On the podcast this week, Hugh Williamson talks about the distinctive ministry of worker priests/Ministers in Secular Employment (MSEs), which are the subject of a cover feature that he has written for this week’s Church Times.

Hugh’s father, Canon Tony Williamson, was an Anglican worker priest in a car factory in Oxford for 30 years (Obituary, 22 March 2019), so Hugh has long had an interest in this ministry. In his feature this week, he talks to a priest who is a full-time hairdresser, another who, until recently, was a checkout worker at a supermarket, a priest who is a carer, and another who works in a café.

“Talking to them, and others like them, reveals a refreshing approach to faith, focused on how we express and support faith in everyday settings, not only in church buildings,” he writes. “And it challenges the Church to reflect on what ministry means.”

https://www.hughwilliamson.org/

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On the podcast this week, we revisit an episode from a year ago, in which the Anglican novelist Francis Spufford talks about and reads from his second novel, Light Perpetual (Faber and Faber), which is now available in paperback from the Church House Bookshop: https://chbookshop.hymnsam.co.uk

It was recorded last year at a one-day online event organised by the Church Times Festival of Faith and Literature.

Since it was published last year, the book made the long list for the Booker Prize (News, 30 July 2021).

Francis Spufford’s first novel, Golden Hill (Reading Groups, 3 March 2017), won the Costa First Novel Award 2016. He has also written five highly praised works of non-fiction, including Unapologetic: Why, despite everything Christianity can still make surprising emotional sense (Books, 4 October 2013; Features, 7 September 2012), which was shortlisted for the 2016 Michael Ramsey Prize.

The next Church Times Festival of Faith and Literature takes place online on Saturday (19 February). Find out more and book tickets at https://faithandliterature.hymnsam.co.uk/february-2022

Photo credit: Eamonn McCabe/Popperfoto

Music for the podcast is by Twisterium

The Bishop of Dover, the Rt Revd Rose Hudson-Wilkin, is interviewed on the podcast this week about a new Lent course that she has written, The Room Where it Happens, based on the smash-hit musical Hamilton.

In a review of Lent books and resources in the Church Times, David Wilbourne writes: “In The Room Where it Happens, Rose Hudson-Wilkin comes to house groups, wherever they may be, watching the smash-hit musical Hamilton with them, and introducing staid Anglicans to hip-hop. She parallels her own immigrant experience with Alexander Hamilton’s, blisteringly honest about her humble origins, the ensuing hurts, and the dreams that fired her. . .

“In 22 years of parish ministry, I ran many Lent house groups, and, as a bishop, I addressed larger Lent gatherings. I sense that this course will work brilliantly.”

The Room Where it Happens is published by Darton, Longman & Todd, and is on offer at the Church Times Bookshop.

Music for the podcast is by Twisterium

Try 10 issues of the Church Times for £10 or get two months access to our website and apps, also for £10. Go to churchtimes.co.uk/new-reader.

On the podcast this week, the Revd Fergus Butler-Gallie, priest and writer, reads a profound and moving article he wrote for the 4 February edition of the Church Times. Titled “In the end is my beginning,” it’s about a funeral he conducted recently with unexpected and deeply personal resonances.

He is the author of A Field Guide to the English Clergy (Books, 30 November 2018, Podcast, 7 December 2018) and Priests de la Résistance! The loose canons who fought fascism in the twentieth century (Books, 8 November 2019, Features, 15 November 2019). Both are published by Oneworld Publications and are available to order from the Church Times Bookshop (here and here).

Follow him on Twitter: @_F_B_G_

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Cole Moreton has interviewed the famous, the infamous, and the extraordinary. He was named Interviewer of the Year in 2016 for his work in The Mail on Sunday, and was shortlisted for a fifth time in 2018.

On the podcast this week, Cole reflects on the art of interviewing, and recalls memorable encounters with such people as Tiger Woods, Scarlett Johansson, and Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

In a a forthcoming new podcast, “Can we talk?”, which launches on 8 February (produced by Hodder Faith), he reflects in each episode on a single encounter, and reflects on what such encounters have taught him about the incredible lives we live as human beings and the lessons we can learn from connecting with each other.

In this week’s Church Times (28 January), we publish an edited transcript of the episode in which he describes an unforgettable encounter with Dr Tutu.

His debut novel, The Light Keeper, was published in 2019 and is out now in paperback (Books, 10 January 2020; Podcast, 27 March 2020).

https://shows.acast.com/cole-moretons-can-we-talk

https://colemoreton.com

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Chris Mabey is interviewed on the podcast this week about the deepening political crisis in Myanmar, and the plight of Christians in the country. His book, Whispers of Hope: A family memoir of Myanmar, tells the story of how he came to understand the rich, nuanced history of Burma/Myanmar, through the family of his Burmes wife, April.

He has also written on the crisis in Myanmar for this week’s Church Times (21 January).

Chris Mabey is a chartered psychologist and Emeritus Professor at Middlesex University Business School.

Whispers of Hope is published by Penguin Random House at £29.99 (Church Times Bookshop £26.99); 9-7898-1-495425-9.

https://www.chrismabey.co.uk/

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On the podcast this week, the Revd Katherine Price, Chaplain of Queen’s College, Oxford, talks about her experience of Slimming World, and how it prompted her to think differently about the quest for spiritual health. She also considers whether the Slimming World’s model has lessons for the Church of England’s mission.

“At Slimming World, I’d realised that I actually did have the will power and the discipline to make changes in my life that had a tangible difference,” she says. “But I was thinking, ‘Hang on a minute, I wasn’t even massively motivated to lose weight; it wasn’t my number one priority. My prayer life, which is a much bigger priority for me, why don’t I have that discipline there?’. . .

“And I was wondering why is it that this really quite simple group, the Slimming World group, was enabling me to make the changes that I wanted to make in my life to lose weight; and the Church, for whatever reason, that surely should be exactly the group which is enabling me to make changes in my spiritual life, and somehow that wasn’t happening for me. And that just raised that question for me, I think.”

Katherine has also written an article for this week’s Church Times.

Picture credit: David Olds

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On the podcast this week, the Revd Andy March, Vicar of St Christopher’s, Coventry, talks about his debut book Loving the Enemy: Building bridges in a time of war, an extract from which is published in this week’s Church Times (7 January).

The book tells the remarkable true story of Andy’s grandparents, Fred and Rike Clayton, who first met in Dresden at the start of the Nazi era.

In a foreword to the book, the Bishop of Coventry, Dr Christopher Cocksworth, writes: “It is my hope that, thanks to Andy’s efforts, the story will inspire you as much as it has inspired me, and that it will find its place as a signpost, even a landmark, along the path of reconciliation, trust and love which links Coventry and Dresden; Britain and Germany.”

The book is published by Halwill Publishing and is available from the Church Times Bookshop for £8.99. Signed copies can also be purchased at https://halwillpublishing.co.uk

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This week’s podcast returns to a Christmas interview from 2017, when Ed Thornton spoke to Paul Kerensa, the stand-up comic and comedy writer, about his book, Hark! The biography of Christmas (Lion Books) (Books, 24 November 2017). They also talked about comedy gigs in churches, comedy and evangelism, and whether preachers should tell jokes in sermons.

Paul’s latest book, written with Ruth Valerio, is Planet Protectors: 52 ways to look after God’s world (SPCK) (Features, 22 October). His other books include Noah’s Car Park Ark (SPCK) (Books, 22 June 2018) and So a Comedian Walks Into a Church . . . Confessions of a kneel-down stand-up (DLT) (Books, 12 July 2013).

Paul hosts the podcast British Broadcasting Century, and more information about his work, including upcoming gigs, is available at paulkerensa.com. Paul has also written for the BBC sitcom Not Going Out, some CBBC shows, and some pre-school animations for churches out next year.

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“What could Shakespeare’s plays and poems teach me about the Christian faith and the God who loves me?” This is the question posed by Peter Graystone on this week’s podcast, as he reflects on the spiritual significance of a memorable scene in The Winter’s Tale.

The talk was first given at an online Advent Retreat, on 27 November, hosted by the Church Times and Canterbury Press. It is introduced by Christine Smith, Publishing Director of Hymns Ancient & Modern. To access a recording of the whole event, book a ticket at https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/advent-retreat

Peter’s latest book, All’s Well that Ends Well: From dust to resurrection: 40 days with Shakespeare, is published by Canterbury Press and is available from the Church Times Bookshop for £11.69.

Peter is a writer who has worked for Scripture Union, Christian Aid, and the Church Army. He is the Church Times’s theatre critic, and a contributor to Reflections for Daily Prayer.

Music for the podcast is by Twisterium.

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