Reputation....

Exodus 20:7 "You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.

When the tail end of Hurricane Gordon reached the shores of the British Isles it disrupted the preparations for the Ryder Cup and caused a damp patch to appear in our roof.... We wouldn't have noticed except that Brian, our builder (why do people say it like that? It makes him sound like we keep him in the cupboard under the stairs along with Ron our electrician, John our odd jobs boy and Harry Potter....) who is converting our attic into an office space for us noticed some dampness around the chimney stack.

I was a little disappointed. As a house warming present Mum and Dad had paid for the roof to be retiled in March so we weren't expecting to deal with leaks for another 60 years. So we called the builders, a local firm of some repute yesterday morning and they promised to send a man round, especially after I told them that we were having other work done.

Now if you're like me you expect that to mean "We'll send someone round, but only after you've called us up every hour on the hour during business hours for a week, and also left messages on all our voice mails, and we're only coming round now because it is quicker and more convenient than getting a restraining order from the Courts to stop you from sitting on our front door. Oh, and please can we have our bunny back, preferably not boiled...."

But two guys in a company van came round this morning, took a look at the patch, scrambled up their ladders, did some cleaning, reapplied some sealant, and then left. Job Done. And now Brian is back upstairs plastering the loft space....

It speaks a lot about the value of reputation, because the roofers obviously value the word of mouth that can spread. It won't matter about flashy brochures, professional websites, and eye catching publicity if the product and workmanship aren't as required. A reputable firm is jealous about its reputation.

I wonder how much we are jealous of the reputation of God, the loving, compassionate, strong, mighty caring God, as expressed through the workmanship of the Church? I wonder how God is seen amongst the people we work with, socialise with, and witness to. I wonder what the word of the mouth around the town about God is?