Explore every episode of the podcast Talking Faith: two priests in the Scottish Borders talk about faith, doubt, and God

In this episode we discuss the most important question of all. In heaven, will our dogs get to play with us?

In this episode, which Lesley would hate us to call our Halowe'en special, we discuss the supernatural, ghosts and spirits and the like. And we relate a story written in the eleventh century about Melrose Abbey, where we encounter Britain's first ever related report of a revenant...

This week Pip interviews Gilbert Markus, theologian and author of the book "God as Nothing" where he examines, through a lens of the Medieval Saint Thomas Aquinas, the idea of God as separate from the world, ie "not a thing".

This week NT Wright (Bishop and Biblical scholar) and Francis Collins (DNA double-helix discoverer) sing a duet about Genesis and creation.

Lesley and Pip tackle Genesis, creationism and where the bible sits with science.

Lesley's slightly quirky pick for a song to listen to this week, and she's chosen Jacob Collier with a special guest at the O2.

As Pip is on his holidays, Lesley interviews Emma Herd, the new Curate here in the borders. They talk about the process from feeling a calling to the priesthood, through the discernment process, and training and beyond. And Emma successfully answers the age old question of "Which dog is best".

Definitely a fan favourite this one - and one which will reduce Pip to tears on a regular basis. Words from Revelation 21, and music from heaven.

In this podcast, recorded outdoors (and then indoors because it started raining) Lesley and Pip discuss the issue that people think churches, and sometimes Christianity in general, is mean spirited and judgemental.

This episode is recorded outside. You can really tell, and you can probably also tell that we are pretty amateur when it comes to the recording and editing stuff, because sometimes the birdsong is way louder than our voices. I hope you can still listen along without getting to annoyed.

Lesley's choice of reaction music this week. In Christ Alone, with a thumpingly good arrangement by a great group of musicians. And a bagpipe.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kvFtXphmMU

In this episode Pip and Lesley discuss prayer - what is it, what purpose it serves and whether it does anyone any good or not.

have a question you want us to discuss? Email us at talkingthefaith@gmail.com

A reaction video with a bit of something for both Lesley and Pip, including astonishingly good musicianship and a very wet piano.

If you are a member of the clergy, you will have come accross this - and its counterpart. There are some within our congregations who want us to "speak out" against things, or for things, and others who say that faith is "a private matter" and clergy "shouldn't talk politics.

If you are frustrated that your priest does or doesn't do the things you want them to (or not to), or are a frustrated priest who doesn't do the things that people want you to or wants to do the things that they want you not to, and if you are still reading this desperately hoping to parse this sentence, then listen in!

Pip's choice of music this time. We explore the joy that is Bach, the greatest composer of all time, and possibly all time Top Human.

Thrill to the wonder of the Netherlands Bach orchestra and choir as they sing Bach's possibly most joyous of motets, Lobet Den Herrn. And listen to Pip geeking out in a really big way.

In this episode, Lesley and Pip confront the most common thing people say to them - "you only work one day a week!". In this podcast we go through our weeks, sharing some of the pleasures, privilages, and challenges of our job in small churches in a rural part of Scotland.

If you want to hear Beth's amazing vocals without the prattle on top of it, go here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_s2bCbu4WkU

This week, hotfoot from General Synod, Pip interviews the Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church, Mark Strange. Mark speaks about church growth and decline, and the future of the SEC.

We tell our stories - how it was that one of us (Lesley) stopped looking at cow ovaries for a living, and why the other (Pip) stopped trying to be a professional singer, and instead became the mundane, ordinary people you see before you...

Our latest reaction video features one of Pip's choices - which will be immediately apparent when we learn that the composer died over five hundred years ago. The phrase used of Josquin Des Prez by Martin Luther was "Other composers must do as the notes will. Josquin is the master of the notes and they do as he wills".

Amazing stuff.

In this, our second episode of our podcast, we discuss one of the bigger issues

Got something you want us to listen to? Email us on talkingthefaith @gmail.com

We have very very different tastes in music, so this is our opportunity of sharing things we like with each other.

This video is from Lesley and to say more than that will steal some of the joy that it brings...

Here's the original - and see if you are not singing along https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-CCxYR80mU

In this episode Pip speaks with Bishop Dagmar, currently acting Bishop of Ely and Bishop or Huntingdon, as she prepares to pack up her theology books and make the great trek north to the sunlit uplands of the Scottish Episocopal church. Dagmar talks about her upbringing in the faith, her love of the border lands, and what led her to the glory that we call the 'piscy church.

This was our first foray into online meetings, so apologies for the poor sound quality in places.

Have thoughts, questions, queries or complaints? email us on talkingthefaith@gmail.com

In this episode of Talking Faith, we discuss why people who believe in God don't go to church, and why sometimes dull churches might end up being hte right place for someone.

In this reaction video (the sound quality is very poor, our apologies, it was recorded outside on microphones not fit for purpose) we listen to a very squirmy incident where a certain new convert finds that biblical knowledge is not quite as encyclopedic as he thought...

If you have anything you would like us to react to, email us at talkingthefaith@gmail.com

Lesley and Pip come from very different musical traditions, so they like to surprise each other with some music from their tradition. Here Pip shares a version of the Lord's prayer in Aramaic, sung in the presence of Pope Francis of blessed memory.

Have a question? email us at talkingthefaith@gmail.com ooh, let's start with the big one. It is still the season of Easter, the FORTY days of unremitting joy, as they say. In this podcast, we deal with a question that people who are honest enough to talk to us often ask - why on earth do we believe that a man was dead, and then wasn't?

Our new podcast, Talking Faith, will begin in the first week of May 2026. This is just a wee taster to introduce ourselves, and to apologise in advance how very amateur we are... if you have any questions or thoughts about the podcast, music for us to listen to and subjects for us to cover, email us at talkingthefaith@gmail.com and we'll be delighted to hear from you. Well that's our aim...

Welcome to the first of a new series! Talking faith, where two Episcopal priests in the Scottish Borders, discuss the questions that matter to you, whether you are an atheist, believer, or anything in between.