Sermonshttp://centralwoodward.org/sermons/en-US2012-02-18T03:45:49ZSquarespace Site Server v5.11.81 (http://www.squarespace.com/)From Mourning to Dancing --http://centralwoodward.org/sermons/2012/2/13/from-mourning-to-dancing.htmlBob Cornwall2012-02-13T14:34:10ZBob Cornwall Disabilities Mental Health Healing Mourning Praise Thanksgiving sermons
]]>Who Are You in Christ?http://centralwoodward.org/sermons/2012/2/5/who-are-you-in-christ.htmlBob Cornwall2012-02-05T19:46:19ZBob Cornwall Discipleship Identity JesusRene Descartes declared these famous words – in Latin of course – Cogito ergo sum.   That is, “I think, therefore I am.”   According to this famous philosopher the ability to reason and to think defined human identity.  Many people, especially today, would find his definition rather limited, because it seems to exclude a lot that makes us who we are.     But who are you?  What makes you, you?   

]]>What Is Happening?http://centralwoodward.org/sermons/2012/1/30/what-is-happening.htmlBob Cornwall2012-01-30T16:27:29ZBob Cornwall Gospel Jesus Jesus walks into the synagogue at Capernaum, immediately heads to the pulpit, and without so much as asking for permission from the synagogue leaders,  starts preaching.  After that, the place falls into chaos.  
That’s because, no sooner had Jesus started preaching, when suddenly, a man stood up in the sanctuary, and started shouting Jesus.  The man, whom Mark says was possessed by an evil spirit, screamed at Jesus, demanding to know what Jesus would do with “us?”    Are you going to destroy us?  After all, “I know who you are.”  Yes, “you are the holy one of God.”
]]>Passing the Torchhttp://centralwoodward.org/sermons/2012/1/16/passing-the-torch.htmlBob Cornwall2012-01-16T21:17:42ZBob Cornwall Generations Leadership Mentoring sermons1 Samuel 3:1-10

When Teddy Roosevelt became President in 1901 he was the first President since James Buchanan who hadn’t been directly involved in the Civil War.  Though Grover Cleveland did pay a substitute to take his place in the Union Army.

Bill Clinton was the first post-World War II generation President, and since Barack Obama’s election in 2008, it appears that the torch may be in the process of being passed once again. 

Passing the torch of responsibility from one generation to the next is inevitable –   in politics, in business, in sports, and in the church. 

]]>In the Beginninghttp://centralwoodward.org/sermons/2012/1/9/in-the-beginning.htmlBob Cornwall2012-01-09T19:57:16ZBeginnings Bob Cornwall Creation Epiphany “The end of something is better than its beginning.” (Ecclesiastes 7:8 Common English Bible) 

  I thought you’d want to hear this word from Ecclesiastes, since we’re moving into a new year.  Beginnings are important, but endings are even more important.  A few years ago the Lions won all their preseason games and everyone expected good things, and then they lost the next sixteen in a row.  This year, the Lions had an up and down season, but they ended up in the playoffs – that was a much better conclusion.    
]]>Spending the Inheritancehttp://centralwoodward.org/sermons/2011/11/21/spending-the-inheritance.htmlBob Cornwall2011-11-21T13:50:26ZBob Cornwall Stewardship ThanksgivingYou may have seen a very large RV traveling down the highway.  In the driver’s seat is a senior citizen, and emblazoned on the back of that RV is a bumper sticker declaring that this now retired couple is spending their children’s inheritance.  Now, they have every right to spend their money any way they please, and the kids have no legal means of stopping them from doing this, but this declaration seems rather bold, maybe even brazen!    They have decided to spend the inheritance before it gets passed on to the next generation.   

Warren Buffett, as you may have heard, has decided that the bulk of his fortune won’t go to his children, but rather to charity.  It’s not that the kids won’t get anything, but  most of the inheritance is going to be shared by a much broader group of people. 

Jesus once told a parable about inheritances.  In this parable a son demands his share of the inheritance now.  Why wait until Dad is dead to enjoy the benefits of the inheritance.  Now, this is also a rather brazen demand.  The son is basically telling his father to drop dead.  There’s another part to this story that we rarely hear.  In that day the estate went to the eldest son, who then decided if anyone else would get a share.  So, this younger son was asking for something that didn’t belong to him.  But the father gives him what he asks for and the son goes out and spends it all on drugs, sex, and rock and roll. Before too long it’s all gone and he finds himself on the streets, eating the left overs from the slopped hogs.  You know the rest of the story.  He decides to go home and see if Dad will hire him on.  He knows he has no claim to sonship or the inheritance, because that’s all gone. In the end, however, there is a word of grace that restores this prodigal back to his place in the family.
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]]>The Bread of Life -- John 6:41-51http://centralwoodward.org/sermons/2011/10/11/the-bread-of-life-john-641-51.htmlBob Cornwall2011-10-11T19:52:38ZBob Cornwall Eucharist Hosptality World Communion SundayEach Sunday Tim Morehouse mixes up some bread, which he hands to me at the end of the service so I can hand it off to a visitor.  It’s always hot bread, so with a little butter or without butter if that’s your choice,  one can make a meal of it on the drive home!  It’s offered as a sign of welcome and hospitality.  

 

While bread is a useful sign of hospitality, it’s also a sign of something much deeper.  Bread is often referred to as the staff of life.  Along with water, bread is the foundation of human existence, which is perhaps what Mahatma Gandhi meant when he said:   “There are people in the world so hungry that God cannot appear to them except in the form of bread.”  This physical hunger is so powerful that it must be tended to if we’re to be open to anything else in life.

 

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]]>Rejoicing in God's Strengthhttp://centralwoodward.org/sermons/2011/10/11/rejoicing-in-gods-strength.htmlBob Cornwall2011-10-11T15:15:57ZBob Cornwall Joy StrengthPhilippians 4:1-13

 

Many of us, when we were children, learned stories about what we might call the heroes of the Bible.   If you’re like me, a male who grew up with Superman and Batman, you may have liked the ones about Samson, Gideon and David.  These guys are like super heroes who do great and wondrous things, often with seemingly superhuman strength, only they do it with divine power and not superpowers.   


 

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]]>Reunion -- Genesis 45:1-15http://centralwoodward.org/sermons/2011/8/15/reunion-genesis-451-15.htmlBob Cornwall2011-08-15T15:36:39ZBob Cornwall Genesis Reconciliation family values From what I hear family reunions can be a lot of fun.  There’s food, and games, and conversation.  You get to catch up on the latest gossip and tell stories about long-ago exploits.  For some of you this is an annual occurrence.  I can’t speak with any authority on such matters because our family is small and scattered, and we just don’t have such things.  But I trust that the stories I hear are true!
Of course, family reunions can also be uncomfortable and awkward. There might be a family feud going on or someone may have been hurt by what someone has said or done.  There may be empty seats, left by those who felt excluded from the family.  While some family members receive the invitation with eagerness and joy, others receive it with dread and wish they could find a way to skip the event.   
If modern families can be dysfunctional, the biblical families weren’t any better off.   I chuckle when I hear people extol biblical family values.  What values are they talking about?
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]]>If God is For Us . . .http://centralwoodward.org/sermons/2011/7/26/if-god-is-for-us.htmlBob Cornwall2011-07-26T17:48:24ZBob Cornwall Love Nature of God RomansRomans 8:26-39

 

On a hot and humid evening this past week, as we watched the Tigers play the Oakland A’s, John Balogh asked me whether I would be preaching a baseball-themed sermon?  Being a lifelong baseball fan,  I couldn’t let a request like that get away, and so I began thinking about how baseball might fit with this morning’s sermon theme.      

In Romans 8 Paul poses a question:  “If God is for us, then who can be against us?”   Now, if you’re a Tiger’s fan, could you see God’s hand at work during the game Tuesday evening?  Because they won big, surely God must be on the side of the Tigers!   Of course, not everyone saw things this way, because two members of our group wore caps of the then first place Cleveland Indians.   And while I donned a Tiger’s hat and rooted them on as they played the hapless Oakland A’s, just few weeks earlier I wore a San Francisco Giants cap to the Giants-Tigers game and rooted for my boyhood team.   So, on that night I was one of the few in the stadium who went home happy. So, if God is a baseball fan, whose side is God on?    And, if victory is a mark of God’s support, then surely God must be a Yankee fan, because  no team has accumulated as many championships as they have.  I’m sure most of you will agree with me that God could not be a Yankee fan!   Click here to continue reading

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