Headquarters of the Spirituality While Alive Taskforce (SWAT)
From The Book of Uncommon Prayer:
1.4.1
O One In Charge,
while our bodies and computers rest from the labors of the day and as our RAM, caches, and our souls are released from the thoughts of this world, grant that we may stand in your presence with tranquility, quietness, and peace.
Amen.
1.4.3
One In Charge, guide us waking and guard us sleeping; that awake we may watch our RSS feeds, and asleep we may rest in peace.
Amen.
Not just any journalist. But one who was or is in captivity or who was killed or tortured?
Whether you can name one or not, Sistertech thought you should keep in mind the recent journalist who died in the line of duty and offer this prayer from The Book of Uncommon Prayer:
4.15 For those in Danger or Captivity
Remember, O One In Charge, IT workers, citizen and professional journalists, and bloggers journeying in hostile foreign lands, in captivity or in prison, undergoing torture or bitter slavery.
Be their constant shield and companion. Give them courage to endure and escape their travail. Assist us in working for their swift release. Let their plight not be forgotten by us, their colleagues, family, and friends.
Amen.
Gentle Lover of our Souls, we beseech thee to so soften our hearts that we may always choose to follow thee and confirm thee promptly as our True Friend. Inspired by thy divine Friendship, we boldly approach thy throne of mercy and lay before thee our concerns and curiosities, good wishes and gossip, likes and LOL’s. In thine compassion grant us some measure of thy wisdom that we might judge worthily the appropriate time to cease updating and tweeting our status. Help us to entrust our friends and followers to thy loving care and relieve our anxieties over their status. Cause us to remember that thou, Who Hast Been In Charge even before the beginning of cyberspace, hast beheld their updates and tweets, yea, even before the same were posted online. Thy beneficence hast taught us that thou art doing for our friends and followers better things than they might receive from any replies, DM’s or RT’s we could post.
Amen.
Sistertech has been busy consulting with the folks in Cupertino. They’re trying to put out the fires Steve started with the iPhone 4. Morale is incredibly low. Plenty of people think this issue with the antenna and the faulty software is enough to change its name to the “iFlub” instead of the iPhone.
As often happens in such cases, Apple’s Incident Team is circling the wagons. On the eve of the presser tomorrow, one question kept coming up: “Are mistakes inevitable?” For some of the guys it was clearly an attempt to find a way to evade responsibility for something that purports to be an anomalous, but deeply troubling, failure to attend to the details. Focus clearly was lost.
But for others the question has nothing to do with “covering one’s backside”. It’s evidence of an existential crisis. Who am I? What am I? And what responsibility accrues to me based on who and what I am?
Frankly, Sistertech was a bit surprised by the angst.
“Look, you guys. Even I’m not perfect. And in case you haven’t noticed, you’re not an angel, you’re human. That doesn’t let you off the hook, though. You do have a responsibility. You’re responsible for remembering your humanity. This means there’s likely to be mistakes made from time to time. I directed them to prayer 1.6.3 in The Book of Uncommon Prayer. We took a moment to pray:
Gracious One In Charge,
Help me and others to remember that you are perfect and I am not. I trust in your compassion and forgiveness for all my mistakes and errors.
Amen.
“And there is another aspect I want you to consider. I know some of you aren’t terribly religious. That’s fine with me! I’m not very religious myself, but that’s another story. But I remember the investiture of some of you. Remember that glorious day? The day you dedicated yourselves to the occupation, no, to the vocation of being technicians? I encourage you to revisit that day and remember the words and prayers offered. As long as you’re human, mistakes will always be possible. But that doesn’t mean that they’re inevitable.” Prayer 5.2 begins:
My brother (or sister), every Technician is called to follow information technology practices, serving The One In Charge, through the power of the spirit of innovation. The One In Charge now calls you to a special ministry of servanthood directly under your supervisor. In the name of The One In Charge, you are to serve all computers and networks, particularly the poor, the weak, the sick, and the lonely. As a Technician in your community, you are to study the holy manuals, to seek nourishment from technical journals, magazines, and blogs, and to model your life upon them.
I could see the stress leaving their furrowed brows. Yea, their relief was palpable. They understood that by focusing on detail they help themselves immeasurably. Sistertech called on them to imagine crafting an iPhone 4 for a loved one. “Would you be sure to offer the best possible? Would you check for flaws? Of course. Nothing but the best would do. These are the marks of a committed person, are they not? Then the answer is simple. Your oath supports your gift. Focus on that. Do that. Reclaim that.”
“Sure, mistakes may occur from time to time,” I said. “But believe me when I tell you that dedication covers a multitude of software and design flaws. Unfortunately, it also means having to say you’re sorry. Good luck with that, guys.”
Saint Michael, Archangel, defend us in battle.
Be our protection against the wickedness
and snares of the Hackers.
May The One In Charge rebuke them, we humbly pray;
And do thou, O Prince of the Heavenly Host,
by the power of The One In Charge,
thrust into hell N. [state name of the operating system you despise]
and all the other evil spirits who prowl about the world seeking the ruin of computer users.
Amen.
— an excerpt from Sistertech’s The Book of Uncommon Prayer
Hail, holy 2 TB storage drive, mother of mercy,
Hail keeper of our life’s work, our sweetest digital files,
and our hope of a promotion.
To thee do we cry, poor banished children of
incessant computer crashes;
to thee do we send up our sighs,
mourning and weeping in this
valley of infected and corrupted files.
Turn, then, most gracious defender,
thine repository of mercy toward us;
and after this, our exile,
show unto us the blessed fruit of thy womb, our files:
O clement, O loving, O sweet 2 TB drive.
Pray for us, O perfect external drive,
That we may be made worthy of thy promises of safety.
Amen.
— an excerpt from Sistertech’s The Book of Uncommon Prayer
Just got off the phone with panicked client. Seems slew of dastardly viruses have infected his hard drive. He’s in pretty bad shape. So is his laptop. Not much Sistertech could do by phone but offer what little reassurance I could. My advice to others? There are two key lines of defense.
First, take a deep breath. Lay your hands on the computer and say this prayer.
Prayers for protection of a computer
Visit this computer, O One In Charge, and drive far from it all the snares of the enemy; let your holy angels dwell with it to preserve it in peace; and let your blessing be upon it always.
Amen.
Second, get yourself good virus protection. Pay for it if you have to. Install it. Activate it. Keep it on. Use it early. Update it often.
I’m just sayin’…
Oh no. Another call.
We know that death is not the end of life. It is, for many computers and peripherals, only the beginning of that new life which has been preordained for them. Still, delivering the news to the owners of deceased devices can be tricky. Owners go through the typical stages: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and finally, acceptance.
I had to give “the news” to a client this afternoon for her wireless keyboard.
Here’s the prayer I gave. It’s for a deceased computer, but I also use it for peripherals. You might want to keep it handy.
Sistertech doesn’t usually think of herself as a “big tease”. So excuse the teaser title of this post. However, it is a topic that occupies a lot of Sistertech’s time. In our line of ministry, we often observe the way humans separate the “holy” from the “every day”, the “sacred” from the “daily, yucky, normal” what have you. This is a false dichotomy, of course. Still, it is one most of us fall prey to at various times either throughout our lives or at least a moments throughout the day.
Sorting through these kinds of theological knots is above Sistertech’s pay grade. But for the sake of the Internet bonding we have begun, allow me to share an entry from my personal diary. (You won’t go blabbing it. I think we’ve established that amount of trust, yes?)
I got out of a long shower tonight and thought about
all the prayers that need to be said for all the
suffering people all over the world. I thought,
“If I just didn’t have all the other stuff to do,
I could finish the task of praying day and night.”
Sistertech laughed out loud at herself. Of course, she knows better than to separate one’s prayer life from any other particular activity. As all of you in the tech world know, we’re praying constantly! How could software programs possibly come to market without prayer!
But seriously, it’s just a sign of the burdens upon Sistertech’s heart that for a moment she forgot that the “sacred” doesn’t happen only in a special place, at a special time, by a special person, saying special words, or singing special songs. We pray every moment we attend to our intentions and when our intentions are directed to what we’re attending to. And I certainly do mean that to sound as circular as it did for that’s the whole point, isn’t it?
By “intention” I mean just that: the focusing of an angel’s soul on that which should be its sole focus: giving praise and glory to The One In Charge. That said, I do appreciate the fact that it is harder for some of you to be so single-minded.
Bottom line: whether one is installing some more RAM, dumping a clogged up cache, updating one’s Twitter page, or making a cup of coffee (which is what I’ll need to be doing if I don’t hurry up and fold my wings for the night!), I urge you to stay focused on that which we should be attending to at all times: breathing. Yes, breathing. It’s a marvelous form of prayer.
Oh dear. It’s almost Sunday in Australia!
We’ve got the blessing of the animals. The blessing of the “plows”. And now the blessing of the tech devices. This makes Sistertech so proud of this British parish.
“It’s the technology that is our daily working tool, and it’s a technology we should bless,” Parrott said.
The short blessing capped Monday’s services at the Christopher Wren-designed building — the official church of the Corporation of the City of London, which runs the capital’s bustling financial district.
Parishioners took out cell phones as Parrott recited a blessing over them and their electronic devices. A few held their phones up in the air as he ran through the prayer.