Tattoos, ‘salty’ language and alcoholism only partly sum up the life of Nadia Bolz-Weber, the pastor at the House for All Saints and Sinners in Denver, USA.
In the first of a three-part series Jane Little will meet Nadia, the body building, tattooed, stand-up comic Lutheran pastor from Denver to explore her faith and how her conservative Lutheran faith collides with and complements her belief that we are all sinners and the church should accept all areas of society through its doors.
Every day we're exposed to a multitude of man-made chemicals in the food we eat, the air we breathe and the products we clean our homes and wash our bodies with. For some people, like journalist Jane Little, the burden can be almost too much to bear. Certain chemicals trigger extreme physical reactions, leaving her ill and exhausted for days at a time. It's a debilitating condition for her and many thousands of fellow sufferers. Some estimates suggest that 15% of the American population believe they experience ill effects from domestic chemicals.
Jane Little travels to Utah, where the Church has its headquarters, to meet Kate Kelly. She was an active mormon, even a former missionary, but then she founded a campaign to ordain women. Kelly was found guilty of apostasy by her bishop and excommunicated. The all-male leadership now regards her as an ex-Mormon, though she clearly does not, and is appealing the decision.
Jane Little meets Joshua Dubois, who tells her about the devotionals he has written for Barack Obama. With Jane, Joshua Dubois chooses five of the most significant spirituals he wrote for the president, covering some of the events that made headlines around the world, such as the school massacre at Sandy Hook in the USA.
Jane catches a first glimpse of what it really means to be old in different parts of the world.
What challenges do these communities and individuals face, and how can they be met?
