L'Abri Canada

All is Gift, All is Passing Away, and All Shall Be Made New (Christina Eickenroht)

The table is set: In his 1633 Still life with an overturned silver tazza, glassware, pies, and a peeled lemon on a table, Willem Claeszoon Heda spreads before us a theologically rich feast. This painting is an exemplar of the popular subgenre of breakfast piece (ontbijt), depicting not necessarily a morning meal but any solitary meal which breaks a fast, perhaps at an inn after a long journey. Heda’s 1633 Still life likely would have hung in the interior of a Dutch home, perhaps in a kitchen or dining area, where it would have invited meditation in the midst of everyday life. After offering a thick description of this painting and surveying the history of the interpretation of such paintings, I will sketch a visual theology of Heda’s 1633 Still life which takes into account the pervasive Calvinist imaginary of the time. I will argue that Heda’s 1633 Still life is a nuanced vanitas painting which hints at resurrection hope, affirming not only that all is gift, even as all is passing away, but also that these temporal gifts are harbingers of a delightfully solid and substantial New Creation in the age to come.

For the lecture, please check out this specific painting Willem Claeszoon Heda, 1633. This is the one Christina is referencing.

The Copyright for all material on the podcast is held by L'Abri Fellowship. We ask that you respect this by not publishing the material in full or in part in any format or post it on a website without seeking prior permission from L'Abri Fellowship. Also, note that not all views expressed in the lectures or in the discussion time necessarily represent the views of L'Abri Fellowship. © Canadian L'Abri 2020

The Christian and Political Engagement (Clarke Scheibe)

Christians have been pressed once again to reconsider what is a biblical way of being politically and culturally engaged. In light of the US Election and in light of increased calls here in Canada to return our countries to our Christian heritage, many - even Christians - are worried of a rise of Christian Nationalism or at least a Christian politicization. One response has been to call Christians to remember the heritage of "two distinct kingdoms," the kingdom of this world and the kingdom of God. This is called R2K (Reformed Two Kingdom) theology. We will examine if this is an adequate response to society becoming increasingly antagonistic to religion, especially Christianity. We will also examine the theological heritage of L'Abri, Neo-Calvinism.

(This talk was given late November 2024.)

The Copyright for all material on the podcast is held by L'Abri Fellowship. We ask that you respect this by not publishing the material in full or in part in any format or post it on a website without seeking prior permission from L'Abri Fellowship. Also, note that not all views expressed in the lectures or in the discussion time necessarily represent the views of L'Abri Fellowship. © Canadian L'Abri 2020

The Mandate for Creation: Pollution and the Death of Man (Clarke Scheibe)

Problems in the environment have gotten far worse since 1970. For some, this has caused many to feel urgency, for others, indifference. How is one to respond? We will look at four contemporary responses: "traditional Christianity," secular materialism, pantheism & nature religions, and biblical Christianity.

The Copyright for all material on the podcast is held by L'Abri Fellowship. We ask that you respect this by not publishing the material in full or in part in any format or post it on a website without seeking prior permission from L'Abri Fellowship. Also, note that not all views expressed in the lectures or in the discussion time necessarily represent the views of L'Abri Fellowship. © Canadian L'Abri 2020

Will the Real Jesus Please Stand Up? Discerning False Christs (Clarke Scheibe)

People grow frustrated when they see Jesus being misused, for example, by political factions. However, it is easy to project a false image of Christ to match what we want Jesus to be and to be for. This talk will look at various images of Christ, contemporarily and historically, before turning to the image presented in the New Testament. We will consider what it means to measure our own images to that original one and what it means to follow Jesus not just as an image but as the risen Lord.

The Copyright for all material on the podcast is held by L'Abri Fellowship. We ask that you respect this by not publishing the material in full or in part in any format or post it on a website without seeking prior permission from L'Abri Fellowship. Also, note that not all views expressed in the lectures or in the discussion time necessarily represent the views of L'Abri Fellowship. © Canadian L'Abri 2020

Jonah, Silence, and the Sea (Hannah Eichelberger)

Is being swallowed by a sea monster a form of rescue or danger? The book of the prophet Jonah is a perfect example of uncomfortable and often unwanted revelation breaking through an otherwise still life.  God, in his relationship to the world and to his creation often disrupts the safety and calm of our known world and bring us deeper into a revelation of who we are and should be. But a break through, in Jonah’s case, requires that he be broken into. Under the calm surface of a silent sea, the book of Jonah shows us that disruption can bring us into the terrifying but wondrous depths of God. 

The Copyright for all material on the podcast is held by L'Abri Fellowship. We ask that you respect this by not publishing the material in full or in part in any format or post it on a website without seeking prior permission from L'Abri Fellowship. Also, note that not all views expressed in the lectures or in the discussion time necessarily represent the views of L'Abri Fellowship. © Canadian L'Abri 2020

Comic. Tragic. Brutal. The Life and Writings of Flannery O'Connor (Clarke Scheibe)

Flannery O'Connor was a devout Catholic writer from the Deep South (in the US) in the 1950s and wrote hilarious and horrifying short stories. T.S. Eliot, the famous poet, said that Flannery's stories made him blanch and refused to read them. Flannery felt that each story were parables to the modern world, and that she had to shout in order for the modern ear to hear. She questioned the narrative that the modern world was continually progressing. The supernatural invades her characters' stories to show that history is not the human march of progress, but a God-directed story. But the question often remains for her characters and for us, When God shocks you by showing up, will you recognize it as grace or not? This talk will look at her brief life - she died at 39 years old - and at understanding her fiction.

The Copyright for all material on the podcast is held by L'Abri Fellowship. We ask that you respect this by not publishing the material in full or in part in any format or post it on a website without seeking prior permission from L'Abri Fellowship. Also, note that not all views expressed in the lectures or in the discussion time necessarily represent the views of L'Abri Fellowship. © Canadian L'Abri 2020

Personality Redeemed (Robb Ludwick)

The core of the Christian gospel is not that God promises to remove and replace his beloved creation with something better, but that He promises to save and restore the creation He has made. This applies to us as human beings personally as well. In a broken world, the basic elements of our personalities and character can develop along paths where we do not love our neighbours as ourselves. Being 'set free' does not mean dying to myself and being raised as someone else, but rather asking God's help for radically rediscovering and redeeming my personality. In this lecture we will explore this truth through several texts and examples from the Bible itself. 

(Robb Ludwick is the co-director of Dutch L'Abri)

The Copyright for all material on the podcast is held by L'Abri Fellowship. We ask that you respect this by not publishing the material in full or in part in any format or post it on a website without seeking prior permission from L'Abri Fellowship. Also, note that not all views expressed in the lectures or in the discussion time necessarily represent the views of L'Abri Fellowship. © Canadian L'Abri 2020

Remembering Together: Community, Memory, and Archives (Marta Crilly)

Marta Crilly holds a MA in History, and a Masters in Archives Management from Simmons University. She worked as an Archivist for the city of Boston and is now Head Librarian, User Engagement & Burns Library Public Services at Boston College. This is what she has to say about the talk.

Memory is a key aspect of both individual and community identity. Join us to consider how communities form and maintain memory, how community memory can be erased or falsified, and why remembering together is especially significant for Christian communities.

The Copyright for all material on the podcast is held by L'Abri Fellowship. We ask that you respect this by not publishing the material in full or in part in any format or post it on a website without seeking prior permission from L'Abri Fellowship. Also, note that not all views expressed in the lectures or in the discussion time necessarily represent the views of L'Abri Fellowship. © Canadian L'Abri 2020

The Five Themes of L'Abri (Clarke Scheibe)

While these five themes are not the only important aspects to the work of L'Abri, it does give a coherent picture of what L'Abri believes, in what it proclaims and in what it desires to demonstrate. It will look at the truthfulness of Christianity, the reality of the supernatural, the humanness of spirituality, the reality of the fall, and the lordship of Christ over all of life.

The Copyright for all material on the podcast is held by L'Abri Fellowship. We ask that you respect this by not publishing the material in full or in part in any format or post it on a website without seeking prior permission from L'Abri Fellowship. Also, note that not all views expressed in the lectures or in the discussion time necessarily represent the views of L'Abri Fellowship. © Canadian L'Abri 2020

Redemptive Placemaking: Our call to faithfully build places for community flourishing (Sara Joy Proppe)

She formerly worked in real estate development and affordable housing but has taken that experience to launch Proximity Project, which she is the founder and director. She has years of experience of helping churches steward their properties with the aim of the common good within the context of their neighborhoods. (You can also read two contributions she has made to Comment magazine, based out of Ottawa.)

In our broken world, how can we design and build places that demonstrate God's redeeming work on earth? We will explore how God invites us, as co-creators, to participate in redemptive placemaking - the art of creating places that extol the dignity of being human and foster relationships for community flourishing. You will discover ways how contributing goodness and beauty to our neighborhoods through placemaking is an act of stewardship and obedience to the biblical command to seek the welfare of the city as we await the full restoration of creation.

The Copyright for all material on the podcast is held by L'Abri Fellowship. We ask that you respect this by not publishing the material in full or in part in any format or post it on a website without seeking prior permission from L'Abri Fellowship. Also, note that not all views expressed in the lectures or in the discussion time necessarily represent the views of L'Abri Fellowship. © Canadian L'Abri 2020