Showing posts with label EDITH SCHAEFFER. Show all posts

Sunday, January 12, 2014

COMMON SENSE CULTURAL REFORMATION

Without much fanfare, a month ago, we quietly released the second of the Sound Word L'Abri Conference Videos. This time we were privileged to release Edith Schaeffer's lecture on Common Sense Christian Living (Nehemiah). The lecture is on the last chapter of her book entitled Common Sense Christian Living.

Edith mentions in the first portions of the video that the book is based on a film series by the same title. This films are now rare and hard to find, but was reportedly a five part series divided into the following sections: Part 1. & 2.) Continuity in Family. 3. & 4.) What is Real Spirituality? 5.) What is Prayer. The book is organized differently but expands on that content.

The book release and this lecture take place in the early part of 1983 in which Edith Schaeffer was 68 years old. The last chapter of the book, that Edith reads from and discusses in this lecture, is entitled "Sensible Balance in Building and Battle" and speaks in regard to the example of Nehemiah.

The story of Nehemiah is of course the return of Israel to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple and the walls wherein the Israelites found themselves performing the dual task of rebuilding for the future and fighting off those trying to thwart their efforts. I can think of very few illustrations that so parallel and typifies the life of the Christian in a post-Christian world. For while we seek to rebuild and reform culture, we often find ourselves battling on every side, with forces who wish to tear down. While the illustration is not literal, in the sense that we are not doing physical battle, we are however to strive to apply Christian principles, and resist the ungodly spirit of the age. At times we feel torn between building and battling, but both must be our task. We must have a true basis of spirituality and foundation in Christ or else we might find ourselves in despair, seeing only losses and not seeing the spiritual victories that are won amidst even the darkest of circumstances, and being true to the truth of scriptures and our savior's message of hope.

Edith here speaks with much wisdom, to relevant matters to Christians in our time. How do we live the Lordship of Christ in the whole of life, when our culture is categorized by many, including Francis Schaeffer, as post-Christian?

There was another age in which war was constantly on the church's doorstep, while the church was trying to reform, and that was the Protestant Reformation. For this reason, I think one possible summary for the book, might be "Common Sense Cultural Reformation."We hope you will enjoy the video and take this very relevant message to heart!

Tuesday, September 17, 2013

NEW-MODERNISM OR CHRISTIANITY - SCHAEFFER'S FORGOTTEN FIRST BOOK?

As you might have noticed our acquisitions project has really began to take off. We have much to tell you about the many finds we have had in the last several months, but there are some that we have had to push to the front. This title of course is one of them.

On the same day we received the video masters of the Schaeffer videos from 1983 & 1984 from Sound Word that we will soon begin to release for public viewing in digital form, we also received a book in the mail from Italy which my partner Jason Schaitel was able to track down. This is not just any book mind you, but a book in French dated back to 1951 and perhaps is Schaeffer's oldest book.

The name, Neo_Modernisme-Ou-Christianisme, translated is New Modernism or Christianity: Barthianism in the Light of the Word of God. In order to get a scope on the significance of the booklet, consider that this book is privately published 14 years before Schaeffer's 1965 Wheaton Lectures which was privately printed for Wheaton and Westmont called Speaking the Historic Christian Position Into the 20th Century and is the basis for The God Who Is There. In fact, this bookled was published 17 years before Schaeffer's first officially printed work and predates the foundation of L'Abri by four years.

To be clear, this is actually a small booklet and the contents is perhaps about the length of The Mark of a Christian, but it is six chapters long and gives a rebuttal of the teachings of Karl Barth. Yet to our knowledge, outside of printed pamphlets and articles, this seems to have been the first of any material by Schaeffer ever put into a book-like form.

Some readers may recall from Schaeffer's history that in 1950 he gave a lecture at the Second Plenary Congress of the International Council of Christian Churches on Barth and the new modernism entitled, The New Modernism (Neo-Orthodoxy) and the Bible. The following year it was published in the Baptist Bulletin as An Examination of the New Modernism (which you can read on line here). Yet, apparently the work on the subject did not stop there. It was further developed into the content of a booklet, and here it is!

Although the work itself has been somewhat forgotten, with a little digging we can see that Mrs. Schaeffer once again comes to our aid. Edith, ever the documenter, although not mentioning the book by name explicitly anywhere (that we know of), did in fact tell us about it in The Tapestry. Here is what she said:

In August of 1950 Fran gave a talk at the Second Plenary Congress of the International Council of Christian Churches in Geneva, Switzerland. The title was "The New Modernisn (Neo-Orthodoxy) and the Bible." This talk contained material which really has been the basis of all he has said since on the "existential methodology" showing the destructiveness of Karl Barth's teaching. (This was translated into French and Portuguese at the time.)

Note the last line. It is not specific, but tells us that the aforementioned lecture was translated into French and Portuguese. We'll continue with this in a moment.

In The Tapestry (page 314), Edith goes on to tell about the exchange between Schaeffer and Barth that is worth retelling to clarify why Schaeffer was writing this paper. Just prior to the presentation to the I.C.C.C. in Geneva, Schaeffer and four other scholars visited with Karl Barth face to face to discuss many of the related issues. The meeting attendees included Schaeffer and the four other theologians (G. Douglas Young, J. Oliver Buswell, James E. Bennet, and Peter Stam). During this meeting Schaeffer asked Barth a simple question, “Did God create the world?” Barth answered, “God created the world in the first century A.D.” As Edith recalls the dialogue, she describes how Fran then “waved his arms out over the beauty in front of them, pointing to the tree-covered hills sweeping down to the lake” and asked, “This world?” Barth answered, “This world doesn’t matter.” These responses served to underscore what Schaeffer had already concluded and was preparing to present. Barth’s concept of “religious truth” systematically analyzed, stripped Christianity of it's historicity and put religious concepts in the "upper story." Schaeffer admits at the end of his presentation, “In the short time we were with Barth it was not possible to explore all the facets contained in this paper, but it’s basic approach and conclusions were shown to be sound.” Schaeffer sent the paper to Barth and had hoped that Barth would pursue further dialogue, but Barth’s response was one of dissatisfaction.

So now, picking up where we left off, upon finding an actual copy of the book on this topic by Schaeffer in French, we were able to find out that the organization that published the material is called "Action Biblique," an evangelical organization that does ministry to French and Portuguese speaking countries. Edith notes in her letters that after the Congress, Schaeffer went with Dr. MacRae to Morges to speak with the leaders of a French Christian organization gathered there (pg 177 With Love, Edith), while we cannot be sure that this is the same organization it is at least plausible. Likewise, she later recalls in passing, a humorous story of her and Fran running late, rushing through the market section of Geneva to meet with "Action Biblique," all along trying to get Francis to stop for deals on oranges and dates. Yet we are never given the specifics of the arrangement of the printing or if it was established at this time. However, what we can conclude is how the booklets were used based of how Edith explained the ministry. The ministry of "Action Biblique" was such that they trained persons for ministry and in a trade for a year and then sent them out to minister. They would then return for another year of training and so on. Their trade would allow them to specify on their passports a worker designation and would allow them more access. They, in turn, would often distribute various forms of literature. Since the dimensions on this little booklet are only 12cm x 18cm (Approx 4 3/4" X 7"), we can conclude that they were designed to be used in this fashion and were a means to reach out to people in these countries.

After we confirmed the booklet, we were in contact with Dr. Little the custodian of the Francis Schaeffer Collection at SEBTS and he was able to confirm that they have several of them. We were extremely excited to make this discovery and to own a copy to further research.

Our plan for the booklet is already underway. We have completed a digital graphic scan of the booklet and will be performing an OCR scan next. Thereafter, we will run the copy through a digital translator and then we will begin working with one or more French speaking persons to help us confirm the translation. Finally, when we are done, we will explore copyright restrictions and what rights we might be able to procure to release the the information publicly or not.

Friday, September 13, 2013

NEWS: RARE SCHAEFFER VIDEOS TO BE RELEASED IN COOPERATION WITH L'ABRI AND SOUNDWORD ASSOCIATES

Schaeffer Apologetics Video Snapshot

AN IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT!

In mid-August, we were able to acquire through public vendors a VHS copy of a 1983 lecture by Francis Schaeffer on Apologetics. Finding this rare tape was quite a find in itself, however after some further inquiries, we were surprised to discover more than we bargained for.

After finding this publicly available, out-of-stock video, my partner Jason Schaitel, inquired further with the company who produced the video to see if we might be able to digitize the video and make it available on line. The company, Sound Word, may be known to some of you, as they still do audio conference recording for L'Abri. You can find a list of currently available audio recordings here.

Sound Word, not only was willing to allow us to handle the Apologetics video for these purposes, but was also willing to offer a total of 11 master copies of video (9 segments) from conferences in 1983 and 1984. These historic lectures are of Schaeffer in his final two years of life on some very significant topics. They also include footage from Edith Schaeffer and Susan Macaulay (their daughter) as well.

We are thankful and honored to have been given permission by Sound Word and L'Abri Fellowship to be entrusted with the task of digitizing and making these videos available to the public. Accordingly, francisschaefferstudies.org has purchased the masters and will digitize, edit, and produce them beginning in just a few weeks. We will then begin releasing them this fall and winter and throughout 2014, which will be thirty years after Dr. Schaeffer's passing. We cannot help but think this is a bit of Providence at work.

The following is a list of the contents of the videos we will be working on. The information provide is subject to change depending on the actual contents of the tapes. We will provide more information as it becomes available:

L'Abri Conference, Atlanta 1983

Introduction to L'Abri - Dr. Schaeffer and Susan Macaulay (daughter)
Names and Issues - Dr Schaeffer
Who Is For Peace? - Dr. Schaeffer
It is Your Life Involved - Dr. Schaeffer
Common Sense Living (Nehemiah) - Edith Schaeffer
Apologetics - Dr. Schaeffer

L'Abri Conference, Knoxville 1984
(All videos are labeled E & F Schaeffer)

Introduction to L'Abri (Various)

Five Ideas - Dick Keyes

Discussion on The Great Evangelical Disaster (Book) - Part 1
Discussion on The Great Evangelical Disaster (Book) - Part 2
Conference Discussions / Dr. Schaeffer's Last Address - Part 1
Conference Discussions / Dr. Schaeffer's Last Address - Part2

Watch for updates and follow the releases as we make them available.

Providence!
Dan

Updates:

Friday, June 28, 2013

EDITH SCHAEFFER SERVICE MAY 11, 2013

(Note: Please download the audio here if you encounter problems with the player.)

After the passing of Edith Schaeffer on March 30th of this year, there were several services in her honor. The first of which were arranged by the family in Gryon, Switzerland and St. Paul, MN, with a graveside service in Rochester. Thereafter, in the following weeks, one significant service took place in Rochester, MN, her home for many years. It was one of two services arranged by L'Abri in her honor, the other was arranged by the Southborough branch in Massachusetts.

For many, traveling to these beautiful services was not convenient or possible at the time, yet thankfully L'Abri Rochester has graciously allowed us to post the service. You will be blessed by the beautiful music and wonderful speaking with insights into her life and legacy. Click on the image below to see pictures from the service.

List of Performers and Speakers

Click to view photos of this event.

Cheryl Stewart & Bryonie Moon violin & piano

Jock McGregor – Director L’Abri, Rochester, MN

Larry Snyder – Former Director, Rochester, MN

Mrs. Kaye Peng, Rochester Chinese Church

Larry Snyder

Cheryl Stewart & Bryonie Moon

Mrs. Dorothy Prentice

Prof. Jerram Barrs – Francis Schaeffer Institute

Rev. Chris Harper – Trinity Presbyterian Church

Special Thanks to Larry J. Lorence (audio) and Jerome Monsen (photos) and L'Abri Fellowship.

Thursday, June 27, 2013

EDITH SCHAEFFER SERVICE MAY 11, 2013

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO THE MAY 11th
EDITH SCHAEFFER SERVICE.

Saturday, June 15, 2013

PHOTO ACQUISITION: GEA - ANABEL BAKER

In chapter five of Edith Schaeffer's book L'Abri, which chronicles the early development of L'Abri Fellowship, one finds the account of two visitors named Betty and Gea. To the left is a new photo we have acquired of Anabel Baker, "Gea," Miss Kansas, being crowned queen of the 50th Anniversary American Royal, a large annual event here in Kansas City (Special thanks to William Gebby for directing us to this find).

Of the two girls mentioned by Edith, Betty is of course Betty Carlson, author of several books on L'Abri, and artist in residence, who lived and worked side-by-side with her dear friend and opera singer Jane Stewart Smith at L'Abri. She is especially noted for having paid to send send Edith away to write the story of L'Abri and having consulted Francis Schaeffer on "writing books," prior to his first works. Gea's real name however, is never given in Edith's book. The only real information given describes her as being "dark and beautiful (Miss Wichita, Kansas, of the year before. She could both dance and play the piano and had Hollywood as her goal." (L'Abri, pg 55) Edith later documents, "As for Gea, she today is the wife of a pastor in mid-west America, and the mother of five children. Her husband wouldn't be her husband, and the children wouldn't have been born, if it hadn't been for what happened that week in [Chalet] Bijou." (L'Abri, pg 55).

Likewise, Betty Carlson does not give us any clues either in her account, The Unhurried Chase that Ended at L'Abri. She describes their meeting on page 88, saying "Gea and I had met about a year before at Camp Eleanor on Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, where she was a music director, and I was the swimming and tennis instructor. I don't recall when we first talked about Switzerland, perhaps I talked about it; but I believe that I was trying to explain to her why I was going back. It got involved, because it sounded melodramatic to say that there was an outer force compelling me to go back." She further talks about how that she inspired Gea's interest in Switzerland and eventually talked her into traveling, although she generally disliked it, "Even coming from Kansas to Wisconsin had been a hardship for her. But I gargled on about how marvelous it was, what extraordinary piano, drama, and ballet teachers where were in Lausanne. I was at the height of my persuasive power..." On page 86, Betty mentions in passing that Gea's husband's first name is Wayne, but we still have no mention of Gea's real name. Gea's account of their meeting is also in the book on page 94, where she recalls being introduced to Betty as the "world traveler" and was shocked to find a less-than-interesting travel enthusiast who was more concerned about comfortable clothes and shoes than style. This of course was something she was intent on changing!

So in order to find out who "Gea" is one must do a little research. We were able to consult the records for Ms. Kansas, from Wichita of 1950 and see that she was known for her acting particularly Shakespeare's Macbeth. The name of that winner is Anabel Baker. There is another name from Wichita a few years earlier in 1948, but she is the well-known Vera J. Ralston (Vera Miles), who played Lila Crane in Alfred Hitchcock's thriller Psycho. Thus finally, just for due diligence, Colin Duriez in his book, Francis Schaeffer, An Authentic Life, also confirms this conclusion in the footnotes on page 118.

Betty did eventually convince Gea to travel with her to Switzerland in the Autumn of 1950. They would eventually end up being directed to the Schaeffer's home by a mutual friend of the Schaeffer's, Baroness von Dumreicher. The Chalet Bijou, where the Schaeffer's first met the baroness, was regularly rented to artist and creatives, and was the Schaeffer's second home in the village of Champery before they eventually wound up at Les Melezes in Huemoz where they founded L'Abri (Betty and Gea's visit was actually five years before it's founding).

Betty had first met the baroness on her first trip to Switzerland after riding her bike from Sweden. Upon arriving at her pension, Baroness von Dumreicher would providentially become her friend and translator, helping to get her settled. So now, on this second trip, this time with Gea, a series of events transpired to bring about their trip to meet the Schaeffers. Both Betty and Gea had somewhat on a whim visited the Scotch Church and read the Bible a bit as a result but it remained something on the sideline with no deep appeal. Yet Betty, out of her conversations with a local man about politics, had written a series of about 50 "good will letters" to the states to encourage other students to study abroad and she had been fascinated with promoting the new idealogical fascination of a "the united states of Europe" to encourage nations to have a reason for not fighting with each other (remember this is right after World War II). One of these letters ends up getting published in a newspaper and is read by a sailor who is a Christian. He begins writing to Betty and sending her literature, explaining that there could be no lasting "good will among men" without Christ. Betty, although pitying the poor misguided sailor, had a fascination with the printed page, and read everything he sent. In continuance with her "good will" notion, her and Gea decided to found a traveling musical group to that end. They purchased instruments and a motor scooter for travel, and even invited a talented friend they knew from camp named Marianne. She traveled all the way from Chicago to meet them. When she arrived however, they discovered that she had become a Christian which presented some road-blocks to their big plan. Soon Betty developed a serious sinus infection that required her to be operated on. During her recuperation, Gea and Marianne ran the scooter into a taxi. This of course ended their dream of "good will troubadoring." When recounting their story to a Swiss friend, she said, "Well, it's simple. When you need to get over something in Switzerland, you go to the mountains." Yet there was one problem, they were broke. That next morning a letter arrived from Madamme Dumreicher, informing them that the Schaeffer's had written to her that they would like her friends to come visit them. Those who know the story of L'Abri, know that such coincidences were a regular happening as the Schaeffers prayed for God to bring them those whom He desired.

Although Betty and Gea were directed to the Schaeffers without knowing of their background and were astonished to find out they were staying with missionaries, there were soon overcome by their genuine care for them and hospitality. They realized that the Schaeffers were not some misguided zealots as culture has so comfortably labeled many Christians at times. Much to their surprise, they found themselves even defending them. On a venture down to a local hotel (Edith notes this as the Hotel Champery in her letters, With Love Edith pg. 208) to see their friend Angela, whom Edith describes in her letters as an English Jewish girl. Angela started by making some slightly disparaging remarks about the Schaeffer's calling them "balmy," which prompted both Gea and Betty to speak up in their defense. Gea said rather hotly, "They are the nicest family I have ever met in my life Angela. Maybe I don't agree with them straight down the line, but nobody calls the balmy in my presence!" Likewise Betty spoke up in regard that the Schaeffer's "might go overboard on their religion" and said, "Whatever it is that they believe, it surely hasn't hurt them. They know more about what's going on in the twentieth century than the three of us put together. And furthermore, the more you think about it, there's not much point in believing something, unless you really believe it." Yet Angela was not without a comeback stating, "I don't doubt their zeal of sincerity, but their insistence that Christianity is the ultimate truth in the universe happens to be nonsense, passe, and you know it! There isn't a respectable school in England that doesn't teach that all religions are equally good..." To this Betty interrupted, "Angela excuse me, but for the first time in my life I'm beginning to see how the old refrain belittles God, to keep saying that all religions are basically the same and basically good. Why that reduces the supreme being to a status lower than a floorwalker in a department store. For years I have thought it was the open-minded, intelligent thing to say that are all religions stem from the same God! A foreman in a factory has better organization that the popular vague god-of-all-religions who tells people to believe anything, do anything, and we'll all come out together in the end!" (see conversation in The Unhurried Chase that Ended at L'Abri, pg 134-135)

Betty and Gea did come to follow Christ soon thereafter. Edith notes in her letters (With Love Edith pg. 209) spending hours over supper preparations and canning, hearing Gea's life story. In her book L'Abri on page 54, she tells us that Betty came in one day and told her rather nonchalantly and matter-of-factly that she had come to believe the Bible and wanted to accept Christ as her savior and likewise Gea left a message to the same affect in their guest book. Their story is one of the early stories foreshadowing what would come to happen at L'Abri. It really typifies what so many have encountered. As Betty remarks in her book, "Many continue to come to LAbri along a path similar to the one Gea and I traveled. They arrive hungry, contentious, full of themselves, not knowing Who or what they are seeking; but they knock on the L'Abri door because someone along the way cared enough to direct them to risk upsetting them in order to set them straight." (The Unhurried Chase that Ended at L'Abri, pg 147)

Friday, May 24, 2013

CHRISTIAN HERITAGE

What is Christian heritage? Why is it important?

Listen to this interview with Ranald Macaulay (Francis Schaeffer's son-in-law) on the 'Men@Work' program, with Nick Battle (Original Broadcast: May 4th 2013, 8pm.)

Ranald describes the work at Christian Heritage and the Cambridge Apologetics Apprenticeship (cambridgeapologetics.org), and goes on to discuss his own conversion, a bit about Francis and Edith Schaeffer, L'Abri, and meeting Susan (one of Schaeffer's daughters) who later became his wife.

(Note: Please download the audio here if you encounter problems with the player.)

Tuesday, April 30, 2013

EDITH SCHAEFFER : 1914 - 2013 - Ranald Macaulay

Photo by Sylvester Jacobs

Every generation produces individuals who seem larger than life. Like meteors they
blaze into life and become something of a wonder to those looking on. ‘What remarkable talents,’ we say, ‘what energy, what achievements’ This is what Edith Schaeffer was like and for 17 years Rochester was her home.

Like many coming to the Mayo Clinic the reasons for her arrival were hardly auspicious. Her husband, Francis, had just completed filming in Switzerland for his second major documentary series called, ‘Whatever Happened to the Human Race’. At the end of a gruelling day on the slopes near their alpine home, his dramatic weight loss over the previous week led Edith to telephone a medical friend at Mayo to seek advice. ‘Get him here as quickly as possible’ he said. So on the 9th October, 1978, Edith and Francis arrived in Rochester. Within hours he had been diagnosed with lymphoma and put on chemotherapy. It was to be the beginning, for Edith certainly, of a long association with the city and its people. Happily, Francis responded well to treatment and continued to be active and influential throughout the world for another seven years. By then Edith had moved their home from Switzerland to Rochester and it was there, on the 15th May 1984, that she heard his last quiet words… “from strength to strength” – taken from the sentence ‘they go from strength to strength till each appears before God in Zion’ in Psalm 84:7. Her days as the wife of one of the world’s most significant evangelical leaders in the 20th century had come to a close.

However, her surprise at finding herself living in Rochester was hardly her last! She
seemed to specialize in surprises in fact. The next one came within weeks of her
husband’s death and through what had been the major part of her life’s work, namely L’Abri Fellowship. She and her husband had founded this Christian work in Switzerland in 1955 and one of its half-dozen branches (now ten world-wide) had moved from California to Rochester to provide, amongst other things, practical support for them in their medical need. Not long after the funeral in Rochester came the new surprise - a Steinway grand-piano no less. This was a gift to L’Abri in memory of Francis Schaeffer and it held pride of place in her gracious living room. But the surprise contained yet another surprise and one which opened up a new chapter in her life. For what she quickly realized was that the actual piano involved, discovered not far from Rochester incidentally, had been manufactured the same year as her marriage – and came into her home the 6th July 1984, 49 years exactly after the very day she and Francis had their wedding - 6th July 1936! This piqued her already vibrant curiosity. So the next time she was in New York she arranged to call at the Steinway factory. Quite unexpectedly she found herself in the midst of a red-carpet-welcome and all because the company’s senior piano-voicer, Franz Mohr, had for many years been one of her avid readers and admirers.

The visit began a lasting friendship and even resulted in a new book called ‘ForeverMusic’. Amongst other things it was a paean to the wonder of God’s creation. It also provided her with a medium to express one of the leading characteristics of her life, namely her delight in anything and everything beautiful. She herself was a beautiful woman and always dressed impeccably. When she provided meals it became an occasion not just for good food but for a ‘work of art’ – hence the title of another of her books, ‘Hidden Art’. But ‘Forever Music’ also described how God works into our
individual lives – in this case via the biography and conversion of Franz Mohr himself. This in turn led to a concert with the Guaneri Quartet in Alice Tully Hall at the Lincoln Centre, NY, and to personal friendships with some of the world’s most illustrious musicians like Rudolf Serkin, Vladimir Horowitz and Yo Yo Mah.

Her ongoing life continued to be part of the ‘Rochester L’Abri’ for more than a decade and it enabled her to put her gifts of teaching, hospitality and creativity to good use. Many, for example, were the musical soirees in her living room around the Steinway. She spoke regularly at the annual Rochester L’Abri Conferences in February. But she also served as an international Trustee of L’Abri until 2001 making a grand total of 46 years within the life of the Fellowship. She also went on with her writing. Already she had completed nearly a dozen books, some of which, like ‘The L’Abri Story’, ‘The Tapestry’, and ‘Christianity is Jewish’ had sold almost as successfully as her husband’s – as they still do. The scope of her activities went well beyond Rochester, though, both within the United States and abroad. For example, she had been instrumental in the formation of the Francis Schaeffer Foundation based in New York and Switzerland and also in the Francis Schaeffer Institute in St. Louis, an adjunct of Covenant Theological Seminary. Her speaking itinerary was extensive.

Then followed another major surprise when she returned, now aged 80, to the very place in China where she had been born. Once again she found herself the subject of an official red-carpet welcome laid on, believe it or not, by the secular city dignitaries! The third and last of three daughters born to missionary parents, she was only five when they returned to the United States. Like all her memories, however, her recollections of China remained vivid and these she put into a children’s book bearing her Chinese name ‘Mei Fuh’.

For all her fizz and sparkle, however, and despite frequent displays of energy and
creativity, even in old age, which left her younger colleagues in L’Abri breathless, the
time came for her to return to her beloved Lac Leman in Switzerland. There she lived in a flat in a small lakeside village beside Vevey where she and her husband had spent many happy years. In due course she needed more care and one of her daughters, Mrs Debby Middelmann, with her husband, Udo, graciously provided a home in the mountains not far from where she and Francis had first founded L’Abri Fellowship in 1955. There, after a long decline in health, she died on the 29th March 2013 - aged 98.

It was a long and remarkable life – truly meteoric. But when all is said and done the best thing about Edith was who she was as a person: she never became big-headed because of her successes; she was always generous (even to a fault!); she consistently, and however inconveniently, treated all who came within her ambit with a gentleness and love both radiant and deeply genuine. In short, she was ‘real’ - a true Christian lady whose first desire was to glorify her Maker and Saviour. What she and her husband took as their life-long goal was to try to demonstrate and declare to all they met that the Bible really is true and that the Judaeo-Christian God is a kind and gracious Saviour to those who come to Him. She never swerved from that object. Nor, right until the day she died, did she ever flinch from the costliness of that call. She obeyed the apostolic summons to ‘present your body as a living sacrifice to Christ’ (Romans 12: 1). And now she is with Him. Hallelujah!

Written by Ranald Macaulay MA Cantab
(Son-in-law of Edith Schaeffer)
The Round Church, Cambridge.
http://www.christianheritageuk.org.uk/

Read also: FINALLY ENTRANCE TOGETHER INTO ETERNITY - Edith Schaeffer (1914 - 2013)

Saturday, March 30, 2013

FINALLY ENTRANCE TOGETHER INTO ETERNITY - Edith Schaeffer (1914 - 2013)

Edith Schaeffer
Photo by Mustapha Ashrad

“How I hope we may have many years of service together, and finally entrance together into eternity.” ~ Francis Schaeffer to his wife Edith, 1935.

As we reflect on the passing of Edith Schaeffer, who went to be with the Lord in the early hours of March 30th, 2013, it is worthwhile to note the events of her life to get a sense of who she was. It is a most distinct providence that guided such a couple as her and Francis together. Both whom were avid defenders of the faith, who were passionate about people and truth. Yet, as we reflect, consider the story, but also consider Edith's passion. She was passionate for Christ, for ministry, for children, and especially her dear husband "Fran" whom she loved and served with side-by-side for so many years.

1914 - “Edith Rachel Merritt Seville was born in Wenchow, China on November 3. [1]” She was the fourth child of missionaries, George Hugh Seville and Jessie Maude Merritt Seville. [2] They served in what was formerly known as the China Inland Mission, founded by Hudson Taylor. Edith had a wonderful family Christian heritage and was well educated and highly artistic and loved the arts greatly. She and her family had tried to learn Chinese culture and even adopted some Chinese dress. Edith was known as Mei Fuh during their time in China. Edith notes in her children’s book by the same title that because of the time difference, her birth was recorded officially a day earlier in the United States as November the 2nd. [3]

1920 - Edith’s family would move back to the states when she was six years old. When her family relocated to Germantown, she began attending Germantown High School (Fran's former school) in her senior year. [4]

1932 - Fran met his future wife on June 26 at the First Presbyterian Church in Germantown, Pennsylvania in the defense of the faith. Edith had just graduated from Germantown High School [5]. Fran had just returned home from college. They both were at a Young People’s meeting, where a former member, now a member of the Unitarian church, was lecturing on the topic, “How I know that Jesus is not the Son of God, and how I know that the Bible is not the Word of God.” During the lecture, Edith jumped up and began to make a reply, when across the room Fran, who was already standing began to speak. Edith sat back down and listened in amazement. Edith asked her friends, “Who’s that boy?” She was not aware of anyone in the church who knew any replies against Modernism. Edith soon rose to make her points, quoting from J. Gresham Machen, and Robert D. Wilson. of Westminster Theological Seminary nearby. Schaeffer likewise asked his friend, “Who’s that girl?” Fran was impressed and was not aware that anyone attending the church was familiar with Old Princeton Apologetics (In fact, Edith would first introduce Fran to J. Gresham Machen’s book, Christianity and Liberalism early in their friendship). Thereafter, Francis would ask Edith if he could walk her home, to which Edith replied, "I have a date." Schaeffer looked at her calmly and simply said, "Break it!" Thus began their life together as defenders of the faith. [5]

Edith would go on to enter Beaver College [6] for a degree in home economics that same year. Edith was highly trained in foods, dietetics, dressmaking, interior decorating, and art appreciation. All of which she would put to good use eventually at L’Abri.

1935 - Francis Graduated from Hampden-Sydney College in June and graduated second in his senior class, magna cum laude. [7]

Fran & Edith's Wedding
July 6, 1936

Francis and Edith would be married on July 6th. They were married at Wayne Avenue United Presbyterian Church, by Edith’s father George Seville. Fran was twenty-three and Edith was twenty. Fran and Edith saw their relationship as rooted in ministry. He remarked to Edith in a letter, this wonderful thought: “How I hope we may have many years of service together, and finally entrance together into eternity.” [8] They would spend their honeymoon working at a Christian camp. Immediately, they would discover that they contrast each other, as Fran was intense, passionate and sometimes overly driven, while Edith could be romantic and idealistic and prone to flighty thoughts of the ideal. Yet they would also discover that they complemented each other as well. Edith was cultural and refined, gifted in the formal aspects of hospitality and Fran took great interest in personal relationships, and they both grew to have strongly convictions about the personal aspects of hospitality. Both of them stood passionately together for Biblical Truth against Liberalism and where avid readers, and eventually would be great writers, speakers and teachers.

Fran would enter Westminster Theological Seminary in September of that year. Edith discontinued her education at Beaver College only completing 3 of the 4 years, to support Fran in seminary, but it was no passive support. She was very purposeful and took time to share everything with him. She made him lunches, but she also made a second, and tried to eat at the same time he ate so that she could be aware of how hungry he might be when he came home. She studied alongside Fran and received a seminary education right along with him from home. She stayed up late with him and shared in the discoveries of theology and philosophy, and learned some of the Greek and Hebrew words he was studying (although Fran needed a considerable amount of time alone studying Hebrew due to his battle with dyslexia). She learned the faculty names and took great interest in the happenings of the seminary. During the day she worked from home as a leather-worker and seamstress working on numerous projects. Fran had received a small grant from Westminster, but Edith was the primary source of income during this time.

1938 - Fran Graduated from Faith Theological Seminary on Willmington, Delaware [10]. “Francis is ordained as the first pastor of the Bible Presbyterian Church denomination. Francis began serving as senior pastor of Covenant Presbyterian Church in Grove City, Pennsylvania. [11]”

The Schaeffers started a large Summer Bible School program that grew and grew. These were formative years in the ministry work of Fran and Edith. Fran persistence and tenacity are well noted, he once squeezed twenty-one boys into a car! Edith’s creativity, on the other hand, broadened the programs available for the summer school. Francis regularly made house calls to every member of the church as well as many of the parents of the children that attended the Summer Bible School.

1943 - After serving as an associate pastor of the Bible Presbyterian Church in Chester, Pennsylvania (1941), God would lead the Schaeffer's to pastor a church in the Midwest. “Francis began serving as the senior pastor of the Bible Presbyterian Church in St. Louis, Missouri. [11]” The Schaeffer’s picked up where they left off as senior pastors at their first church, creating and establishing ministry with a particular emphasis on children and youth. Several months after arrival, the Schaeffers founded Children For Christ which in a very short time would develop into an international ministry. All of this was based on their earlier work with children in Grove City.

As we consider the early story of the life of Francis and Edith Schaeffer, we can see the youthful passion that they had for both beauty and truth. Edith the creative, and Francis the strong teacher. They were young, idealistic, and full of life. They realized very quickly as a young couple that there were limitations in each other. Yet they learned also that God had given them gifts, that they could use, and that complimented each other. They did not yet know how God would use all of them, but they applied their gifts in each new setting and grew together through good times and tough ones. They felt in many ways like they were on an escalator, quickly moving forward in greater service together. They had just began to settle in toward a long term ministry, and the future looked stable and bright. Edith envisioned a life for them in the home where they lived in St. Louis. It was beautiful, and conventional. But in a five short years their idealism would be tested by living in a fallen world, impacted by a post-war climate of hurt and needs. They would be asked to reconsider the nature of Truth, and the nature of beauty in a quest to find answers to the question of “reality.”

1947 - Fran was asked to travel throughout Europe for three months to evaluate the state of the church in Europe as a representative of the Independent Board for Presbyterian Foreign Missions and as the American Secretary for the Foreign Relations Department of the American Council of Christian Churches. Schaeffer toured 31 cities (many more than once), in 13 countries in just 90 days. He slept in 56 different places in that period of time. This trip was both incredibly stimulating and yet deeply exhausting touring in war-torn Europe, just two years after the war, which was still under rationing and with many travel restrictions and a broken infrastructure. It was both psychologically and physically draining on him. The highs and the lows of the events during his travels would catch up to Schaeffer when he got home and he would experience a bout of what some have described as depression and fatigue that fully immobilized him. Edith, carefully nursed him back to health. Edith believed that he was in many ways just short of an absolute physical and mental collapse. She was a solid strength in Fran's life and was his consummate helper, friend and source of encouragement.

This trip would result in them being called by the missions board to be missionaries to Europe, with the specific calling to, “strengthen that which remains.” They would have a particular emphasis on spreading their work of Children For Christ there.

1948 - The Schaeffers move to Lausanne, Switzerland with their three daughters to be missionaries to Europe. Their primary work involved their Children for Christ ministry, and helping with the formation of the International Council of Christian Churches. Their first home would be the Chalet Bijou. Eventually their prayers would be answered to stay in Champery and they would move to Chalet des Frenes. [12]

1951 - During the early winter months, Fran would begin to go through a spiritual crisis. Edith would prayerfully support her husband as she always had and in this time with much prayer. As a result of this crisis, Schaeffer recognized that something was deeply wrong and he carefully reconsidered his Christian commitment and the concepts of truth and reality. Schaeffer emerged from this experience with a new certainty about his faith in True-Truth, and a new emphasis on sanctification and the work of the Holy Spirit, and a new direction in his life which would unfold over the next four years.

Edith’s Begins Writing Her “Family Letters” - Edith begins to write her letters in August. [13] These were sort of a family newsletter that recounted what they were going through and the various happenings. They were not filled with promotional or advertising content, but just family news. Edith was a wonderful and honest writer. She was the other voice of L’Abri, and it is very easy to fall in love with her wonderful creative spirit. People connected with her words, and attitude of prayer. God used these letters in many ways to work through His people miraculously and naturally in a very organic way. People would often give timely gifts that were direct answers to prayer, and very often they did not even know the need. As Edith wrote their story, people responded not out of compulsion, but out of the good of their heart in both prayer and giving.

1953-54 - The Schaeffers return to the US with family on furlough, and Fran began an extensive speaking and traveling schedule. Schaeffer traveled across the country speaking 346 times during 515 days, sometimes three times a day, about the deeper spiritual life.

As the family returned to Champery, Switzerland in September. It was on the deck of the of the USS Ile de France that Francis first told Edith of the desire to use the word "L’Abri," for their ministry and thought of changing the name of their chalet in Champery. [14]

1955 - In the following year, on February 14 the Schaeffer received notice from the Swiss government on that they must leave Switzerland permanently within six weeks for their “religious influence” in the Catholic canton. Each Swiss canton are member states within the federal state of Switzerland. The word canton is a French word that more literally means “corner” or “district.” The Schaeffers were at this time living in the Roman Catholic bishopric of Valais.

The Schaeffers, by April 1st would move out of this canton and into another. Their new home would be Chalet Les Melezes in Huemoz, Switzerland. God brought about a series of miraculous circumstances which would open the way for a new beginning in ministry. The circumstances that surrounded this event are numerous and amazing all recounted in Edith's book entitled L'Abri. Edith's strong faith and conviction in the matter proved to open the door to the new location, as at just the right time God would provide both the location as well as the provision through a gift in the mail to start L'Abri.

Edith’s March 7-9th family letter makes the official announcement of the work of L’Abri. “L’Abri is what we feel the Lord would have us add to the work He had given us here in Switzerland. L’Abri means “shelter” in French, and our thought is to have a spiritual shelter for any who have spiritual need. [15]”

In her May 30th family letter, written just after they had completed their move into Chalet les Melezes, Edith remarks, “And so literally L’Abri began in Chalet les Melezes immediately upon our arrival--with a German musician, a Swiss peasant, and an English ex-Wren and ex-nurse for our first guest.

The Schaeffers officially resigned from the Independent Board of Presbyterian Foreign Missions on June 4, marking the final commitment to L'Abri Fellowship.

1955 - Following the resignation, in her June 17th letter, Edith explains in a bit more detail how L’Abri will operate. “And so we face a busy summer as L’Abri Fellowship begins, and such a thing as a vacation must be put off again. But the Lord is sending those who need a time in L’Abri, and he can just as easily provide an opening for a vacation when He knows it is necessary.
There are a few things you should know about L’Abri Fellowship. The material needs of the work, and ourselves, will be met as the Lord sends in gifts in answer to prayer. We believe that if He sends the people to us who need to be here for study and asking questions and prayer, He will also send in the means to feed them.” Edith goes on to explain the garden and matters with the appliances, the states, “Each need will be prayed about and we will wait for guidance to proceed according to His specific answers in sending the means.

Finally, and most important--L’Abri Fellowship may seem very small--but we know there are many who are having a daily part in the work here through your faithful prayers. The ones who are working here through prayer we wish to speak of as the Praying Family of L’Abri. You yourself know whether you are one whom the Lord has joined to us in this way or not. May L’Abri truly be a shelter in a weary land for those who will find Christ their shelter here. [16]”

Edith clarifies in her work L’Abri that L'Abri Fellowship became official in July when her father, Dr. George H. Seville, former missionary to China with the China Inland Mission took on the work of creating a home office in the states for them. He had just retired from his teaching position at a theological school and wanted to work as their “home secretary” as his contribution to the work of L’Abri. While he assumed legal roles and the handling and sending of gifts, Edith’s mother duplicated and mailed the family letters to their family. These letters, with family members in mind would become “Dear Family” and would grow as God brought people to follow the work of their ministry. [17]

1959 - In November of 1959 a journalist from Time magazine, showed up at L’Abri, who had been tipped off by a journalist parent who had a daughter in school with Deborah Schaeffer. The following day a photographer would also drop in to shoot the photographs.

1960 - The Time magazine article was published entitled “Mission to Intellectuals” in the January 11th publication.[18]

1964 - It was about this time that Betty Carlson is convinced that the Lord is leading her to give a month’s wages to send Edith away to write the story of L’Abri. [19] Edith in fact does write her book on L’Abri. It however sits as a completed manuscript under the Schaeffer’s bed for the next five years! During which time Betty remained confident that it would be published at the right time. [20]

Probably one of the first converts from the reading of the book, and in this instance, in it’s pre-published state, was Larry Snyder, future leader of the Rochester branch, who ran the branch with his wife Nancy. Larry and Nancy have now since retired. Larry came to L’Abri searching for answers when he met a person in a youth hostel in Europe who that told him, that he seemed confused and that L’Abri was a place he could go to get his questions answered.[21] Many others in Larry’s situation would find their way to L’Abri under similar circumstances. Larry was quite intent on finding answers and immediately inquired about them. As Edith describes it, as soon as he had heard the person say L’Abri, he felt driven to go there, and began working in order to do so. Finally, he arrived late one night on his motorcycle and wanted to know all that he could so that he could start studying the next day. Edith apparently saw how intent he was and let him read her manuscript. He read it that night and started study at the Farel house the next day. Although Larry noticed something happening, he could not quite grasp it yet, and he was not an immediate convert. Larry would have further discussion with Dr. Schaeffer, in which he told him flatly that he did not want to discuss his God or his religion. Yet much to his surprise, Francis did not see that as the end of the conversation, but rather encouraged him to stay and keep asking his questions. Edith notes, “As time went on, Larry became an understanding Christian and the problems he had in philosophic areas and areas of doctrine cleared up. He not only studied hard, he was an outstanding help...” During his time as a L’Abri worker he would become convinced that he was being led into further Christian ministry. He would leave in the following summer for Covenant Seminary.

1968 - Fran's first books, Escape From Reason and The God Who Is There are published.

1969 - Edith publishes her first book, L'Abri.

Fancis and Edith saw L'Abri as a witness of living by faith and prayer before the watching world. Their work was always seen as being in tandem. Here Edith sets out to chronicle the early history of L'Abri. Edith here writes a very personal and "real" work that recounts the history of L'Abri thus far. It is a testimony of the hand of God at work in their lives "before a watching world" as thousands of visitors journey to their house from all over the world.

As we mentioned before, L’Abri had actually been written five years earlier. Betty Carlson gave Edith a gift which allowed her to get away for a time and write the work. The manuscript would sit under the Schaeffer’s bed, until Francis published his first books. The timing of the printing would allow the book to become very popular along with Francis’ books.

1969-2000 - Edith would go on to publish 20 books, and her works would be popular in their own right, with a unique and endearing writing style. Perhaps her most notable works are L'Abri, The Tapestry, Hidden Art, and Affliction. These last two books won her the Gold Medallion Award from the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association (in 1979 and 1982 respectively).

1984 - Fran and Edith had relocated to Rochester, MN for Fran to receive treatment. From there she continued a busy speaking schedule and wrote further books.

[READ THIS SPECIAL SEGMENT FROM RANALD MACAULAY for more information on this time period.]

2000 - Edith moved to Switzerland to live with her daughter Debbie and husband Udo Middleman.

2013 - Edith passes into eternity to be with Fran and her Lord Jesus.

Other articles on the Internet remembering Edith: