A Brief Bulletin Outlining the Recent Lack of Bloggage Material

Early last month, we embarked on an epic 15-day interrailing trip that took us from Bratislava (Slovakia), into Budapest (Hungary), on to Zagreb (Croatia) and on into Istria (the north-west coast of Croatia), then up into the mountainous green of Slovenia. Next, it was south into Trieste, Italy and from there on to Venice. After Venice, we made our way into beautiful Florence and finished up in the medieval, walled town of Lucca. It was all beautiful – just too much was seen and experienced to outline in so short a post!

Next, we caught a train up into Switzerland and spent about 10 days in L’Abri. If have not yet been to stay with the community of L’Abri in Huemoz, Switzerland then you must go. For many, L’Abri and the name of Francis Schaeffer are very familiar indeed. Scheaffer was an evangelist, writer, theologian and thinker who began a ministry from his Swiss chalet sometime in the middle of the last century. What began as a humble work has blossomed into a global network of communities committed to working out the implications of serving and knowing Christ in every sphere of life. L’Abri is the French word for “shelter”. As such, it is a Christian community that welcomes all and sundry who wish to talk and think through the ultimate questions of life – whether atheist, agnostic, universalist or animist – in the context of a Christian community commited to serving and following Christ.

Our days at L’Abri revolved around working on the up-keep of the grounds of the chalet, reading in the quiet surrounds of Farel House (the library and chapel) and discussing our musings and learnings with oneanother as we shared meals together. Without a doubt, one of the most stimulating, encouraging and satisfying 10 days I have yet enjoyed on this earth.

The above paragraphs hardly touch on the reality of L’Abri and the momentous work of Francis Schaeffer. The following links sketch out the life and work of Schaeffer in much greater detail:

http://www.rationalpi.com/theshelter/

http://www.labri.org/

The link below will take you to the swiss L’Abri website:

http://www.labri.org/swiss/index.html

Until next time,

The Scribbling Apprentice.