SIMON PHIPPS

What is Body Prayer? I recently spent some time at a monastery . At the monastery, they had a labyrinth that I walked through. A labyrinth, unlike a maze, has no false turns . It is a continuous single path that leads to a centre (as pictured below). Image from Labyrinth Builders It is said that you enter a maze to lose yourself and a labyrinth to find yourself. At the time of walking the labyrinth, I was at a great crossroads in my life. As I walked I prayed about the direction of my life. Was I heading in the right direction? Walking and praying I began to move further away from the centre of the labyrinth. I began to wonder if I had gone wrong somewhere or started in the wrong place. I stuck to my course and eventually reached the centre of the labyrinth. I felt a great sense of peace, that even though I was not where I expected to be at this point in my life, I was on a good course and one that God was using. This is body prayer....

Jesus didn’t have to stop at a sacred well on his way from Jerusalem to Galilee. He could have taken a different route. He could have gone with his disciples into town to buy food. Why did Jesus stop at a sacred well in Samaria? Over the past few blogs, we have been looking at Jesus’s reactions to several Jewish institutions in John’s Gospel: A wedding, the Temple, and a rabbi . We have looked at how each of these institutions points towards Jesus as their true fulfillment .* The wedding representing the ushering in of the Kingdom ofGod, through Jesus. The Temple representing Jesus as the ultimate touch-point between heaven and earth . The rabbi representing Jesus as the ultimate teacher – but much more than a teacher – a bringer of a new life . In this post, we are going to look at a sacred well and how Jesus uses this imagery to reveal something about Himself. The story in Brief Jesus and His disciples are heading from Jerusalem t...

What does it mean to be born again? For many, the term has come to mean adherence to a particular geographical and political movement. For many others the term is just as confusing as it was for Nicodemus 2000 years ago. My last 2 posts have covered Jesus’ reaction to 2 integral Jewish institutions in Johns Gospel: A wedding , and the Temple . We looked at how Jesus took those institutions and showed that He is the reality to which these institutions point* . The water into wine representing the coming Kingdom of God – through Jesus. The clearing of the Temple representing Jesus as the true touchpoint between heaven and earth. In this post, we look at Jesus’ reaction to another Jewish Institution: The Rabbi . And how this helps us understand the term ‘born again’. The Story In Brief The story in question takes place at night, when Nicodemus, a religious leader approaches Jesus. Nicodemus starts with assertions about who he believes Jesus is: a teacher fr...