Gracious Father, whose blessed Son Jesus Christ came down from heaven to be the true bread which giveth life to the world: Evermore give us this bread, that he may live in us, and we in him; who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.<\/p>\n
This collect begins with the acknowledgement that God is our “Gracious Father.” He is the very essence of fatherhood – we only know a good father or a wanting father due to the fact that we have a good and gracious Father in heaven.<\/p>\n
For many in other religions, this is a very offensive concept – that God could be referred to as our Father. Within Orthodox Judaism it is still considered near blasphemy to pronounce the name of God – God is known through His word and through His creation, but is not a personable being. Within Islam, God or Allah is impersonal and unknowable. Equally within eastern religions, God is a disembodied force that one seeks to align with but cannot be known nor know you.<\/p>\n
For Christians the title of Father implies exactly what it means – that God desires both to be known and to know us as His adopted sons and daughters.<\/p>\n