O eternal God, you have promised to be a father to a thousand generations of those who love and fear you: Bless this child and preserve his life; receive him and enable him to receive you, that through your grace and the Sacrament of Baptism he may become the child of God; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Draft — AI-assisted research under editorial review.
A new prayer composed for the 1979 Episcopal prayer book, this collect opens the gift of a child onto the breadth of God's covenant promise in Deuteronomy, and closes by naming Baptism as the moment that promise is sealed for this particular child.