LETTER:The role of emotion within the Charismatic Movement

From Dr Terry Pratt

Sir: Esther Oxford's recollections of her attendance at the parish church of Crookes, Sheffield, in 1989 reveal many of the distorting effects of memory and temporal distance from the event recalled ("And then came the writhing, the touching of bodies, the music", 24 August).

An account of "St Thomas's Sunday service" at 9.15am, 10.15am or 6.30pm it definitely was not, but rather a subjective reaction to the Nine O'Clock Service which then took place in the building and of which no mention was made in her article.

Incidentally, as the classical CD charts show, chanting is a time-consecrated part of Christian worship and black is the colour of the undress uniform of clerics and academics alike. Since 1989 the service was scheduled to end shortly before 11pm. Ms Oxford's emergence into "the bright natural light of day" was evidently more metaphorical than physical.

Yours faithfully,

Terry Pratt

Sheffield,

South Yorkshire

24 August

The writer was warden at St Thomas's Church from 1981 to 1986.