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.

On this day at the Church of Latter-Day Saints' Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah, 500 fresh-faced young men and women arrive for the first time. Soon they'll venture out across the world to spread their Mormon faith.

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.

In this rare interview for the "Things Unseen" podcast, CJ Whitedeer, Cherokee medicine man and the tribe’s only White Priest, has welcomed Jane Little to his “homecoming circle” in Arizona, providing extraordinary insights into some of the stories, beliefs and practices that are part of Native American spirituality.

Dr Andrew Weil calls his model “integrative medicine.” One of his critics has called him a “snake oil salesman.” Jane Little has visited him in Tucson, Arizona, to find out what exactly he means by Mind Body Spirit medicine and how he answers his many critics.

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.

But what is it that makes rituals so universally meaningful and compelling? To find out, Jane Littletalks to Nicholas Taylor, a shaman who’s undergone a ritualistic live burial; Peter Williams, a traditional Catholic; and Isabel Clarke, a clinical psychologist.

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?