Taking Yourself Less Seriously

by Ben Keyes

given Feb 19, 2021

The ability to laugh at yourself can be a disarming gift in the midst of difficult conversations and tense relationships, but is laughing at yourself anything more than a communication technique? Is there something fundamentally ridiculous about each of us to which laughter is an appropriate response? What does the Bible teach us about the incongruities of being fallen and limited humans, and why do we experience some of these incongruities as funny? This lecture will examine the potentially redemptive nature of self-directed humor.

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 2019.

The Apostle Paul, Our Mother in Christ: Metaphors, Ministry and Masculinity

by Joshua Chestnut

Feb 12, 2021

This lecture is the second in a series on the Apostle Paul and women. It will be a consideration of the nature of metaphor, Paul’s striking but often overlooked use of maternal metaphors to make sense of his own ministry as well as a consideration of what this might mean for the fraught topic of gender ‘roles’ today.

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 2019.

The Importance of Paradox: Poetry, Prayer, & the Life of Simon Peter

by Sarah Chestnut

Feb 5, 2021

Paradox is central to Christian theology and experience.  Francis Schaeffer, employing a paradox, described humans as glorious ruins.  We will look to poetry to tutor us in the nature and gifts of paradox, reflect on what are often paradoxical experiences of praying, and with the help of poems, imaginatively enter gospel passages involving Simon Peter ("Rock" and "stumbling stone"!) to better equip us to navigate our complex world.

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 2019.

Curiosity: A Diverse and Fruitful Christian Virtue

by Ben Keyes

Jan 29, 2021

Curiosity is a quality that is not often counted among the Christian virtues. And yet to be curious can be a wonderful asset to people- a source of learning and joy. In this lecture we will explore different categories of human curiosity and examine some cultural attitudes towards being curious. We will then reflect on some of the ways in which curiosity equips us to better serve God by functioning as a springboard for other virtues. 

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 2019.

Becoming Friends with Time

by Joshua Chestnut

January 22, 2021

While time is a tricky matter to fully wrap our heads around, its elusiveness doesn’t keep us from having a complicated relationship with it.  Whether we have too much time on our hands or not enough, for those of us living in “clock time” we often find ourselves having an adversarial relationship with time.  This has been true for so many of us during this year of pandemic.  This lecture will give a history of “clock time” and then consider how we might engage with the time that has been given to us and what it might mean to become a friend of time.

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 2019.

The Rise of Outrage

October 30, 2020

Dick Keyes

In a world where the dominant source of moral authority for the individual is increasingly one’s own emotions, outrage has become the quickest path to moral conviction and to political influence. How should we understand this and respond to it?

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 2019.

There Just Aren’t Enough Days in the Weekend:

Finding Sabbath Rest in the Lord of the Sabbath

On Being Politically Homeless

October 16, 2020

by Joshua Chestnut

In a way that seems prophetic of today, C.S. Lewis commented that one symptom of a sick society is that it talks about politics too much. Wanting to move beyond the incessant, performative, tone-deaf, package deal platform of partisan politics in America, this lecture will consider the quasi-religious nature that politics has taken on today and place that in conversation with the “politics” of Christians in the first few centuries.

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 2019.

Making and Fixing in a World of Cheap Replaceable Objects

by Ben Keyes

October 9, 2020

Most contemporary people are surrounded by cheaply made, easily replaceable products. In addition to this, many of our lives are so mediated through digital technology that we seldom use our hands to engage the physical world at all. Is the loss of ‘manual competence’ really a loss, or is it simply the way of the modern world? 

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 2019.

The Apostle Paul, A Friend of Women

Oct 2, 2020

Joshua Chestnut

While many discussions of women in the writings of the Apostle Paul begin and end in the infamous controversial passages, this lecture will start elsewhere and instead look at the often overlooked named women in Paul’s letters. My hope is that by looking at who these particular named women are, what they appear to be up to and the way Paul describes them will provide us a fresh way into the often fraught discussion of Paul and women.

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 2019.