April 2024

Dear Cobham Park Church Family,
On a typical April day, will you need a warm coat, a flannel shirt, or just a t-shirt? Who knows? Virginia’s spring weather tends to be unpredictable. We can sometimes enjoy all four seasons in the same day! This uncertainty doesn’t make it any easier to set the church thermostat.
A few weeks ago, I was greeting folks in the pews before our worship service. One lady commented on how terribly chilly it was in the sanctuary. She clutched her sweater closely and looked as if she might succumb to hypothermia any minute. On my way to check the thermostat for her, another friend on the same pew motioned for me to stop. She vigorously fanned herself with a bulletin as she asked that I turn the air conditioning up, because “It’s hot as blazes in here!” I had to chuckle at this reminder that it is impossible to please everyone. This sort of incident has regularly repeated itself in every congregation I’ve served. Welcome to the thermostat wars! And there have also been other inevitable conflicts, including the dress code wars, political wars, music style wars…and the list goes on.
Thankfully, I’ve found Cobham Park to be a peaceable people compared with most churches. But we are still people. And people have differing personal preferences and views about many things. That’s why the Apostle Paul told Christians to work together “with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace (Ephesians 4:2:2-3, ESV).”
Every faithful follower of Christ must constantly sort out his or her views into two categories. First, there are the nonnegotiable truths that bind us together. I’ll call them “the majors”:
There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call—one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all (Ephesians 4:4-7, ESV).
Such things form the foundation of who we are as God’s church. Unity would be impossible without them. Our biblical moorings and the gospel of Christ must never—and I mean NEVER—be compromised.
But there is a second category which contains everything else. I’ll simply call it “the minors”. The vast majority of Christian disagreements find their place here in issues like the ones I mentioned at the start of this letter. The minors are largely cultural, personal, and ego-driven. They may be important, but they are not of ultimate importance. Here, we must be willing to endure a little discomfort for love’s sake.
I invite you to think back over your past—and present—irritations with others at church. What has been “a hill on which to die” for you? Have you majored on the majors and let the Lord take care of the rest? If we can do that, the devil won’t have much ammunition! In His Love,
Pastor Keith