Prayer for the Miracle of Computing
Blessed are You, Lord, our God, Sovereign of all, who has granted us intelligence and compassion, that we may use this artifact to gather closer in solidarity through time and space. Blessed are all the components from which it is crafted, the wires and circuit traces, the silicon and metal, the switches and inductors, that channel the feral fire of electricity into words, thoughts, and actions.
Preserve in our minds the queer and fem(me) ancestors through whom You have revealed the sublime knowledge of computation, from Ada Lovelace to Alan Turing, Grace Hopper to Idasie Itzkowicz, Annie Easley to Katherine Johnson, and all the other hidden figures throughout history whose contributions have been forgotten or erased. May their memories be a blessing.
Compel us to restore the lands from which we have extracted the resources to create these machines, and let their rightful Indigenous owners see justice and liberation in our lifetimes, that we all may find a more equitable path to share in the limitless potential of the virtual.
Remunerate and uplift, O Lord, the factory workers who have shaped the aluminum and plastic, soldered the resistors and ICs, and photochemically etched the semiconductive calligraphy at the heart of these machines. Let them and all their descendants know peace and prosperity, and let the shackles of the exploitative and inhumane labour by which these devices were made be cast off forever. Fill with pride and joy the hearts of the network technicians, painstakingly laying and maintaining a gossamer, globe-spanning web of copper and glass, through which we may organize our activism, redistribute our wealth, and rejoice in the collective wisdom You have granted us.
Vanquish from all the lands, Supreme Ruler of the Infinite, the greed of capitalists and tech entrepreneurs, who would plunder the communal Temple built by the goodwill of generations of open-source developers for their own enrichment. Deliver us into the light of the GNU Manifesto, the Gan Eden of free software, and let the fruits of our code be shared generously for all to prosper.
Lead us not into the idolatry of techno-fetishism, but guide us to respect and cherish the designers, manufacturers, programmers, and artists, through whom You have given us these miraculous portals to global collaboration. Grant us the presence of mind to be grateful for every arithmetic operation, every flipped bit, and every pulse of electrons that carries with it the force of Your will and benevolence. May we raise the sparks of Your divine light through the sparks of our every keystroke, and work to repair the world through our every virtual deed.
Amen.