Greatham L’Abri Newsletter September 2006 Dear friends of L’Abri As I write we are enjoying the last few days of summer at the Manor but the signs of change in the seasons are all around us. The hot summer allowed us to make full use of our beautiful surroundings. We had some wonderful events, including an impromptu jazz concert in the Stables’ orchard, with James Falzone, a professional jazz musician, on clarinet, and our own Stefan Lindholm and Ken Cope on guitar and Andrew Fellows on piano! We also had a dramatisation of ‘The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe’ with parts for adults and children, and Gordon Tett, a long-term friend of L’Abri and professional actor gave a dramatic reading of CS Lewis’ ‘The Great Divorce’. What richness and creativity there is in God’s world. We enjoyed a varied summer lecture programme, including an excellent talk by James Falzone on ‘Life as Improvisation’. Nigel Halliday, a local art historian lectured on the life and work of Rembrandt, Jeff Dryden explored ‘What it means to be and Image Bearer’ and Stefan Linholm examined ‘Radical Orthodoxy – a contemporary theology’. But now the signs of change are clearly visible as summer turns to autumn. The blackberries are ripe for picking, as are the apples, plums and pears in the orchards. The swallows and house martins that twist and dive around the eves of the main house are preparing to head south, and the moles are returning to wreak havoc with the lawns! It is with some sadness that we leave the long warm evenings behind and head into a term that will change from summer into mid-Winter. Working at L’Abri one has to get used to change. Each term a different group of individuals make up the student community of the Manor and also it seems, for the last few years at least, that a different group of workers have assembled at the start of each term to pray and plan for the weeks ahead. Our last newsletter was in February. In June the Bradshaws moved out of the Old School House to return to the USA after more than 12 years at the Manor. Wade has taken up a post in a church in Charlottesville. Even though he and Chryse left L’Abri work last year (Wade has been interim pastor at the IPC in the meantime) they were still part of the life here. We miss them and their children very much. But another change is of a very happy kind as we welcome a new worker to join us this term – Márta Hegedus. Márta is a trained lawyer, from Budapest in Hungary. She studied with us for a term last year and has been a very competent helper for the past two terms. Now she begins as a worker, living in the ‘Top Flat’ in the Manor House which she has been decorating and making into a home for herself. One past L’Abri worker when asked for his advice on what to do in a first term as a worker said ‘make a home’. And this is so important for it continues amid all the change to be our homes that we welcome the students in to. We thank God for Márta, a very stable presence in the changing Manor House. We have just started the autumn term and the Manor is filling up with new students. Each comes with their own personality, stories, culture, gifts and burdens. Each is unique – ‘there are no little people’. But it still takes an effort to be open to these new people. There is a part of me that wants the familiarity of the students from last term back again. I wonder what happened next in their lives. How did the story go on? But as one student wrote recently ‘of course going away from L'Abri is the most important part of any student’s time there’. How right he is, and it is part of our calling not to hold on to the past but to trust that the same God is at work ‘out there’ as in the Manor. We have to trust that those who come term by term to the Manor are those of his choosing and to be open to what he will do in their lives. But the struggle to ‘allow this change’ is one in which we need His help. The diversity of people that the Lord brings is truly amazing. It seems as if more countries than ever are represented. Last term we had students from Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan, Hungary, Poland, Germany, Holland, Canada, USA, Brazil, UK, Slovakia, South Africa, Australia, & Korea. We also had a particularly good team of helpers: Marta, Celeste from Canada, Jonathan from the USA and Liz from the UK. In addition Lucy Metcalfe started last term on a year’s post as artist in residence. The idea is to support a Christian artist in their work, as well as providing opportunities for them to work with students and encourage the creativity of the community. What news of the other workers at L’Abri? The Lindholms have now completed their first year as workers and have made a home in the Back Flat. The students keep telling me how much they enjoy Lois and Stefan’s Swedish cooking! Lois has also been hard at work making a beautiful and productive kitchen garden complete with herbs, marrows, sweet peas, butternut squash, beans and raspberry’s. The flower borders have also been under her care and the Manor gardens are looking beautiful. Stefan lectured at the Swedish L’Abri Summer conference. He has taken over the job of branch treasurer, doing a great job in difficult circumstances. At the beginning of last term we didn’t have enough money for bills or wages, in part due to increasing utility prices. But the Lord provided for the term through gifts and student fees and we were able to finish each month in the black.
The Drydens have seen more change than most with the constant growing and changing needs of baby Molly now 6 months old. Heather returned to work last term after maternity leave with responsibility for helpers and the kitchen. Jeff visited the States and lectured at the Rochester L’Abri and the whole family had the chance to spend the summer break in the USA with Heather’s parents. Edith Reitsema has continued to be a wonderful blessing to the team and students. At the start of last term she spoke at an arts conference on the relationship of Hans Rookmaaker and Francis Schaeffer. The event celebrated the 40th anniversary of a conference at which Rookmaaker spoke that helped inspire a generation of Christian artists. Our prayers are that this recent event will do the same. Her sister Anne, who works with Medair in Angola, was able to visit over the summer break. The Fellows had a busy term with Andrew travelling to Brazil to speak at their first L’Abri conference while Helen held the fort at home with a sudden influx of teenagers at the Stables. Andrew’s cousin (also called Andrew) has moved into the area and undertook several projects in the gardens, including restoring the mill pond and composting system. The Pauls give thanks for Jack’s new school which is working out very well. I had an opportunity to speak in Berkhamsted to about 160 people on the Da Vinci Code and have been organising a film weekend (20 – 21st October) which I am greatly looking forward to. We also had a visit over the break from the Sumanns. Rudi continues theological studies part-time while Deike works as a teacher in Bremen. Life at L’Abri, as it does for so many of us, seems a life of constant change. Yet there is more stability than we sometimes see. The seasons change but always in the same cycle. The students change but the same search for spiritual reality goes on, just as Dr Schaeffer experienced it when he and Edith started L’Abri. The workers change but there is the same commitment to living in faith moment by moment in the reality of the God who is there, and who does not change. So there is change but there is also continuity. The signs of seasonal change can become familiar and a comfort as we remember that after winter, in God’s grace, spring does come again.
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