A short, structured prayer used in liturgical worship to gather (Latin collecta, gathered) the congregational attention around a single theme. The classic collect has five parts: (1) address — calling upon God by a specific divine name; (2) attribute — a clause naming the divine character relevant to the petition; (3) petition — the specific request; (4) purpose — the desired outcome; (5) mediation — closing through Jesus Christ our Lord. The form has been used in the Western church since the patristic period; the Book of Common Prayer's collects (largely by Thomas Cranmer, 1549) are among the masterpieces of English liturgical prose. The compactness of the form trains the congregation to pray with theological precision, biblical density, and corporate unity. Many Reformed traditions retain collect-form prayers; even non-liturgical evangelical traditions can profit from the discipline of writing brief structured prayers.