[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—Is not Mr. Mozley's
difficulty about " the maximum experience of Christ " the difficulty of most of us ? The word " experience " is not so " elusive " as the actual experi- ence, there is all the difference between knowing a person and knowing about a person, so that to find an explanation we must look into our own lives. The thing that attracts so many of us to the Oxford Groups is that here we meet people of all descriptions, intellectuals and others, who clearly have found this experience, and whose lives, and power to win others show the practical results of it.
Is Christ a great Historic Figure only, who has left the world an ethical code to solve its problems ? or is He alive, and at work, guiding surrendered souls to-day ? In this bewildered age many are seeking to recapture the experience of the in-dwelling Christ possessed by the early Church. As Mr. Barry has pointed out there is nothing new in this, neither in the principles, or the technique of the Groups ; what does appear to be new in our generation is that the Groups are succeeding in making all types of people, who are not as a rule found in Churches, and many people also who frequent Churches, realize the truth of this experience as they had not realized it before.
No doubt discontent with the world's scale of values is leading sensitive souls, and those in quest of adventure, to seek another quality of life than that which is offered by this disillusioned age. In the complete surrender to Christ an entirely different scale of values; and quality of life are found, and quite evidently, as we scan the faces of the Group members, we see that they have an experience which supplies them with this love of adventure, and the zest of living. If the Groups need the help of the Churches, the Churches need them too.—I am, Sir, &c., W. H. YERBURGH. Bredon Rectory, Tewkesbury.
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