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.

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