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Good Morning, It used to be said that ‘it’s not what you know but who you know, that counts.’ This was back when there was a belief that distribution of power and privilege was largely determined by birth and the class into which you were born. Then we seemed to evolve, and old barriers of class, race and culture started to be challenged and broken down. There was a desire to create an equality of opportunity, a country where people’s talent and hard work was rewarded, irrespective of where they came from or who they knew; to become a society that didn’t privilege Privilege. This is sometimes called a meritocracy. These last few weeks we have seen – through the lobbying of Greensill, the purchase of PPE and texts to and from Prime Ministers and big companies, that the old paradigm of having friends in high places still persists. We have witnessed a series of situations which look like Privileged people gaining privileged access to privileged people because of their privileged position. It has caused some to suggest that we are living in a Chumocracy. That said, we all do it. That is we tend to prefer our own – friends, family – to others. Last week when I was asked to suggest someone for a job, I instantly put forward the name of a relative. They were perfectly suited to the role, but my default mode was still to think of someone I was close to. It’s human nature and it happens in communities, clubs, clans, companies, guilds – and churches; the problem is this inclination becomes more dangerous where great power and responsibility is involved. Most people laud the idea of equality of opportunity, level playing fields, and what proverbs calls ‘wages well earned’; but I’m uncomfortable with the word meritocracy. It’s too individualistic; too competitive; it creates winners and losers, privileged and under privileged. Some will say ‘that’s life’, and so it is; but a decent society has to take account of those who do not have talent or can’t work hard or have no friends; those who don’t have access or who will never get the phone call. The Bible applauds those who use their abilities well, but it asks us to consider where these abilities come from. ‘What do you have that you did not receive (from God)? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not?’ But it goes deeper than this. The gospel – with its downwardly mobile God - really subverts the whole idea of meritocracy by claiming that the last shall be first. It gives everyone access - irrespective of background: ‘Before you were born I set you apart,’ God says to Jeremiah. For ultimately, it's not what we know or who we know that matters – it’s that we are known.