Parishioners held up their phones as a prayer was recited

Laptops and Blackberry mobile phones have been blessed in a church ceremony in the City of London.

Canon David Parrott blessed the gadgets at the St Lawrence Jewry church in an updated version of a traditional "Plough Monday" back-to-work ceremony.

A number of parishioners held their mobile phones up as Rev Parrott recited a prayer.

He said: "It's the technology that is our daily working tool and it's a technology we should bless."

The 17th Century building is the official church of the City of London Corporation.

On Monday Canon Parrott placed a number of laptops and phones on its altar.

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He said it would remind the capital's busy office workers that God's grace could reach them in many ways.

Canon Parrott then recited a blessing over the parishioners and their electronic devices.

He said he hoped the ceremony had made worship "lively and relevant to the people who work nearby, in the financial district".

The traditional Plough Monday ceremony blessed a symbolic farming implement which had been dragged to the church's door.

Canon Parrott updated that ceremony, as he said it didn't have much relevance for his church, which was "nowhere near a field, in the middle of London".

Canon Parrott, who took up the post seven months ago, described the ceremony as "a fresh idea for a fresh post".