L'Abri Fellowship - Southborough

To Set Out & Come Home: Two Deep Human Longings

Tue, 24 Mar 2026 07:35:37 -0600

A lecture given at L’Abri Fellowship in Southborough, Massachusetts. For more information, visit https://southboroughlabri.org/

by Ben Keyes

This lecture explores two fundamental human desires: the longing to seek new experiences and the longing to come home. Drawing on examples from literature, we will explore the nature of these two longings and ultimately point to their biblical foundations. Because the longings fro the new and the familiar are part of how we have been made by God, only in relating to Him do they come together and find fulfillment.

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. ©Southborough L'Abri 2026

Friendship with God

Tue, 17 Mar 2026 10:22:59 -0600

A lecture given at L’Abri Fellowship in Southborough, Massachusetts. For more information, visit https://southboroughlabri.org/

by Mary Frances Giles

"Friendship with God" can be a contested topic. For some, it is very easy to call God friend, while for others it seems impossible. IS God our friend? What should we expect out of a "friendship" with the Creator of the world?! In this lecture, we'll look at characteristics of friendship in general and look specifically at the lives of Abraham and Jesus to unpack what friendship with the God of the Bible might look like for us in our daily lives.

Habitation of Wonder: Tenanting Beauty, Imagining Justice

Tue, 10 Mar 2026 09:58:51 -0600

A lecture given at L’Abri Fellowship in Southborough, Massachusetts. For more information, visit https://southboroughlabri.org/

by Abigail Carroll, guest lecturer https://abigail-carroll.com/

What are we, asks poet and author Abigail Carroll, but "a constellation of salts" bearing the diving signature in our "affinity for zinnias, for swallows and plums, and questions about the lives of ferns"? To be alive in this world is to be awake to wonder. And from a place of holy wonder, we are well positioned to imagine justice. In this talk, Carroll will share poems both published and new, inviting us to engage the prophetic necessity of beauty and boldly envision a just world.

The Lesson of the Fig Tree (Jesus' Favorite Tree?)

Tue, 03 Mar 2026 10:56:10 -0600

A lecture given at L’Abri Fellowship in Southborough, Massachusetts. For more information, visit https://southboroughlabri.org/

by Esther Dalton

Fig trees feature in the landscape of the Gospels and show up in Jesus' teachings. It turns out the fig tree family is also an important part of many ecosystems across the world. What might these interesting trees have to teach us about fruitfulness in the Christian life?

Is There a Christian Challenge to the Culture War?

Wed, 25 Feb 2026 16:37:32 -0600

A lecture given at L’Abri Fellowship in Southborough, Massachusetts. For more information, visit https://southboroughlabri.org/

by Dick Keyes

We will be looking at a current crisis in our nation over which Christians are divided. Can we get some guidance from our faith through the Scripture?

Is Escape through Literature a Good Thing?

Tue, 24 Feb 2026 10:47:24 -0600

A lecture given at L’Abri Fellowship in Southborough, Massachusetts. For more information, visit https://southboroughlabri.org/

by Emily Fellows

We live in a culture that is both efficiency-driven and entertainment-driven. On the one hand, reading fiction can be seen as a waste of time with no quantitative benefits; on the other hand, reading fiction can become just another way to indulge our emotions and get a dopamine fix. It is with this milieu in mind that we ask the question, is there any value in escape through fiction?

The Day of Small Things: Moments, Manners and Matters of Building a Life

Tue, 10 Feb 2026 11:23:07 -0600

A lecture given at L’Abri Fellowship in Southborough, Massachusetts. For more information, visit https://southboroughlabri.org/

by Esther Dalton

"How many times have I been told...by well-meaning people, that it is my destiny and my charge to go out into the world and do great things for God?" So begins a liturgy called "For Those Who Have Not Done Great Things for God." What is the measure of greatness in the Christian life? Who's counting? This lecture will examine an obscure vision in the Old Testament prophets that encourages us to be recalibrated by the way God sees and measures as we build our lives.

What Do You Do with the Envy You Feel?

Tue, 03 Feb 2026 10:04:10 -0600

A lecture given at L’Abri Fellowship in Southborough, Massachusetts. For more information, visit https://southboroughlabri.org/

by Sarah Chestnut

In this lecture we will ask, what is envy, what does envy do, and most importantly, what can we do with the envy we feel so that it does not lead to sin? Exploring the Biblical narrative, and drawing on the wisdom of Mr. Rogers and the Desert Fathers, we will seek to disarm the shame that keeps envy hidden and, by its hiddenness, poisonous.

Creativity's Aid or Undoing? The Use of Generative AI in Art

Tue, 27 Jan 2026 11:01:58 -0600

A lecture given at L’Abri Fellowship in Southborough, Massachusetts. For more information, visit https://southboroughlabri.org/

by Ben Keyes

Artificial intelligence is in the news every day in part because it is such a controversial topic. As usual, the loudest voices are at the extremes: "AI is going to usher humanity into a beautiful new era of human history!" or "AI is going to kill us all!" In this lecture, we will limit our reflections to the role that generative AI is playing in the creative arts. Is the use of AI by artists a good thing, something that will aid and enhance human creativity? Or is it in danger of replacing one of the building blocks of our humanness: our creativity?

Why is There Never Enough Time in the Day? Staying Human in an Accelerating World

Tue, 20 Jan 2026 11:22:57 -0600

A lecture given at L’Abri Fellowship in Southborough, Massachusetts. For more information, visit https://southboroughlabri.org/

by Joshua Chestnut

Growing in Empathy through Reading Fiction

Tue, 18 Nov 2025 11:16:59 -0600

A lecture given at L’Abri Fellowship in Southborough, Massachusetts. For more information, visit https://southboroughlabri.org/

by Eric Johns

Empathy is on the decline. Some, even in Evangelical circles, are calling it "toxic" or actually a "sin." This lecture is a chance to reclaim the goodness of true empathy and to consider the slow reading of fiction as a means to cultivate Christ-like empathy for others.

Eric Johns is a longtime friend of L'Abri and serves as the senior pastor of Bethel Church in Fairbanks, Alaska.

"For Every Wound that Arda Has Suffered": Wisdom and Lament in Tolkien's Middle-earth

Tue, 11 Nov 2025 10:59:36 -0600

A lecture given at L’Abri Fellowship in Southborough, Massachusetts. For more information, visit https://southboroughlabri.org/

by Matt Dickerson, guest lecturer

Lament is woven into the story of God's people from the Psalms and prophets to the teaching of Jesus. It is also an important element of the fabric of J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle-earth writings. Indeed, through his major works including The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion, Tolkien connects lament to wisdom and shows that lament is both rooted in hope and leads to action.

Matthew Dickerson is the author of numerous books, book chapters, and essays on the writings of Tolkien and C.S. Lewis, including most recently Aslan's Breath: Seeing the Holy Spirit in Narnia. He has also written about Biblical lament in his recent book Birds in the Sky, Fish in the Sea: Attending to creation with Delight and Wonder.

The "S" Word: A Lexicon of Sin

Tue, 04 Nov 2025 11:14:32 -0600

A lecture given at L’Abri Fellowship in Southborough, Massachusetts. For more information, visit https://southboroughlabri.org/

by Esther Dalton

The Bible has a lot to say about sin, but sometimes a word can get so familiar we forget what it really means. Additionally, our culture is reluctant to entertain the idea of sin at all, causing the word to slip from our vocabularies. what is sin? And how does having a robust understanding of this important theological word actually help us tell the truth about ourselves and the world we live in?

Stones, Onions and Odes: Inspiration for the Hard Work of Being Human Part 3

Tue, 28 Oct 2025 10:11:09 -0600

A lecture given at L’Abri Fellowship in Southborough, Massachusetts. For more information, visit https://southboroughlabri.org/

by Sarah Chestnut

Over the centuries, poets have sung praises to athletic victories, Grecian urns, and the "wild West Wind" of Autumn, and odes praising the ordinary--socks, tomatoes, drinking water from cupped hands--raise an exultant voice in contemporary poetry. The command to "praise the Lord!" is a defining feature of the Psalms, and one catechism states that to "glorify God and enjoy him forever" is the "chief end" of human life. What does it mean to praise? What does praise do? How might a richer understanding of praising inspire and equip us for the hard work of being human?

Fall 2025 Theme Weekend: The Dignity of Dependence

Tue, 21 Oct 2025 10:15:01 -0600

A lecture given at L’Abri Fellowship in Southborough, Massachusetts. For more information, visit https://southboroughlabri.org/

by Joshua Chestnut and Esther Dalton

The second lecture portion of the Southborough L'Abri Fall 2025 Theme Weekend: "The Glory and Challenge of Ordinary Humanness."

Part 1: Lovely, Finite, Connected: Adjectives for Being Human

Part 2: Need, Receive, Follow: Verbs for Being Human

Concluding Discussion

Fall 2025 Theme Weekend: Being Human as an Act of Resistance

Tue, 21 Oct 2025 10:13:15 -0600

A lecture given at L’Abri Fellowship in Southborough, Massachusetts. For more information, visit https://southboroughlabri.org/

by Ben Keyes

The opening lecture of the Southborough L'Abri Fall 2025 Theme Weekend: "The Glory and Challenge of Ordinary Humanness."

"The model of the Christian life is the recovery of ordinary human experience, says the L'Abri classic Being Human: The Nature of Spiritual Experience. Work, play, study, eating, music, art, gardens, repairs, sleep, sex, friendship, kinship, conversation, laughter, hospitality...all these things are deeply human and therefore have a place in a full understanding of Christian spirituality. But there are forces in our current individualistic, tech-driven society that threaten to dehumanize us. The ordinary activities of human life, of integral importance to God and of great spiritual value when offered to Him, are given less and less of our time, energy, and attention. Today, to simply be human is increasingly an act of resistance and a challenge to a rapidly changing world.

Are We "Whittling Away" Character in Our Society?

Tue, 14 Oct 2025 10:23:53 -0600

A lecture given at L’Abri Fellowship in Southborough, Massachusetts. For more information, visit https://southboroughlabri.org/

by Dick Keyes

This lectures looks at what character has meant, has now come to mean, and how we might respond to the change.

The Hard Problem of Consciousness, Part 2: The Gift of "What It's Like" to be You

Tue, 07 Oct 2025 09:56:39 -0600

A lecture given at L’Abri Fellowship in Southborough, Massachusetts. For more information, visit https://southboroughlabri.org/

by Ben Keyes

Philosopher Thomas Nagel defined consciousness as "what it is like" to be yourself. While we all go about our daily lives as conscious beings, usually without much reflection, consciousness itself remains a deeply mysterious thing. This lecture will explore several more aspects of what makes consciousness such a "hard problem," particularly from the materialist perspective. I will argue that only belief in a transcendent, personal Creator can give us the grounds for answering the question "Why are we conscious?" Lastly, we will attempt to address the question: What is it about the existence of consciousness that makes sense from within a biblical understanding of humanity?

"The Word of Your Soul's Health": William Tyndale and the Bible in English

Tue, 30 Sep 2025 10:55:19 -0600

A lecture given at L’Abri Fellowship in Southborough, Massachusetts. For more information, visit https://southboroughlabri.org/

by Esther Dalton

Can you imagine living a Christian life without the Bible? Five hundred years ago, that was the situation of most ordinary Christians. In fact, at that time, it was illegal to translate the Bible into English. But William Tyndale, a priest and scholar, was convinced that ordinary English speakers needed the Bible in their mother tongue and, in the face of serious opposition, set about the work of translation. This lecture will share the story of Tyndale's life and reflect on why his story is important to us today.

Psalm 131: A Psalm for the Anxious and Exhausted

Tue, 23 Sep 2025 09:51:49 -0600

A lecture given at L’Abri Fellowship in Southborough, Massachusetts. For more information, visit https://southboroughlabri.org/

Charles Spurgeon commented that Psalm 131 is one of the shortest Psalms to read but one of the longest to learn. With the help of theorists Hartmut Rosa and Byung-Chul Han, this lecture will consider unique characteristics of our moment that might be playing a contributing role in our common experience of feeling anxious and exhausted. This lecture will also consider ways we might, in the words of the Psalm, learn to "calm and quiet ourselves."

The Promise of Zion in Isaiah: God's Vision for the Nations

Tue, 22 Jul 2025 09:02:57 -0600

A lecture given at L’Abri Fellowship in Southborough, Massachusetts. For more information, visit https://southboroughlabri.org/

by Dr. Tom Petter, guest lecturer

What is the argument of Isaiah as a book? Is there even one? We are considering the internal evidence and come to the conclusion that yes, indeed, there is a coherence to the collection of the oracles spanning 66 chapters. This is why we can call Isaiah "the gospel in one book" and also why the New Testament writers will connect the prophecy of Isaiah to the mission of Jesus for forgiveness of sin for all nations: "Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world." This message has far-reaching consequences and calls for a profound reset for Christians today who have co-opted the gospel to suit their own ideologies.

How to Be a Guest

Tue, 15 Jul 2025 09:59:26 -0600

A lecture given at L’Abri Fellowship in Southborough, Massachusetts. For more information, visit https://southboroughlabri.org/

by Esther Dalton

At L'Abri we think and talk a lot about hospitality. Most Christian teaching about hospitality focuses on the role of the host, on opening our hearts and our doors to others, even strangers. But what about the other side of the door? This lecture will examine what it looks like to be a good guest and why understanding this role is essential for obeying the New Testament commands to "pursue hospitality" and "offer hospitality to one another."

The Incarnation as Interruption

Tue, 01 Jul 2025 10:07:59 -0600

A lecture given at L’Abri Fellowship in Southborough, Massachusetts. For more information, visit https://southboroughlabri.org/

by Ben Keyes

In this lecture, we will briefly discuss the doctrine of the Incarnation as the central mystery of the Christian faith. Then, with the help of "interruptions" as a guiding metaphor, we will explore the way in which the birth of Christ redemptively disrupts history and disrupts our own lives.

Hall of Portraits Theme Weekend Final Discussion

Tue, 24 Jun 2025 10:51:21 -0600

A lecture given at L’Abri Fellowship in Southborough, Massachusetts. For more information, visit https://southboroughlabri.org/

with Ben Keyes, Joshua Chestnut, and Marta Crilly

Part of the Summer 2025 Theme Weekend, A Hall of Portraits: Imitating Christ by Imitating the Saints.

There are Many Ways to Say I Love You: Jesus and Mr. Rogers on the Power of Gentleness

Tue, 24 Jun 2025 10:50:23 -0600

A lecture given at L’Abri Fellowship in Southborough, Massachusetts. For more information, visit https://southboroughlabri.org/

by Joshua Chestnut

Part of the Summer 2025 Theme Weekend, A Hall of Portraits: Imitating Christ by Imitating the Saints.

"Pray for Those Who Persecute You": The Life of Civil Rights Worker Fannie Lou Hamer

Tue, 24 Jun 2025 10:49:38 -0600

A lecture given at L’Abri Fellowship in Southborough, Massachusetts. For more information, visit https://southboroughlabri.org/

by Ben Keyes

Part of the Summer 2025 Theme Weekend, A Hall of Portraits: Imitating Christ by Imitating the Saints.

"Often a Skylark Comes and Sings": The Spiritual Formation of Corrie ten Boom (Summer Theme Weekend)

Tue, 24 Jun 2025 10:42:47 -0600

A lecture given at L’Abri Fellowship in Southborough, Massachusetts. For more information, visit https://southboroughlabri.org/

by Marta Crilly

Part of the Summer 2025 Theme Weekend, A Hall of Portraits: Imitating Christ by Imitating the Saints.

Heroes, New and Used (Summer Theme Weekend)

Tue, 24 Jun 2025 10:40:43 -0600

A lecture given at L’Abri Fellowship in Southborough, Massachusetts. For more information, visit https://southboroughlabri.org/

by Dick Keyes

Part of the Summer 2025 Theme Weekend A Hall of Portraits: Imitating Christ by Imitating the Saints. For many today, heroism or the very idea of imitating another person is suspect because it can constrict us as well as blind us to our own story. But if our imaginations don't connect with aspiration for people in our future lives, we can become bored and boring. The imitation of Christ brings a different perspective if we are open to grow through following Jesus' quality of life, along with learning from those who have been Christlike in their own ways since then.

Relatable Heroism: The Power of Literary Weaklings

Tue, 17 Jun 2025 09:50:33 -0600

A lecture given at L’Abri Fellowship in Southborough, Massachusetts. For more information, visit https://southboroughlabri.org/

by Emily Fellows

A Beginner's Guide to "the Hard Problem of Consciousness" (part 1)

Tue, 10 Jun 2025 10:47:32 -0600

A lecture given at L’Abri Fellowship in Southborough, Massachusetts. For more information, visit https://southboroughlabri.org/

by Ben Keyes

How is it that your brain can produce your experience of being you? How is it that we have consciousness at all? This fundamental question has occupied philosophers for many hundreds of years. More recent discoveries in neuroscience have not necessarily brought us closer to an answer. Is the 'hard problem of consciousness' a true (permanent) mystery or will further research into the functions of the brain eventually provide a satisfying explanation? This lecture is part 1 of a series and will be a layperson's introduction to some of these questions.

Go Slow & Repair Things: Reading Paul's Letter to the Ephesians in Dark Days

Tue, 03 Jun 2025 10:10:59 -0600

A lecture given at L’Abri Fellowship in Southborough, Massachusetts. For more information, visit https://southboroughlabri.org/

by Joshua Chestnut

In a cultural moment where we are constantly bombarded with reports of immanent societal, political, and technological collapse the Apostle Paul's letter to the Ephesians may hold some surprisingly helpful resources to help people of faith live as patient, non-anxious, peace-making people in a society that prioritizes moving fast and breaking things.

The Pool and the Cross: From Healthy Narcissism to Narcissistic Personality Disorder to "Ordinary" Self-Centered Jerkishness

Tue, 20 May 2025 12:56:29 -0600

A lecture given at L’Abri Fellowship in Southborough, Massachusetts. For more information, visit https://southboroughlabri.org/

by Dr. Brandon Unruh

A psychiatrist and expert in treating personality dysfunction explores how the narcissistic spectrum touches us all and our need for the reordering and regulation of self-esteem not through self-made identity, but through relationship with Christ.

Beyond Depressed and Anxious...Disconnected, Damaged and Doubtful: Clinical Cures and the Claims of Christ for the Crisis of Meaning in 2025

Tue, 20 May 2025 12:54:09 -0600

A lecture given at L’Abri Fellowship in Southborough, Massachusetts. For more information, visit https://southboroughlabri.org/

by Dr. Brandon Unruh

A psychiatrist and psychotherapist considers specific elements of our current "crisis of meaning" through the lens of personality dysfunction, and what current treatment paradigms reveal about the limits of psychiatry and psychology and the fullness of Christ.

Stewarding Our Day-to-Day Mental Health

Tue, 18 Mar 2025 12:42:33 -0600

A lecture given at L’Abri Fellowship in Southborough, Massachusetts. For more information, visit https://southboroughlabri.org/

by Joshua and Sarah Chestnut

Join Joshua and Sarah as they offer reflections on mental health and the life of faith, sharing practical "everyday interventions" to help us steward our minds, hearts, and emotions.

Nurturing a Capacious Heart: Why Everyone Should Read Kate DiCamillo

Tue, 11 Mar 2025 12:23:23 -0600

A lecture given at L’Abri Fellowship in Southborough, Massachusetts. For more information, visit https://southboroughlabri.org/

by Joshua Chestnut

In her 2013 book Flora and Ulysses, beloved children's author Kate DiCamillo uses a remarkable phrase to describe a certain George Buckman, calling him a man who was "very capacious of heart." This means that George's heart has become large and so is "capable of containing much joy and much sorrow." Perhaps in our moment of endless digital distraction, angry partisan politics, and perpetual anxiety, we could all use a bit of help nurturing our own hearts in becoming more capacious. This lecture will consider the life and writing of Kate DiCamillo with the hope that her writing can help us all, old and young alike, grow in our capacity to be honest about the joys and sorrows of our lives.

*If you've never read any of her many books, The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane or The Tale of Despereaux are great places to start!

Listen to Your Lust: Engaging Your Story to Heal from Porn Use

Tue, 04 Mar 2025 09:21:21 -0600

A lecture given at L’Abri Fellowship in Southborough, Massachusetts. For more information, visit https://southboroughlabri.org/

by Jeff Banks

How do you break free from compulsive pornography use? Many approaches to freedom focus on behavior modification, but that is not enough. In this lecture, guest speaker Jeff Banks argues that pornography use is an attempt to deal with emotional pain from childhood and that this pain needs to be addressed if someone is to find lasting freedom. This lecture will consider the links between a person's pornography use and his or her life story before outlining a path towards healing that puts relationships front and center.

Stones, Onions, and Odes Part 2: Inspiration for the Hard Work of Being Human

Tue, 18 Feb 2025 11:50:39 -0600

A lecture given at L’Abri Fellowship in Southborough, Massachusetts. For more information, visit https://southboroughlabri.org/

by Sarah Chestnut

Can an hour with an onion make us more human? Taking inspiration from the most mundane of vegetables, we will deepen our understanding of what it means to "follow God's example, therefore, as dearly loved children and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God" (Eph. 5:1-2).

Coping with Anxiety: Mindfulness, Eastern Meditation & Biblical Wisdom

Tue, 11 Feb 2025 09:16:24 -0600

A lecture given at L’Abri Fellowship in Southborough, Massachusetts. For more information, visit https://southboroughlabri.org/

by Mardi Keyes

In the early 2000s, I participated in the Stress Reduction Program founded by the Zen Buddhist physician and author Jon Kabat-Zinn. Mindfulness meditation was central to the program. Since then, mindfulness has gone mainstream, supported by a growing body of evidence that it can be a powerful tool in treating stress, anxiety, and many other health problems. The Bible is no stranger to stress and anxiety, and it too offers wisdom for coping with them. This talk will consider places where biblical wisdom and eastern meditation overlap and where the paths divide.

Winter TW 2025: Our Fractured Relationship with Time Concluding Discussion

Tue, 04 Feb 2025 08:58:05 -0600

A lecture given at L’Abri Fellowship in Southborough, Massachusetts. For more information, visit https://southboroughlabri.org/

hosted by Sarah Chestnut

This the concluding discussion of our first Winter Theme Weekend "Our Fractured Relationship with Time".

Winter TW 2025: Why is it so hard to wait well (and so easy to wait badly)?

Tue, 04 Feb 2025 08:55:49 -0600

A lecture given at L’Abri Fellowship in Southborough, Massachusetts. For more information, visit https://southboroughlabri.org/

by Ben Keyes

This the second lecture of our first Winter Theme Weekend "Our Fractured Relationship with Time."

Winter TW 2025: Becoming Friends with Time

Tue, 04 Feb 2025 08:54:57 -0600

A lecture given at L’Abri Fellowship in Southborough, Massachusetts. For more information, visit https://southboroughlabri.org/

by Joshua Chestnut

This the first lecture of our first Winter Theme Weekend "Our Fractured Relationship with Time."

What Is the Abraham Sacrificing Isaac Story Doing in the Bible?

Tue, 28 Jan 2025 11:23:02 -0600

A lecture given at L’Abri Fellowship in Southborough, Massachusetts. For more information, visit https://southboroughlabri.org/

by Dick Keyes

The question asked in the lecture's title has two senses: First, why was the story of Abraham being asked to sacrifice Isaac not censored as inappropriate for respectable Bible readers? And second, what does the story actually do in the whole Biblical narrative?

Now Thank We All Our God: Singing the Hymns of the Thirty Years War

Tue, 21 Jan 2025 09:46:10 -0600

A lecture given at L’Abri Fellowship in Southborough, Massachusetts. For more information, visit https://southboroughlabri.org/

by Esther Dalton

The Thirty Years War was a period of ongoing hardship and devastation in Europe that proved to be a major turning point towards modernity in world history. What can we learn from the prolific German hymn writers of this time who turned their experiences of suffering into song?

Make Sex Consequential Again: A Consideration of Sex-Realist Feminism

Tue, 19 Nov 2024 11:04:04 -0600

A lecture given at L’Abri Fellowship in Southborough, Massachusetts. For more information, visit https://southboroughlabri.org/

by Joshua Chestnut

Being a man or woman, relating to oneself, and relating to the opposite sex are not uncomplicated matters in 2024. In this lecture, I will look at the writings of a few contemporary feminists who loosely affiliate under the banner of "Sex-Realist Feminism" to see how they might be able to offer us some help.

Chaffinches & Cherubim: Bearing Witness to Glory

Tue, 12 Nov 2024 10:41:33 -0600

A lecture given at L’Abri Fellowship in Southborough, Massachusetts. For more information, visit https://southboroughlabri.org/

by Esther Dalton

"Glory" is a common theme in the Bible, but what is it and why does it matter? What does it imply when the angels say the earth is full of God's glory? In this lecture, I want to be curious about glory and about what it means to see it, respond to it, and creatively bear witness to it.

What is Christian Nationalism?

Tue, 05 Nov 2024 07:49:39 -0600

A lecture given at L’Abri Fellowship in Southborough, Massachusetts. For more information, visit https://southboroughlabri.org/

by Dick Keyes

We will be looking at Christian Nationalism, issues from the current election, and what they might mean for the future of church and country.

Fall TW 2024: Did I Miss My Calling? The Circuitous Path of Vocational Clarity

Tue, 29 Oct 2024 10:43:46 -0600

A lecture given at L’Abri Fellowship in Southborough, Massachusetts. For more information, visit https://southboroughlabri.org/

by Scott Walker, of Life/Work Direction

The third lecture from our Fall 2024 Theme Weekend Vocation: Participating with God's Work in the World.

Fall TW 2024: Calling, Distraction, Hard Task, Sabbath: Wrestling with Vocation with the Help of Poets

Tue, 29 Oct 2024 10:41:53 -0600

A lecture given at L’Abri Fellowship in Southborough, Massachusetts. For more information, visit https://southboroughlabri.org/

by Sarah Chestnut

The second lecture and discussion from our Fall 2024 Theme Weekend Vocation: Participating with God's Work in the World.

Fall TW 2024: Theological Reflections on Vocation: A Call to Participate with God in Restoration

Tue, 29 Oct 2024 10:38:05 -0600

A lecture given at L’Abri Fellowship in Southborough, Massachusetts. For more information, visit https://southboroughlabri.org/

by Karen Kupelian, Physical Therapist, Nashville, TN

The opening lecture and discussion from our fall 2024 theme weekend Vocation: Participating with God's Work in the World.

Birds of the Kingdom 3: What the Birds are Saying--an introduction to the wonders of birdsong

Tue, 22 Oct 2024 10:18:20 -0600

A lecture given at L’Abri Fellowship in Southborough, Massachusetts. For more information, visit https://southboroughlabri.org/

by Ben Keyes

Other than its ability to fly, one of the most noticeable things about a bird is all the noise it makes! Birds make a huge variety of vocalizations, many of which serve specific practical purposes. This third lecture ins the series will be an introduction to the complex world of birdsong. Similarly to Parts 1 and 2, the goal will be to demonstrate that the deeper we delve in our study of creation, the more we will learn about the wisdom of the Creator. Observation, wonder, and worship can all join hands as we reflect on birds and their ability to sing.

The Way in the Wilderness: A Study of Jesus's Temptations

Tue, 15 Oct 2024 09:49:44 -0600

A lecture given at L’Abri Fellowship in Southborough, Massachusetts. For more information, visit https://southboroughlabri.org/

by Esther Dalton

The account of Jesus being led out into the wilderness to be tested by the devil is familiar and is found in all three Synoptic Gospels. Like tests in school, the question behind the challenges Jesus faces is "Have you internalized what you have been taught?" This lecture will look again at this familiar story and some of the Old Testament texts behind it as we seek to answer the question, "What had Jesus internalized that allowed him to pass the test?" and to discover what the answer might uncover in our own hearts as we seek to walk in the way of Jesus.

Remembering Together: Community, Memory, and Archives

Tue, 08 Oct 2024 09:52:23 -0600

A lecture given at L’Abri Fellowship in Southborough, Massachusetts. For more information, visit https://southboroughlabri.org/

by Marta Crilly

Discussions about America's past and how we remember (or forget) it have spurred some of the most charged debates both inside and outside of the United States. Our understanding of our personal, family, and national pasts directly impacts how we act in the present and how we comprehend ourselves and others. Join us for a discussion of how we imagine the past and the importance of memory in building a healthy community.

Marta Crilly is the Head of Public Services at the Burns Library, Boston College. Prior to working at Burns Library, she spent 12 years as a truculent municipal worker at the Boston City Archives. In her spare time, she reads everything she can find about the Apostle Paul and takes 4-hour walking tours exploring sites of European fascism.

To Get Where You Want Sometimes You Need to Stay Put: Acedia and the Christian Life

Tue, 01 Oct 2024 10:02:41 -0600

A lecture given at L’Abri Fellowship in Southborough, Massachusetts. For more information, visit https://southboroughlabri.org/

by Joshua Chestnut

While we may intuitively think of a life of lazy resignation as being diametrically opposed to a life of hyperactive busyness, our ancestors in the faith may have seen things differently and understood these two common ways of life as being symptomatic of some deeper, spiritual problem, i.e. acedia. Sometimes translated as "sloth," acedia originally identified an internal habit of resistance (or laziness) to the Christian calling of loving God and our neighbor. This lecture will consider acedia in its historical context as well as its contemporary instances while considering what might be its remedy.

What is the Faith Jesus is Looking for?

Tue, 24 Sep 2024 10:42:31 -0600

A lecture given at L’Abri Fellowship in Southborough, Massachusetts. For more information, visit https://southboroughlabri.org/

by Ben Keyes

When we think about the role that faith plays in the life of the Christian, we often (rightly) think of Paul's theology of salvation: we are saved by grace, through faith, to do good works (Ephesians 2:8-10). This lecture will focus instead on the gospel narratives, particularly those stories in which Jesus comments on people's faith. What is the nature of the faith he is hoping to find and grow in his followers? How does the strength of a person's faith impact how they relate to Jesus? This lecture will turn to a number of gospel texts to address these questions.

Can Anything Good Come from Barbieland? What a Plastic Doll Can Teach Us about Becoming More Human

Tue, 17 Sep 2024 11:05:48 -0600

A lecture given at L’Abri Fellowship in Southborough, Massachusetts. For more information, visit https://southboroughlabri.org/

by Mary Frances Giles

The 2023 blockbuster film Barbie has been both praised and censured by critics and moviegoers alike. One reviewer referred to it as "joyous from minute to minute," while another claimed it is "very pretty but not very deep." Far from just being a story about a pink plastic doll, the film asks important questions about the nature of reality via themes of gendered power struggles and the imminence of death. Drawing from the Biblical narrative, this lecture will seek to look at those themes through the lens of our shared humanity and hope for our lives beyond "Barbieland."

Two Human Longings, Lost and Found

Wed, 31 Jul 2024 07:18:24 -0600

A lecture given at L’Abri Fellowship in Southborough, Massachusetts. For more information, visit https://southboroughlabri.org/

by Ben Keyes

This lecture explores two fundamental human desires: the longing to seek new experiences and the longing to come home. Drawing on examples from literature, we will explore the nature of these two longings and ultimately point to their biblical foundations. Because the longings for the new and the familiar are part of how we have been made by God, only in relating to Him do they come together and find fulfillment.

Human-Sized: (Re)visiting Francis Schaeffer's "No Little People"

Tue, 16 Jul 2024 10:25:50 -0600

A lecture given at L’Abri Fellowship in Southborough, Massachusetts. For more information, visit https://southboroughlabri.org/

by Esther Dalton

In his sermon, "No Little People, No Little Places," Francis Schaeffer demonstrates how becoming infected with our culture's "syndrome of size" causes all kinds of problems for us regarding our identity and purpose in the world. In contrast, Schaeffer explores God's way of measuring value and Jesus' call to take the lowest place. As Christians, how do we recalibrate our systems of measurement to match God's? This lecture uses Schaeffer's sermon as a starting point toward following Jesus into these important questions of who we are and what we do.

Taylor Swift: Music, Mania & Monopoly

Tue, 09 Jul 2024 09:54:27 -0600

A lecture given at L’Abri Fellowship in Southborough, Massachusetts. For more information, visit https://southboroughlabri.org/

by Ben Keyes

Stones, Onions, & Odes: Inspiration for the Hard Work of Being Human Part 1

Tue, 02 Jul 2024 10:35:33 -0600

A lecture given at L’Abri Fellowship in Southborough, Massachusetts. For more information, visit https://southboroughlabri.org/

by Sarah Chestnut

In this lecture, we will consider how remembering, creating and praising are central to our humanity, and how Christian spirituality has everything to do with the recovery of and growth in these human practices.

Space, Place & Grace: Musings on the Meaning of Home

Tue, 02 Jul 2024 10:33:38 -0600

A lecture given at L’Abri Fellowship in Southborough, Massachusetts. For more information, visit https://southboroughlabri.org/

by Mary Frances Giles

In our modern culture, we have a complicated relationship with the idea of "home." Our TVs are flooded with home makeover shows, and we spend billions of dollars a year buying real estate and home decor. But we also live in a time of significant immigration crisis, and culturally we are becoming more and more detached from family and community. In light of these contradictions, this lecture will look at what the biblical narrative might have to teach us about our ideas of home and how we find our home in the world today.

Liturgy as Life: Four Frameworks for Our Gathered Worship

Tue, 18 Jun 2024 11:14:15 -0600

A lecture given at L’Abri Fellowship in Southborough, Massachusetts. For more information, visit https://southboroughlabri.org/

by Adam Kurihara

Lex Orandi, Lex Credendi, the ancient rule of Christian worship, can be loosely translated "the law of prayer is the law of belief." How doe our liturgies and practices (a "law of prayer") shape not only what we believe about God, but who we believe ourselves to be? Conversely, how does how we view the world shape our liturgies? In this lecture we will survey four worldviews and four ways that our liturgies (the rites and rituals of our gathered worship) speak into our cultural moment.

Christ Rules in Ten Thousand Places: A Free Church Account of the Church as Catholic

Tue, 11 Jun 2024 09:54:00 -0600

A lecture given at L’Abri Fellowship in Southborough, Massachusetts. For more information, visit https://southboroughlabri.org/

by Ryan Fields

Churches across the globe and through the centuries have taken up the language of the Nicene Creed in confessing the church as "one, holy, catholic, and apostolic." But this raises an important question: what would it mean for churches in the Free Church tradition (Baptist, Congregational, etc.) to confess the church as "catholic" (universal) while holding to the autonomy of the local church? I believe the answer lies in recognizing that Christ reigns 'wherever two or three at gathered' in His name as a church community (Mt. 18:20). Join us as we explore why confessing the church as catholic is so misunderstood and so important, especially for believers in the Free Church tradition.

Remaining Politically Homeless

Tue, 04 Jun 2024 10:21:43 -0600

A lecture given at L’Abri Fellowship in Southborough, Massachusetts. For more information, visit https://southboroughlabri.org/

by Joshua Chestnut

Understanding C.S. Lewis's Screwtape Letters, Part 3: Heaven's Big Secret

Tue, 28 May 2024 10:25:40 -0600

A lecture given at L’Abri Fellowship in Southborough, Massachusetts. For more information, visit https://southboroughlabri.org/

by Ben Keyes

This lecture is the third and last in a series on C.S. Lewis's book The Screwtape Letters. We will trace one of Lewis's main themes in the letters: Screwtape's refusal to accept the possibility of self-giving love. What does this particular blind spot show us about the devil's rebellion against God? More importantly, what can we learn about God's loving character revealed to us in Christ?

Birds of the Kingdom, Part 2: The Brains and Brawn of Migration

Tue, 26 Mar 2024 09:54:47 -0600

A lecture given at L’Abri Fellowship in Southborough, Massachusetts. For more information, visit https://southboroughlabri.org/

by Ben Keyes

Bird migration is one of the the greatest marvels in God's creation. Every year, billions of birds take flight and travel from their wintering grounds to their breeding grounds and back, some flying thousands of miles at a time without rest. How do birds manage this? How have scientists over the years solved some of the mysteries of migration? What does the complexity of bird migration show us about the Creator? How does migration make birds particularly vulnerable to environmental changes? In this lecture, we will only begin to scratch the surface of these questions!

The Book ofJob and the Wild Edge of Sorrow

Tue, 19 Mar 2024 09:51:19 -0600

A lecture given at L’Abri Fellowship in Southborough, Massachusetts. For more information, visit https://southboroughlabri.org/

by Joshua Chestnut

Few books in the Bible are more disorienting and demanding than the book of Job. This lecture will consider what this collection of ancient Hebrew lament poetry has to offer those of us wanting to wrestle through the ways of God in a world characterized by so much needless suffering. For those unfamiliar with the book of Job, consider watching the Bible Project's summary video as well as reading chapters 1-3 and 38-42 to gain some familiarity with this book before listening.

The Book of Ezekiel: What is Going On?

Tue, 12 Mar 2024 09:25:57 -0600

A lecture given at L’Abri Fellowship in Southborough, Massachusetts. For more information, visit https://southboroughlabri.org/

by Dr. Donna Petter

What is going on in the book of Ezekiel? Does the Old Testament speak about Trump, Putin, and UFOs? Some say that the book of Ezekiel does! But what is going on in this book? This lecture seeks to help us understand the life and words of the prophet Ezekiel and their relevance today.

Yes & Amen: Examining the Fabric of Faithfulness

Tue, 05 Mar 2024 10:52:26 -0600

A lecture given at L’Abri Fellowship in Southborough, Massachusetts. For more information, visit https://southboroughlabri.org/

by Esther Dalton

If you know what FOMO, FOBO and "Allergic to Commitment" mean, you probably have a sense of or have experienced yourself the increasing anxiety in our culture around making decisions and commitments, from situations as simple as what show to stream or where to eat dinner to as weighty as what job to take or who to date. This lecture will look at the biblical perspective on faithfulness as an antidote to our anxieties, paralysis, and hopelessness when it comes to making choices and sticking with them.

The Proverbs 31 Woman: Favored or Forsaken?

Tue, 27 Feb 2024 13:16:57 -0600

A lecture given at L’Abri Fellowship in Southborough, Massachusetts. For more information, visit https://southboroughlabri.org/

by Mary Frances Giles

The "Proverbs 31 Woman" has long been held up as a model of virtue and character for Christian women, often appearing in Mother's Day sermons and women's retreat talks. But at times she has also been wielded with a heavy hand to keep women "in their place," and can feel unrelatable to 21st Century Christians. So what are we to do with this passage of Scripture? Is she a real woman that only wives are meant to emulate, or did the author of Proverbs have some other purpose in mind for all of us, men and women alike? This lecture explores this beautiful, yet complicated, biblical character in the context of Wisdom literature and the full biblical narrative, with an aim of unlocking her true purpose as a model of wisdom and faithfulness for all God's people.

No Professional Humans: Amateur Spirituality and the Way of Love

Tue, 13 Feb 2024 11:55:38 -0600

A lecture given at L’Abri Fellowship in Southborough, Massachusetts. For more information, visit https://southboroughlabri.org/

by Sarah Chestnut

In this lecture, Sarah shares hr poem-prayer "A Liturgy of (Re)Dedication to the Way of the Amateur," recently published in Every Moment Holy Vol. III, and reflects on the questions and longings the prayer addresses: How might reclaiming the old meaning of "amateur" help us live into the freedom Christ gives? How do we cultivate the courage to try something new or to approach something old in a new way? What does a right relationship between work and identity look like?

Trusting the Lord in Shattered Expectations: Reflections of a Missionary to Ukraine

Tue, 06 Feb 2024 10:58:28 -0600

A lecture given at L’Abri Fellowship in Southborough, Massachusetts. For more information, visit https://southboroughlabri.org/

by Jeridan Dyck

Understanding C.S. Lewis's Screwtape Letters Part 2: The Many Roads to Unreality

Tue, 30 Jan 2024 11:07:45 -0600

A lecture given at L’Abri Fellowship in Southborough, Massachusetts. For more information, visit https://southboroughlabri.org/

by Ben Keyes

To Respect Onself as a Creature Part 2: Being in Process, Never "Arriving," and the Elusiveness of Closure

Wed, 24 Jan 2024 08:42:58 -0600

A lecture given at L’Abri Fellowship in Southborough, Massachusetts. For more information, visit https://southboroughlabri.org/

by Joshua Chestnut

Many of us have difficulty valuing process. Realities like practice, slow growth,k and development are often (and understandably) unsatisfying in our culture of rapid download speeds and instant gratification. I remain unconvinced that this tendency is good for our humanity, and so, in this lecture, I want to reconsider process as a part of God's good design for his creation and then question the concept of "closure" as a necessary emotional state for beings in process to strive towards as we navigate our own grief and pain.

What Does It Mean to be a Man?

Tue, 28 Nov 2023 13:44:14 -0600

A lecture given for L’Abri Fellowship in Southborough, Massachusetts. For more information, visit https://southboroughlabri.org/

by Phillip Johnston

Since the rise of the MeToo movement in the mid-2010s, masculinity has reentered the cultural conversation with force. On the left, masculinity is often seen as a problem and rarely referenced without "toxic" as a descriptor. Men simply need to shape up and stand down. On the right, a pro-male movement has bubbled up in response. Men simply need to own their dominance and take charge. Does Christianity have anything different--or better--to say?

Ambiguity as Hospitality in Art

Tue, 14 Nov 2023 11:07:43 -0600

A lecture given at L’Abri Fellowship in Southborough, Massachusetts. For more information, visit https://southboroughlabri.org/

by Ben Keyes

The most moving and powerful art usually does not tell us exactly what to think. Many of the best paintings, songs, poems and short stories leave us with questions that linger in our minds. This does not necessarily indicate that these works have no intended meaning. Rather, the artist, by leaving our questions unanswered and requiring our engagement, has left us room to enter into their creative space. Because it "leaves room," ambiguity in art can function as a kind of hospitality to the audience. How can we make art that leaves more room for our viewers and listeners? What are some of our misgivings about allowing a piece to remain ambiguous?

Tasting Goodness: The Integration between Subjectivity and Objectivity

Fri, 03 Nov 2023 08:50:01 -0600

A lecture given at L’Abri Fellowship in Southborough, Massachusetts. For more information, visit https://southboroughlabri.org/

by Josue Reichow

The Baptized Imagination 5: Prophet, Poet, Seer, Sage

Wed, 01 Nov 2023 13:00:10 -0600

A lecture given at L’Abri Fellowship in Southborough, Massachusetts. For more information, visit https://southboroughlabri.org/

by Esther Dalton

This final part of the baptized imagination series attempts to bring together some of the threads developed in earlier parts, including baptism, the image of God, story and seeing, with a deeper look at idolatry, prophecy, and the Holy Spirit, to address what some have called a crisis of imagination in the evangelical church today.

Birds of the Kingdom Part 1: Life on the Wing

Tue, 17 Oct 2023 08:57:30 -0600

A lecture given at L’Abri Fellowship in Southborough, Massachusetts. For more information, visit https://southboroughlabri.org/

by Ben Keyes

The first of a series, this lecture will kick off an extended exploration of the life of birds. We will reflect on the importance of going deeper in our investigation of God's created world, both for our own delight and for the purpose of knowing Him better. We will investigate what it is about a bird's anatomy that makes flight possible, and we will explore the diversity of bird behaviors that flight enables, including migration. Lastly, we will reflect on the connection between our wonder at creation and our motivation to care for it.

To view the power point presentation - click here

Burned But Not Consumed: Thinking through Divine Action and Human Action

Tue, 10 Oct 2023 09:14:20 -0600

A lecture given at L’Abri Fellowship in Southborough, Massachusetts. For more information, visit https://southboroughlabri.org/

by Joshua Chestnut

Understanding C.S. Lewis’s Screwtape Letters, Part 1: A Bureaucracy of Hunger and Fear

Tue, 03 Oct 2023 09:10:19 -0600

A lecture given at L’Abri Fellowship in Southborough, Massachusetts. For more information, visit https://southboroughlabri.org/

by Ben Keyes

The Screwtape Letters, a series of fictional letters from one demon to another, is one of C.S. Lewis's most widely read books. While the diabolical correspondence was a figment of Lewis's imagination, we can still learn many true things about the nature of evil, of human self-deception, and, I will argue, of God himself. This lecture begins a three-part series that will cover different aspects of the book.

To Need is Human: Receiving, Yielding, Depending and Other Uncomfortable Postures

Tue, 26 Sep 2023 09:11:26 -0600

A lecture given at L’Abri Fellowship in Southborough, Massachusetts. For more information, visit https://southboroughlabri.org/

by Esther Dalton

If it is true that to need is human and that dependence is not a flaw of human existence but a God-designed feature, then why is it so often difficult for us to admit our neediness? This lecture will examine some of the reasons dependence on God and others frequently feels uncomfortable or even shameful and look for a resolution by examining the postures of need we find in the Gospels.

To Respect Oneself as a Creature: Finitude, Dependence, and Letting God Love Us

Tue, 19 Sep 2023 08:59:28 -0600

A lecture given at L’Abri Fellowship in Southborough, Massachusetts. For more information, visit https://southboroughlabri.org/

by Joshua Chestnut

Learning to live within our creaturely limitations is neither easy nor intuitive but can be a path to our flourishing. This lecture is the first in a series of reflections on our creatureliness and will look at the beauty of human dependence as well as the delight that we as humans, in all our particularity, can bring to God.

An Imagination for the Good: Can Art make Righteousness Plausible?

Fri, 21 Jul 2023 09:13:52 -0600

A lecture given at L’Abri Fellowship in Southborough, Massachusetts. For more information, visit https://southboroughlabri.org/

by Ben Keyes

The desire to make art is, in part, a desire to connect meaningfully with others, to communicate some aspect of reality with which other people can identify. There are many reasons why our art can either succeed or fail in making this kind of meaningful contact. One particular challenge for Christians is that our attempts to portray beauty and goodness are often dismissed as saccharine and sentimental. Sometimes this is a fair criticism! How can we "bear witness to the light" while still being honest about the brokenness of the world? What are some examples of art in which goodness is portrayed as both attractive and plausible?

The Baptized Imagination 4: Take Heed How You See

Tue, 13 Jun 2023 10:02:50 -0600

A lecture given at L’Abri Fellowship in Southborough, Massachusetts. For more information, visit https://southboroughlabri.org/

by Esther Dalton

In this lecture, Esther continues her series on the baptized imagination, this time exploring the way how we see God's Word and God's World is a key part of cultivating our imaginations.

From Tripods to Selfie Sticks: A Personal Journey through Photography

Tue, 06 Jun 2023 10:59:21 -0600

A lecture given at L’Abri Fellowship in Southborough, Massachusetts. For more information, visit https://southboroughlabri.org/

by Paul Reuter

In less than 30 years, photography has changed from an Art practiced by a few elite individuals who dictated fashion and culture to a commonplace activity practiced everywhere. Because of the transition from film to digital and cameras to smartphones, we are drowning in images today. Photographer and filmmaker Paul Reuter will talk about his personal artistic journey through these changes, reflecting on why the art of photography is still important.

The Apostle Paul and the Problem with Selflessness

Tue, 23 May 2023 10:08:53 -0600

A lecture given at L’Abri Fellowship in Southborough, Massachusetts. For more information, visit https://southboroughlabri.org/

by Joshua Chestnut

This lecture will consider whether an ideal of selflessness is an helpful category for Christians who rightly don't want to take part in the pervasive selfishness of our age. We will look at different ways of understanding the self, trying to see how recent research into infant development, some feminist suspicion of altruism, and the importance of not forgetting our bodies might help us make sense of how the Apostle Paul thought about the goodness of being a self.

Kindred Spirits: Reading for Friendship’s Sake?

Tue, 28 Mar 2023 09:59:23 -0600

A lecture given at L’Abri Fellowship in Southborough, Massachusetts. For more information, visit https://southboroughlabri.org/

by Esther Dalton

Anne Shirley, the protagonist of the Anne of Green Gables series by L.M. Montgomery, is famous for seeking a "bosom friend" and looking everywhere for "kindred spirits." But do stories about friendship and community have anything to do with reality? What does reading have to do with friendship, if anything? As loneliness and disconnectedness remain persistent problems in our culture, this lecture will seek solutions in books--which themselves have been called by many writers and readers, "friends."

”Can Beauty Save Us?” A Guided Listening Journey in Choral Music for Holy Week

Tue, 21 Mar 2023 10:13:05 -0600

A lecture given at L’Abri Fellowship in Southborough, Massachusetts. For more information, visit https://southboroughlabri.org/

by Adam Kurihara

Choral music for Holy Week is saturated with a dissonant beauty that reflects the affliction of Chris. We will walk through several key pieces listening and learning about what makes this music so compelling. Learn how musical rhetoric (communicating concrete ideas through musical themes), structure and form, and melody and harmony draw us into the story of Jesus' crucifixion. Our time will be spent primarily with Bach's St. Matthew Passion, as well as Victoria's "O Vos Omnes" and Mozart's "Ave Verum Corpus". Join us for this listening party as we explore choral music for Holy Week.

Teach Us to Pray: Solitude and Silence

Tue, 14 Mar 2023 10:02:01 -0600

A lecture given at L’Abri Fellowship in Southborough, Massachusetts. For more information, visit https://southboroughlabri.org/

by Joshua Chestnut

In this second lecture in a series on the prayer practices of Christians throughout the ages, we will consider the life of German theologian and Christian martyr, Dietrich Bonhoeffer. While attempting to offer an overview of his life, specific attention will be given to his reflections on the necessity of silence and solitude in our life with God. Bonhoeffer's life and thought helpfully show that, while they are sometimes understood as spiritual practices that keep us from an active life in the world, silence and solitude with God are often the necessary grounds from which such a life of responsible action can emerge and be sustained.

Challenges to the Modern University

Tue, 07 Mar 2023 11:09:54 -0600

A lecture given at L’Abri Fellowship in Southborough, Massachusetts. For more information, visit https://southboroughlabri.org/

by Dick Keyes

We will be taking a critical look at the history of the university, at some of the challenges it faces today, and what a Christian perspective could bring.

Jesus: Our Model for Self-Control Part 1

Tue, 28 Feb 2023 09:19:09 -0600

A lecture given at L’Abri Fellowship in Southborough, Massachusetts. For more information, visit https://southboroughlabri.org/

by Ben Keyes

Self-control is an important Christian virtue that is often misunderstood and, as a result, undervalued. What is self-control? Why is having appropriate dominion over ourselves so important? What does the Bible tell us about how we can grow in self-control? In this first lecture of a two-part series, we will address these questions and reflect on how the imitation of Jesus can help us.

The Baptized Imagination 3: Cultivating ”Something of Great Constancy”

Tue, 21 Feb 2023 09:46:39 -0600

A lecture given at L’Abri Fellowship in Southborough, Massachusetts. For more information, visit https://southboroughlabri.org/

by Esther Dalton

This lecture continues Esther's series on the imagination. "We are all made to be creative and our medium is life." But what does this look like practically? What does the imagination have to do with living life and how can we shape and shepherd our imaginations as we live toward "something of great constancy"?

The Bible and Spiritual Formation

Tue, 14 Feb 2023 11:12:56 -0600

A lecture given at L’Abri Fellowship in Southborough, Massachusetts. For more information, visit https://southboroughlabri.org/

by Jeff Dryden, Covenant College, Chattanooga, TN

What is spiritual formation? How do we foster our spiritual life in Christ? How do we use the Bible in our spiritual formation? Jeff Dryden, biblical scholar and former L'Abri worker, will help us navigate these and other questions, showing how our understanding of spiritual formation determines how we read the Bible and also how the Bible is meant to function in a holistically formative way that reintegrates our whole person in the image of Christ.

What is the Significance of Jesus’ Ascension?

Tue, 31 Jan 2023 08:58:25 -0600

A lecture given at L’Abri Fellowship in Southborough, Massachusetts. For more information, visit https://southboroughlabri.org/

by Ben Keyes

The Bible teaches that after his resurrection, Jesus Christ ascended into heaven. What does this event mean? How does it fit into the broader story of God's redemption? What difference does it make to the everyday life of Christian people living 2,000 years later? The ascension is a doctrine of the church which is often overlooked but which is crucially important. The goal of this lecture is to show the everyday relevance of the ascension to people in need of hope.

Teach Us to Pray: To Pray without Ceasing

Wed, 25 Jan 2023 09:35:34 -0600

A lecture given at L’Abri Fellowship in Southborough, Massachusetts. For more information, visit https://southboroughlabri.org/

by Joshua Chestnut

David's resolve to "bless the Lord at all times" and Paul's command to "pray without ceasing" might sound like either pious exaggerations or nearly impossible options reserved for only the most spiritually advanced among us, but this not need be! As the first in a series on the ways Christians have prayed through the centuries, this lecture will consider the writings of John Cassian to see how these verses animated the prayerful imaginations of early Christian monks in surprisingly realistic, honest, and practical ways.

An Etymology of Blessing

Tue, 15 Nov 2022 10:50:50 -0600

A lecture given at L’Abri Fellowship in Southborough, Massachusetts. For more information, visit https://southboroughlabri.org/

by Esther Dalton

"Blessing, bless you, blessed"--It's a word that gets thrown around a lot. But does it mean what we think it means? How might looking at the peculiar etymology of our English word "bless" give us a thicker, richer understanding of blessing?

An Evening with Jo Swinney & Peter Harris, Discussing Jo’s New Book

Tue, 08 Nov 2022 08:51:20 -0600

A lecture given at L’Abri Fellowship in Southborough, Massachusetts. For more information, visit https://southboroughlabri.org/

Join Ben Keyes as he hosts a conversation with Jo Swinney, Peter Harris, and Avery Robson of A Rocha International as they share A Place a the Table: Faith, Hope and Hospitality, a new book coauthored by Jo and her late mother, Miranda Harris, and some of the story of A Rocha and its global work.

What Do We Do with Our Tears? A Theology of Crying

Mon, 31 Oct 2022 09:56:01 -0600

A lecture given at L’Abri Fellowship in Southborough, Massachusetts. For more information, visit https://southboroughlabri.org/

by Joshua Chestnut

Even though humans are the only creatures who weep, all too often our tears remain mysteries to us. While considering the broader question of what it means to be human, this lecture will reflect on how we both navigate our emotions and understand our tears in our life with God and neighbor.

The Playfully Skeptical Music of Josh Ritter

Mon, 24 Oct 2022 09:36:52 -0600

A lecture given at L’Abri Fellowship in Southborough, Massachusetts. For more information, visit https://southboroughlabri.org/

by Ben Keyes

”To Be Bread Broken”: ’Loafing’ around with Jesus?

Wed, 19 Oct 2022 13:52:21 -0600

A lecture given at L’Abri Fellowship in Southborough, Massachusetts. For more information, visit https://southboroughlabri.org/

by Sarah Chestnut