FATHER'S Day falls this Sunday. It does not have deep roots in English history, unlike Mothers’ Day.

In fact it was only instigated in America during the Twentieth Century (with the active encouragement of manufacturers of cards and men’s gifts) and gradually spread across the pond.

But we needn’t let its American and commercial origins put us off.

It is right to have a day to celebrate Mothers and all who share in the task of mothering.

And it is equally right to have a day to appreciate and honour the role of fathers. Fatherhood is both a massive honour and a big responsibility.

I have begun to appreciate this for myself over the last two years and will continue to do so.

In Christianity, Father is perhaps the most precious name we have for God. Wordsworth wrote ‘Father – to God himself we cannot give a holier name.’ It is the name by which Jesus himself addressed God.

And he invited his followers to use that same word, praying ‘Our Father’, or simply ‘Father’. Calling God our Father reminds us that God is not an impersonal force, but is One with whom we have a relationship. One who loves us and draws us to love him in return.

‘Father’ evokes that right mix of both respect and intimacy. One of Jesus’ most powerful parables was that of the prodigal son.

It can equally be called the parable of the forgiving father. For in the story there are actually two sons, and both test his love.

One very obviously, by asking for his inheritance in advance and abandoning family and farm to live the high life, only returning home with his tail between his legs when funds and friends run out.

The other more subtly through his jealousy when brother returns home.

Rather than appreciating all that he and his father shared, and rejoicing to have the family re-united, he seems to begrudge his lot. The central figure is the Father.

The defining image is him (very much against the culture) running to meet and embrace his returning son.

Like the Father, God allows us choice. He even lets us wander off into the darkness. But he keeps calling us, and longing for us to return.

And as we do, he runs to meet us and to embrace us, rejoicing that he who was lost is found.

If ever we realise that we’ve wandered away, however far we may have gone, God is always our heavenly Father, only too ready to welcome us home, to forgive us and to restore us.

Rev. Toby Webber, Vicar of Altham and Clayton-le-Moors