Minister on the radio

Published on 27 March 2011

Lucy Berry

United Reformed Church minister, the Revd Lucy Berry, has more than one string to her bow: minister, single mum and professional poet … This week – 28 March to 1 April – she is focusing on the latter, as resident poet on the Jeremy Vine show on BBC Radio 2.

All this week, Lucy’s poems tackle the sometimes challenging, often joyous, theme of parenthood, with a poem a day being broadcast on the show.

Lucy has been the Vine Show’s resident poet since 2003, taking a break between 2008-2010 when she trained for ordination as a minister of word and sacrament. Lucy is currently minister of Bethnal Green Meeting House URC in East London.

Talking about her role as resident poet and the the interrelationship between her poetry and her life as a minister, Lucy said: “Quite often, the poems I write for the Show, (sad or joyful), seem to affect people profoundly ... So I began to want to explore meaning more deeply; I went off to train up theologically, so that I could become a minister. I might never have felt a ‘call’ if it hadn’t been for honest, open responses of the Vine listeners.”

Lucy adds: “I wish one did as much training ahead of parenthood as one does before ordination!”

You can hear Lucy’s five poems on parenthood on this week’s Jeremy Vine Show – broadcast every weekday between 12 noon and 2pm.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006wr3p

www.lucyberry.com

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