Holy Club 8

Do I thank God that I am not as other people, especially as the Pharisees who despised the publican?

This is the only one of the accountability questions that requires Bible knowledge to make sense of it.

The question refers to a story Jesus told (Luke 18:9-15) about the Pharisee who made himself feel good by looking down on someone he regarded as inferior. Something we all do from time to time. The publican is only interested in how he compares to God's standards not to other people. Jesus commends him for this. Do we judge others to make ourselves feel better, or do we let God judge us so that he can help us to get better?

One of the ways the Holy Club members tried to 'get better' was by regularly sharing in Holy Communion (most of them were clergy so this was easy to organise).

The Holy Communion is often referred to as a 'mystery' - we're doing something we don't understand. I find this difficult I take pride in my ability to use reason and logic (despite all the evidence that I'm often illogical and unreasonable).

Sometimes its more helpful to experience than to understand. As we eat the bread and drink the wine in a very real sense, we enter into the death and resurrection of Jesus.

The early Methodists called Communion a 'converting ordinance' the experience of bread and wine taken in an atmosphere of faith was enough to bring about a complete transformation. The converts were 'born again' not because of a transformed understanding, but through a spiritual experience.

The earliest account of Holy Communion is found in Paul's first letter to the Corinthians which was written before the gospels (though drawing heavily from the story later told in the written gospels) and this is our passage to meditate on today: 1 Corinthians 11:23-26