L'Abri Fellowship - Southborough

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

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.

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 2023

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

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.

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 2023

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

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 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 2023

The Baptized Imagination 4: Take Heed How You See

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.

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 2023

From Tripods to Selfie Sticks: A Personal Journey through Photography

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 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 2023

 

The Apostle Paul and the Problem with Selflessness

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.

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 2023

Kindred Spirits: Reading for Friendship’s Sake?

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."

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 2023

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

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.

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 2023

Teach Us to Pray: Solitude and Silence

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.

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 2023

Challenges to the Modern University

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.

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 2023