L’Abri

What is L’Abri?

L’Abri is a living learning community that was founded by Francis and Edith Schaeffer. The one I’m at is in Switzerland, but there are several other branches. Somewhere on the webpage it says something like “it’s a place for people who are seeking honest answers to honest questions.” The focus of learning is about God and people seeking answers about faith; however, one does not have to be a Christian to visit a L’Abri.

The basic set up of L’Abri is it consists of students (people who come here), helpers (people who have been students before and have more responsibly now), and workers (people who live here full time and well run everything). 

Students work threeish hours a day and study threeish hours a day. We study in Farel house which is a chapel on the first floor and a library in the basement. 

The work is either cooking, cleaning or grounds maintence of some sort. Everyday students assigned to a work crew which is lead by a helper or a worker. 

Meals are eaten together and there are formal lunches on some days which include discussions. Also the meals are delicious! The workers and helpers plan the meals, and since you have a variety of people planning the meals you get a lot of different stuff. (My favorite being the homemade bread). Additionally, people at L’Abri love learning and using other’s skills. For example if someone came from culinary school, they get asked lots of questions. 

Students live in a Chalet called Bellevue. Chalets are wooden Swiss houses with lots of windows. 

People don’t really lock there doors around here. It’s that safe. I have a room with 4 beds in it but I currently only have one roommate. Oh and we only get two showers a week. 

All of Thursday and then Sunday afternoon are the days off. Students use these to go hiking, to go to a cafe, to go sightseeing, ect. 

L’abri does have technology free zones. There is no wifi for students and helpers except on a computer you can pay to use after hours. (Thus often a cafe with wifi is how students use parts of their days off). There is a lounge for the students to hangout in which is also a tech free zone. 

If there’s anything else you’d like to know about L’Abri feel free to ask. It is one of my favorite topics.

Why did I want to go to L’Abri?

For one thing Switzerland is gorgeous but also insanely expensive. Particularly up here in the mountains near the ski resort, there’s a private school up here where it’s been known for a student to get dropped off via peivate helicopter kind of expensive. However staying at L’Abri is pretty cheap! L’Abri is on a pretty tight budget which is part of the reason for some of the rules and quirks such as meals not including very much meat. 

However, I mostly came to L’Abri because I knew it was a place I could find rest for my soul. I knew I’ll have plenty of time to read and think, and the rhythm of work time and study time would give me structure that I enjoy. I knew I’d meet some interesting new people and get to reconnect with some that I had met before. After the concussion and grad school pace of life it’s really nice to take this time of rest.

L’Abri gives me peace. There’s something about the well worn furniture, the creaky floors, the kitchen which is almost always emminating amazing smells of the next meal coming up, the deep conversations, the laughter, the chores, the music coming from students who know how to play the piano or the guitar, the card games, the lectures, the prayer, the warmth of a worker’s greeting, and the beautiful backdrop that mix to create a space that for me is undeniably charming and inviting. 

Is L’abri a Cult?

My first answer is of course not, but in order to answer this question fully I looked up some definitions for the word cult.  According to Merriam-Webster dictionary a cult is “religion regarded as unorthodox or spurious.” Since Christianity is pretty mainstream I would say that according to this definition L’Abri is indeed not a cult.

Now I would have probably defined a cult more as a group of people living together, sharing the same religion and rituals, with an element of memebership and strict rules. In this case, depending upon your viewpoint you may think L’Abri is a cult. However, since L’Abri welcomes and encourages the discussion of new ideas as well as allows people to come and go freely I would say it still is not a cult.

Instagram Worthy Quote of the Day

This one is from the book The Next Right Thing by Emily P. Freeman. “Our Western minds are trained to go down the path of explaining. We think if we can understand it, then we can control it.” I see this so much in my life and the lives of others, particulary when it comes to times of pain or suffering. I find it kind of freeing to remember that I don’t have to be able to explain everything. To remember that I am not in control so I don’t have to fight so hard for it.

An Embarrassing Moment with Sam

This moment is brought to you by L’Abri. As I mentioned we are assigned to different work crews. The other day I was assigned to grounds. The job was to use an electric push mower to mow this particular area. As one might imagine not very much flat ground exists in Switzerland, and I was mowing on a rather hilly area. Additionally, the grass was quite long and there were many hidden holes on the ground. To make matters worse the electric push mower had about 10 feet of cord that connected to an extension cord that was on well, the extension cord version of a spool. Thus every five minutes or so I would have to stop and move the spool. The embarrassing part is that I fell on the hill at least four or five times. Often while walking backwards up the hill and either stepping in a hole, tripping over the cord, or tripping over the spool. I must have looked quite silly and my lines in the grass were anything but straight.

Additionally, there was a safety button to push-in as well as squeezing the handle in order for the mower to start. I didn’t realize I didn’t have to hold this down, so I was stopping every five minutes or so because my hands are small and it was difficult to hold. Which you might ask, what’s embarrassing about that? But it definitely felt like, silly girl who doesn’t know how to mow a lawn. However, one of the workersm, Karen, told me later that I did a great job. That I looked just fine from her view of the hill. Plus, my friend, Rineke, who was also mowing at the time bonded over the whole experience. So I may have tripped a lot, but I did something new and definitely got a really good night’s sleep.

Well that’s all I have for now friends. Love you, bye.