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Good morning. Britain’s workforce is struggling to get back to pre-pandemic levels. The chancellor is urging older people who’ve retired to go back into work. But the Chartered Management Institute has just published research which suggests companies are less likely to employ older workers than younger people. What’s needed therefore is not just for individuals to return to work, but a change in culture, and a challenge to perceptions. In many areas of society, in recent decades, we’ve been challenging stereotypes and discrimination: about race, gender, sexuality and disability, for instance. And there is a way to go still. Age is less talked about, and yet it’s often the subject of stereotype. Teenagers are sometimes caricatured as less responsible, risk takers and moody. But many are not. Older workers might be thought of as less creative, with less energy, and more expensive. Yet again, this is only a caricature. When I was a vicar, one of my favourite parishioners was well over one hundred. Mary struggled with mobility and failing sight, but she was a bright ball of energy. She was funny, she was up to date with TV and news, always keen to learn new things and she was a keen, astute and hilarious observer of people. I once panicked because she took a long time to answer the door, which was unusual. She told me she had been up in the attic tidying up. Naturally! Getting to know Mary I saw her as a full person, and she enriched my life. Which is what happens when we allow stereotypes to melt away and we encounter real people, in their difference and diversity. The more difference we allow into or work and leisure spaces, the more creative they become. It’s a good reason for encouraging intergenerational spaces, where those with different life experience, knowledge and skills can all contribute. But beyond this is the ever-present question of the value of every person, which underpins all of our debates about equality, rights and identity. Christian churches have often struggled with wider social changes, and yet the narrative at the heart of Christianity is one that challenges any practice that diminishes the humanity and worth of every human being. Every person is said to be made in the image of God. Every person is to be loved as one loves themselves. Both of these principles are repeated in Old and New Testament. So for me, the value of every person is not about what they can contribute, to work, family or leisure, but simply in who they are, as fellow human beings, worth getting to know, so that together we can explore more deeply what it is to be human.