Class

The three classes - upper, middle and lower.

This week we have been informed that now we are no longer three classes in the UK – upper, middle and lower (working) class.  We are now seven classes.  The BBC website allows you to ‘take the test’ and see which class you belong to.  I was intrigued, not to find out my social standing but to see what the questions were – on what is this decision based.  To be frank, I don’t really care what class other people think I belong to and if that bothers them then they have a problem, not me.  To be in the upper class, or elite as it is now known, much depends on your income and savings, in other words how much money you have.  No surprise there then.  Other questions are about social and cultural activities.  They give a list of various occupations and ask if you know any people in those occupations socially.  These range from Chief Executive, solicitor, university lecturer to shop assistant, farm worker or cleaner.  They want to know whether you go to the opera, ballet or listen to classical music, frequent the gym, take part in sports or have an account on Facebook or Twitter.  The answers to those questions apparently determine where I fit in society. 

There was nothing in there to ask about how I felt about injustice or if I was a cheat or frequently told lies or if I had killed anyone.  This week we have heard much about  Mick Philpot who deliberately started a fire that caused the death of six of his children.  Some attributed this to his social standing and way of living.  So I couldn’t help but think of Lord Lucan who also committed murder.  The only difference is that he somehow got away and his whereabouts are unknown so he was never judged for his crime.  It seems to me that being part of the elite (as Lord Lucan of the titled gentry is/was) or being unemployed and living on state benefits doesn’t seem to be a deciding factor.  Both committed a terrible crime against people they knew. 

Eton College

A ‘higher’ position on the social ladder depends a lot on hereditary factors, intelligence you happened to be born with, privileged background, expensive education and ‘who you know’.  There are liars, cheats, lazy, bad tempered and offensive people in all classes just as there are good, honest, hardworking and likeable people.  I’m sure we can all think of people from all classes of society who are good and bad.  Being educated at Eton and studying the classics at Oxford don’t guarantee you are a nice person just as going to the local comprehensive and leaving without any qualifications don’t make you a bad person.  But that seemingly is how the world judges us and labels us and so people desperately want to be thought of as more middle class than working class (as though somehow those in the middle class don’t actually work!).  Social status is important to them.

Does God really care whether I listen to classical music or nor?  Does it really matter in the big scheme of things whether I have an account on Facebook or Twitter?  (By the way Facebook I do but Twitter I don’t.)  Is it terribly important whether I rent or own the house I live in?  I am me, the person God made me.  Being what God wants me to be and doing what God wants me to do are what really count.  The Bible teaches that all are equal before God.  Paul says that it doesn’t matter about our gender, nationality or status in life, whether elite or lowest of the workers, we are all loved by God and are equal in His sight.  Jesus says in Luke (13:30) ‘the first shall be last and the last shall be first’.  God sees us in a different way.  He doesn’t see how much wealth we have accumulated or what music we listen to or which postcode we live in.  He sees beyond that into our hearts and sees what sort of people we are.  His ways are not our ways.  And He tells us that we shouldn’t judge others by outward appearances or what sort of clothes they wear or what sort of house they live in. 

Lord, help me to see others through Your eyes.