Today we celebrate two things- First is crazy saint of Assisi – Francis; and how when he embraced lady Poverty allowed him to see the goodness of God in all things and all people and all creation.- Second is the amazing work of SPCA -> today give freely to support this work

John wrestles with Romans 1:26-27 which on the face of it condemns homosexuality. By putting that verse back – into the social context and the letter it comes from, John explores what Paul might really have been saying as an example of how to keep working with Paul.In doing so he hopes people will be more informed and imaginative in how they approach scripture. This is our book. It shapes who we are,. We can't ignore it, so lets wrestle

John summarizes Romans and Paul so far and explores the “How to live this out” – which involves expanding into next weeks reading, which includes our passage/whakataukiJohn invites people to reflect on how they live out Paul's framework of living in the fulfilled covenant

To explore the gift of Pauls thinking to us in Romans 11 – to keep us humble; to help us know that it is not about us and the rewards we get; and to help keep us open, generous and compassionate to all people, all people – even those on our “least favourite” list, just as God the mysterious is open and generous and compassionate to all people – because does not have a least favourite list. Trumps America (as opposed to the USA) warns us of what happens when we don’t take this gift seriously.

John explores the importance of Romans 9 – 11 for our trust in God’s faithfulness and asks “do we really trust God’s faithfulness? What stops us really trusting?

To ask •What is the Kingdom of Heaven?•How would you describe the Reign of Heaven from your experience of it? •What images or stories would you tell?and explore the response in light of Pauls image of God’s faithfulness and Matthews image of subversion

Use Matthew and Paul to explore how our roots are buried in the faithfulness of God to the covenant - the promise to restore humanity and renew creation through God’s people. When we are faithful to this (righteous) we find life

This is John's sermon from the 9th July. In it John explores Paul’s letter to the Romans by looking at the summary in Romans 1: 16-17. Using this he teases out what the God’s righteousness looks like, what faith looks like and what the Gospel of God might be.In response he invites people to reflect on what stories define their lives, and how the gospel of God might change all that for them.