Yes, you read it right.
This story is not about asperges – the rite of sprinkling a congregations with Holy Water – but about asparagus.
As part of the British Asparagus Festival Worcester Cathedral has held a service of blessing for asparagus.
The story was picked up by the Telegraph. And the cathedral has had been gently – and not so gently – sprinkled with mirth and even some scorn ever since.
The Vale of Evesham, where the festival is taking place, is one of Britain's chief asparagus growing areas.
Not everyone is as harsh as Andrea Williams of Christian Concern, who told Christian Today: 'This is an absurd pantomime type scene that makes a mockery of Christian worship.'
Nor are they all as angry as influential conservative blogger Adrian Hilton, of the Archbishop Cranmer website, who writes: 'Did the Dean of Worcester Cathedral not pause to think for just one second how utterly, utterly absurd this would look? Really, words fail (though some must necessarily follow). A sacred procession down the Cathedral nave becomes an infantile pantomime as a block of asparagus is elevated and adored like the Blessed Host, and two men dressed up like Monty Python pay some sort of vacuous obsequious homage. What exactly do we have there? Crusader? St George?'
Kevin Holdsworth, provost of St Mary's Glasgow – recently at the centre of a row over a reading of the Quran – wrote a tongue-in-cheek response – 10 thoughts on the blessing of asparagus. 'There can be no justification for blessing asparagus as asparagus is never mentioned positively in the bible. There is simply no biblical case for blessing asparagus. None at all. If God had wanted asparagus to be blessed, then surely Jesus would have blessed asparagus at the last supper,' he wrote.
Christians on Twitter also enjoyed the opportunity.
The Latin Mass Society joined in:
Gerry Lynch wrote:
Catholic Brit tweeted:
Worcester Cathedral defended the service as in the long tradition of celebrating the abundance of God at times of harvest.
Precentor Michael Brierley told Christian Today: 'Asparagus-growing is a vital part of life in Worcestershire, and the county has hosted the British Asparagus Festival since 2006.
'When the festival organisers asked if a bundle of the new crop could be blessed in a service on St George's day, the first day of asparagus farming season, the cathedral was very happy to do this as a sign of the abundant provision and generosity of God.
'Offering to God the first-fruits of the harvest is deeply embedded in both biblical and English tradition, and offering the first-fruits of the wheat harvest has been recognised by the Church of England with formal liturgy since 2006.'
