The Methodist Church broke with centuries of Christian tradition yesterday and included the first prayer to "God the Mother" in its worship book for the Millennium. The prayer, which initially was removed from the book because of protests from traditionalists, appears in one of nine services for Holy Communion. It reads:

God our Father and our Mother,

we give you thanks and praise

for all that you have made,

for the stars in their splendour and the

world in its wonder

and for the glorious gift of human life.

With the saints and angels in heaven,

we praise your holy name.

It is the first time in Britain that a mainstream Church has referred to God as a woman in an official service book, although feminists and liberals have been pressing for it for decades. The 600-page Methodist Worship Book, which has taken nine years to complete, replaces the 1975 text and will be used for the first time in Methodist churches on Easter Sunday.