Each week, guest speakers from a variety of backgrounds and disciplines join the Reverend Peter Thompson and other St. Bart's clergy for deep and insightful conversations about topics that matter to our lives as responsible citizens and people of faith. Speakers in recent years have included winners of the Tony Award, the Emmy Award, the MacArthur Fellowship, and the Pulitzer Prize, professors from prominent universities like Yale, Harvard, Princeton, and Columbia, and journalists from New York, The New Yorker, and The Atlantic.
Sunday, July 13, 2025 Make a Joyful Noise: The Power of Music in Difficult Times
Ethnomusicologist and St. Bart's parishioner Margaret Farrell reflects on how music can lift spirits in difficult times. Please post your questions in the comments section on Facebook or YouTube, or email the Reverend Peter Thompson at
Upcoming Speakers at The Forum
July 13Make a Joyful Noise: The Power of Music in Difficult Times
Ethnomusicologist and St. Bart's parishioner Margaret Farrell reflects on how music can lift spirits in difficult times.
Watch or listen to The Forum from previous weeks below.
The Reverend Dr. Mihee Kim-Kort, co-pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Annapolis, Maryland and author of Outside the Lines: How Embracing Queerness will Transform Your Faith, reflects on how practices of reading and listening might open us up...
Dr. James Cone, the Medical Director of the World Trade Center Health Registry, shares insights from his work investigating the connections between 9/11 and physical and mental health.
Leaders from the Anglican Church in Ukraine and the Anglican Church in Poland join The Reverend Peter Thompson and The Reverend Zack Nyein virtually to discuss the ways in which they are responding to the ongoing war.
Patrick Bergquist, Chief Program Officer of Episcopal Charities and former staff member of St. Bart’s, returns to talk with The Reverend Zack Nyein about the ways in which the Episcopal Diocese of New York is currently supporting those in...
Wellville: The Long-Term Quest to Achieve Sustainable Equity and Wellbeing
Philanthropist and investor Esther Dyson, reflects on her work as founder/volunteer for Wellville, a 10-year, non-profit project that is helping five small US...
The Reverned Natosha Reid Rice joins in conversation about how we can foster prophetic imagination amidst a city that never sleeps. An ordained minister and lawyer who currently serves as Minister for Public Life at All Saints' Atlanta; and...
St. Bart’s parishioner and accessibility consultant Janina Sajka reflects on how the Church can become a more welcoming place for people with disabilities.
Hospital chaplain Zachary Fletcher shares new and liberative ways of understanding autism and neurodiversity, including through the lens of Christian spirituality. Please post your questions for our speaker in the comments section...
New York magazine senior writer Sarah Jones chronicles the transition some conservative Christians make from pro-life to pro-choice.
Jones has recently authored several relevant articles about moral approaches to abortion:
Anti-Abortion...