A Collect to Welcome the Unloved and Unimportant

God of the great and small, who knows what it is to be a Lord and to be a servant, keep us from dismissing and denigrating the seemingly useless and unimportant of the world, that we would not bar from your kingdom those to whom it belongs but welcome all those whom you love, through Jesus Christ, who loved us when we were yet sinners and brought us into fellowship with you through the Holy Spirit. Amen.

‘People were bringing children to him in order that he might touch them, and the disciples spoke sternly to them. But when Jesus saw this, he was indignant and said to them, “Let the children come to me; do not stop them, for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs.”‘ – Mark 10:13-14