stretch quite that far.<\/p>\n

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This made me laugh when I read it this morning. Humans are just insane! Quote: Blessed be the mobile phone users and those called the children of iPod http:\/\/www.timesonline.co.uk\/tol\/com…cle6984258.ece Two hymns had been sung and the sermon preached when the Rev Canon David Parrott lifted his right hand to begin the blessing of the smart […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1039,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-169228","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169228","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1039"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=169228"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169228\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=169228"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=169228"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=169228"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}