I could see that second option happening occasionally in areas of more mixed worship (note: occasionally, not regularly). Often, as you said, as incentive to convert: "Let us bless your plough, and you will see what potent blessings you could gain were you to become our brother in venerating Saint Piers the Ploughman." Less commonly I could see it being used to, for example, bless a sword that a lord loaned to a Humakti champion in his employ.
I see blessings and curses as being mostly very specific, with a tight underlying logic (possibly very arcane logic, I'll grant you) that has the same rigor as a mathematical proof. A proof that two lines are parrelel won't help to show that two lines are almost but not quite parrelel. A blessing for your community only works with one very specific, magical, definition of community. A "blessing upon our swords" won't work on axes, or on a sword that doesn't belong to one of us, but will be more potent than a "blessing upon these blades."
Like I said, this is just my take on it. I like it because it makes sorcery very distinct from other magic systems, and it allows neat little game conundrums and mysteries, based on the precise limits of blessings. Oh, it also allows story critical blessings or curses to be powerful to drive a plot, but limited enough not to unbalance things in the future. (Ergo: the enemy performs the "bless the shield of our champion guarding our gate" ritual to make their champion guarding the gate almost invulnerable. The heroes have to figure out another way to break in, or a way to get the shield away from the enemy champion. After they succeed, if they somehow learn that blessing it is not apt to unbalance the game because of its limited scope.)
--Bryan
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