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)