L'Abri Fellowship - Southborough

Growing in Empathy through Reading Fiction

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.

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 2025

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

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 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 2025

The "S" Word: A Lexicon of Sin

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?

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 2025

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

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?

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 2025

Fall 2025 Theme Weekend: The Dignity of Dependence

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

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 2025

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

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.

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 2025

Are We "Whittling Away" Character in Our Society?

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 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 2025

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

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 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 2025

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

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.

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 2025

Psalm 131: A Psalm for the Anxious and Exhausted

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 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 2025