Politics in the Pulpit

Matt Forsyth (12th April)

This episode of Politics in the Pulpit is hosted by Hannah Fremont-Brown, and features our special guest, Matt Forsyth!

Matt, who serves currently as the Vice President of the Methodist Conference (25-26) and the Mission Team Leader in the Northampton District. A hopeful realist who lives in the Fens with his wife, three girls, and a bouncy cockapoo. 

This week, Hannah, Matt and Thomas explore the lectionary readings for Sunday 12^th April.

Timestamps

• 00:00 – Intro
• 07:15 - Acts 2: 14a, 22-32
• 15:34 - John 20: 19-31
• 29:18 - Psalm 16
• 32:28 - 1 Peter 1: 3-9

Mentions

Addressing Anti-Judaism in Lent, Holy Week and Eastertide: Updated Lectionary Recommendations (The Methodist Church) - https://www.methodist.org.uk/for-churches/resources/articles/addressing-antijudaism-in-lent-holy-week-and-eastertide-updated-lectionary-recommendations/

Together Alliance protest (Sky News) - https://news.sky.com/story/half-a-million-join-london-rally-against-the-far-right-claim-organisers-13525518

JPIT’s recent campaign for refugee family reunion - https://jpit.uk/refugee-reunion

Aniko Schuetz Bradwell - Easter Sunday special (5th April)

This episode of Politics in the Pulpit is hosted by Thomas Niblett, and features our special guest, Aniko Schuetz Bradwell!

Aniko is a Church of Scotland parish minister at Lammermuir Church, a rural parish of seven villages in a farming area of East Lothian, where she has been for just over ten years, and where she lives with her husband (who occasionally works with JPIT) and our son, as well as two cats, a guineapig and a flock of hens. She came to Scotland twenty years ago from my native East Germany, where I studied Literature and Religious Studies. She has worked with the Taizé and Iona Communities before working in the head office of the Church of Scotland in Edinburgh. She studied and trained for ministry in Edinburgh, with, among others, a training placement in our churches in the Holy Land.

This week, Thomas, Aniko and Adam explore the lectionary readings for Sunday 5^th April in an Easter Sunday special. Happy Easter from all at JPIT!

Timestamps

00:00 - Intro

03:40 – Acts 10: 34-43

11:55 - Psalm 118: 1-2, 14-24

17:20 - Colossians 3: 1-4

24:14 - John 20: 1-18

Mentions

JPIT refugee family reunion campaign – jpit.uk/refugee-reunion

Louis Theroux: Inside the Manosphere (documentary)

Closing reflection from Pádraig Ó’Tuama An Easter Sunday. A Sacred Echo. Solidarity in a Small Hell of Our Own | The On Being Project

David Coleman - Palm Sunday special (29th March)

This episode of Politics in the Pulpit is hosted by Erica Lees-Smith, and features our special guest, David Coleman!

The Reverend David Coleman is Environmental Chaplain for Eco Congregation Scotland, a post gifted by the United Reformed Church. Without formal authority, he’s nonetheless well known as a green voice in Scottish churches.  He visits grassroots churches and sometimes colleges, and engages in ecumenical conversation with many bodies on spiritual and environmental issues. David was invited to the Assisi conferences on establishing a global ecumenical celebration of Creation, ['24, ’25] and as part of the global supervisory committee for Season of Creation, he curates the Season resource for Scotland. He is a member of the Iona Community, and active in developing challenging reflective visual/liturgical material. David is 62, a widower, with two adult children.

This week, Erica, David and Roo explore the lectionary readings for Sunday 29^th March in a Palm Sunday special.

Timestamps

• 00:00 - Intro
• 10:00 - Matthew 21: 1-11

• 23:20 - Psalm 118: 1-2, 19-29
• 36:10 - Isaiah 50: 4-9a

Mentions

Together Alliance protest on 28^th March - https://www.togetheralliance.org.uk/

Eco-Congregation Scotland - http://www.ecocongregationscotland.org/

Closing prayer, by Bishop Dr. Munib A. Younan - https://www.friendsoftheholyland.org.uk/blog/palm-sunday

Jenny Mills (22nd March)

Listen to the latest episode of Politics in the Pulpit for Sunday 22 March. Hosted by Alex Clare-Young with guest Jenny Mills and JPIT team member Paul Morrison. 

Spring Episode 10 - Al Barrett (15th March)

This is the final episode of Politics in the Pulpit for Spring 2026 hosted by our wonderful host William Gibson, and features special guest, Al Barrett!

Revd Dr Al Barrett has been Rector of Hodge Hill Church (a CofE-URC local ecumenical partnership) in east Birmingham since 2010. He has been involved in long-term journeys of intergenerational community-building with neighbours in the council estate where he lives, and pursuing racial justice and creation care within and beyond the local church community. Al seeks to engage in earthed, collaborative theological work in the intersections of church, mission, race, class, gender and ecology, and is also in training to be a wild therapy practitioner.

This week, William, Al and Erica explore the lectionary readings for Sunday 15th March or Mothering Sunday.

Timestamps

• 00:00 – Intro

• 06:15 - John 9: 1-41

• 20:17 - 1 Samuel 16: 1-13

• 28:37 - Psalm 23

• 38:00 - Ephesians 5: 8-14

Mentions

Being Interrupted: Re-imagining the Church's Mission from the Outside, In by Al Barrett and Ruth Harvey (SCM, 2020)

Towards a Critical White Theology (Routledge, 2025) edited by Al Barrett, Anthony Reddie and Jill Marsh

‘Trauma, de/composing masculinities and ensoiled christologies (or, how men might face and follow their shit)’ by Al Barrett and Simon Sutcliffe, in Will Rose-Moore (ed.), For Nothing is Hidden: Masculinities and Trauma in Church and Theology (SCM, forthcoming).

A Healing Homiletic: Preaching and Disability by Kathy Black (Abingdon Press, 1996)

More in Common, Seven Segments of Britain https://www.moreincommon.org.uk/seven...

JPIT’s current campaign for refugee family reunion https://jpit.uk/refugee-reunion

The Nap Ministry founded by Tricia Hersey https://thenapministry.wordpress.com/

Rest is Resistance: Free yourself from grind culture and reclaim your life by Tricia Hersey (Octopus Publishing Group, 2024)

The Good Shepherd: A thousand-year journey from Psalm 23 to the New Testament by Kenneth E. Bailey (SPCK, 2014)

Spring Episode 9 - Grace Thomas (8th March)

This episode of Politics in the Pulpit for Spring 2026 is hosted by William Gibson, and features our special guest, Grace Thomas!

Grace is the Canon Missioner at Manchester Cathedral, as well as Diocesan Environment Officer and Associate Tutor at Luther King Centre. Grace's publications include a chapter on ecological grief in Words for A Dying World (Malcolm (ed), 2020, SCM), a chapter about female clergy wellbeing in Female Faith Practices (Routledge, 2023), a co-edited book Chaplaincy – Contemporary and Global Perspectives (SCM, 2024) and a co-authored Grove book entitled Climate Action as Mission. Grace is passionate about justice, especially in areas of climate, ethnicity and poverty. She is the chair of the charity Greater Together Manchester and is the Northern Province Clergy Rep for AMEN, which seeks to support Anglicans of Minority Ethnic Heritage. Grace regularly presents Radio 4's Daily Service.

This week, William, Grace and Thomas explore the lectionary readings for Sunday 8^th March.

Timestamps

• 00:00 - Intro
• 04:50 - Exodus 17: 1-7
• 09:24 - Psalm 95
• 14:13 - Romans 5: 1-11
• 21:56 - John 4: 5-42

Mentions

Words for A Dying World: Stories of Grief and Courage from the Global Church edited by Hannah Malcolm (SCM, 2020)

Female Faith Practices: Qualitative Research Perspectives edited by Nicola Slee et al (Routledge, 2023)

Chaplaincy: Contemporary and Global Perspectives by Grace Thomas and Kim Wasey (SCM, 2024)

Climate Action as Mission: How to Link the Gospel with Safeguarding Creation (Grove Books, 2021)

https://www.unicef.org/wash/water-scarcity

A Million Acts of Hope campaign - https://millionactsofhope.org/

The Women in the Gospel of John: The Divine Feminine by Judith Kaye Jones (Chalice Press, 2008)

Women of the Passion by Margaret Ives (Canterbury Press, 1998)

Spring Episode 8 - Teri Peterson (1st March)

This episode of Politics in the Pulpit for Spring 2026 is hosted by William Gibson, and features our special guest, Teri Peterson!

Teri is a Church of Scotland minister, serving the parish of St John’s in Gourock. She came to Scotland in 2017 from Chicago where she was a minister in the Presbyterian Church (USA). Teri has a background in music and in mission work in the Middle East, and she is passionate about the intersection of faith and life. She sees her calling as helping bring sacred and secular together through community work, creativity, and service. In her free time she doomscrolls articles about history and current events, plays with her three cats, reads historical fiction about women, and looks out the window at her amazing view.

This week, William, Teri and Adam explore the lectionary readings for Sunday 1^st March.

Timestamps

• 00:00 - Intro
• 06:00 - Genesis 12: 1-4a
• 15:40 - Psalm 121
• 21:57 - Romans 4: 1-5, 13-17
• 27:52 - John 3: 1-17

Mentions

Faith in the Face of Empire: The Bible through Palestinian Eyes by Mitri Raheb

Spring Episode 7 - Rachel Summers (22nd February)

This episode of Politics in the Pulpit for Spring 2026 is hosted by William Gibson, and features our special guest, Rachel Summers!

Rachel Summers is an ordained pioneer priest in the Church of England. She lives in East London and loves that she has the forest on her doorstep and the city all around her. Being in nature is an important part of her spirituality and something she takes joy in sharing with others through forest church. She enjoys hosting refugees in her spare room and the interesting conversations that happen in her kitchen because of this. Rachel has a fabulous ADHD brain which takes her on all manner of exciting sidequests, one of which at the moment is DTh study through Roehampton university. She has many good ideas, some of which actually happen, and her hands are never quite mud free.

This week, William, Rachel and Roo explore the lectionary readings for Sunday 22nd February.

Timestamps

• 00:00 – Intro
• 04:40 - Genesis 2: 15-17; 3: 1-7
• 15:33 - Psalm 32
• 22:44 - Romans 5: 12-19
• 33:00 - Matthew 4: 1-11

Mentions

East of Eden by John Steinbeck

Nuremberg (2025)

Spring Episode 6 - Jack Wakefield (15th February)

The next episode of this season of Politics in the Pulpit for Spring 2026 is hosted by William Gibson, and features our special guest, Jack Wakefield! 

Jack is a campaigner with over a decade of experience influencing change across climate, health, justice and inequality. His work has included grassroots youth organising, regular preaching and training for churches, and leading delegations at UN negotiations. He's part of a new church plant in the southwest and is a trustee for Green Christian. 

This week, William, Jack and Hannah explore the lectionary readings for Sunday 15th February.  

Timestamps 

• 00:00 – Intro 

• 05:28 - Exodus 24: 12-18 

• 10:29 - Psalm 2   

• 16:27 - Psalm 99 

• 19:45 - 2 Peter 1: 16-21 

• 26:39 - Matthew 17: 1-9 The Transfiguration 

  

Mentions 

Joseph Rowntree annual UK poverty report (2026) - https://www.jrf.org.uk/uk-poverty-2026-the-essential-guide-to-understanding-poverty-in-the-uk  

The Iona Community - https://iona.org.uk/about/our-story/  

Theology and Joy by Jürgen Moltmann 

Episcopal Bishop predicts “new era of martyrdom” - https://premierchristian.news/en/news/article/bishop-warns-of-new-era-of-martyrdom-amid-immigration-tensions  

Poem written by Bonhoeffer before his execution by the Nazis in 1945 - https://www.praise.org.uk/hymns/by-gracious-powers-so-wonderfully-sheltered  

Spring Episode 5 - Laura Durrant (8th February)

The next episode of this season of Politics in the Pulpit for Spring 2026 is hosted by William Gibson, and features our special guest, Laura Durrant!

Laura is a reporter and editorial team member for S(h)ibboleth magazine and a co-host of the Beer Christianity podcast. She is a communications specialist and has worked in the faith-based charity sector for the last seven years.

This week, William, Laura and Thomas explore the lectionary readings for Sunday 8^th February.

Timestamps

• 00:00 - Intro
• 05:35 - Isaiah 58: 1-9a(9b-12)
• 15:56 - Psalm 112: 1-9(10)
• 22:00 - 1 Corinthians 2: 1-12(13-16)
• 30:38 - Matthew 5: 13-20

 

Mentions

S(h)ibboleth magazine - https://shibbolethmag.com/pages/about-shibboleth

Beer Christianity podcast - https://www.beerchristianity.co.uk/

The Gen Z Quiet Revival report (Bible Society) - https://www.biblesociety.org.uk/research/quiet-revival

Centre for the Study of Bible and Violence research and book about the Far Right - https://www.csbvbristol.org.uk/the-church-the-far-right-and-the-claim-to-christianity/

Watch Revd Dr Helen Paynter’s lecture, ‘Unpacking the theology of Christian nationalism’ (Better Story, January 2026) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JgHMeOm5uBA

Notes from Rev Prof Joseph Mante’s keynote on the Gospel passage in relation to colonial history (27^th General Council of the World Communion of Reformed Churches) - Theme-A_20251016_OtisMoss_Keynote.pdf

Churches Together in Britain and Ireland resources for Racial Justice Sunday 2026 - https://ctbi.org.uk/resources/racial-justice-sunday-8-february-2026/