Whether you’re quietly deconstructing, peeling off layers of Christian subculture, or walking alongside someone who is . . . Catherine McNiel sees you. Lean in for Nichole Woo’s conversation with Catherine on faith, doubt, and deconstruction—and how maybe they aren’t mutually exclusive after all. Click below to listen on Spotify or find it here on […]
Community
The Way Out of the Soul’s SOS
“Merry Christmas!” She stood at my dorm room door with a gift in her hand. It was an unexpected surprise and delight. My friend wanted me to open it right at that moment. I tore off the wrapping paper and there was a book. It was a book about loneliness. She looked at me, curiously […]
The Growing Uncomfortable Edge
I am untethered, unmoored, unrecognizable to myself. My husband passed away in a hiking accident, and life is altered on every level. I feel disoriented, trying to make sense of my disassembled life—like lying on the couch and watching TV sideways. Everything has changed, and my brain has yet to catch up to it all. […]
Faith Over Fear?
The church my husband and I were attending closed its doors at the beginning of the pandemic in 2020 and had done an admirable job of reaching out to congregants through a quick pivot to online technology for services and prayer meetings, phone calls from staff and leaders to check on members, and packets of […]
A Lost Heart Finds Home
I’m a very sensitive person, indeed, I’ve often been told I am too sensitive, over sensitive. That I feel things too deeply. I don’t believe that’s true or even makes sense. I am empathic and I see this as a good thing, even though it can be very painful. I can imagine how another person […]
Welcome to the Invisible Church
Listen to Nichole read her piece by clicking below: “The best church conversations,” she messaged, “happen in the halls—while the sermon’s going on.” I smiled as this surfaced in a text thread with Sarah Guerrero (watch for her piece later this month). She’s not wrong. This isn’t to discount the “goings on” inside. Worship leaders, […]
A Creed
Click below to hear Rebecca read her piece. We Believe in God the Father, Almighty Creator of Heaven and Earth – We jumped in feet first – followed quickly by heart and head – 15 years ago now – and said yes to a church plant. We said yes to building community around a […]
Lost Girl
I can’t smell it, as a pack of coyotes do when they corner trembling prey. But I can always see fear. It swept across her face like a time-lapsed eclipse: First, panic in those tiny, azure eyes. Then the floodgates burst forth. Tears barreled down her cheekbones and mingled with stray, blond hairs that matted […]
Announcing our Fall Themes!!
We need your voices! This September, The Mudroom is launching a four-month series titled “Lost & Found: Stories of Belonging in a Bruised and Broken Body.” We desire to amplify the stories of those who’ve ever felt unseen, untethered, or set adrift from the Church—and those who have found or are finding, their way back. […]
Generational Divide
Recently, I had the opportunity to attend a teaching conference during which I attended a session specifically geared toward identifying and breaking down generational barriers. Many educators in the room could share the same story – frustrated by colleagues of various other generations who had different modes of teaching and learning, who could access teaching […]
Something Big and Real Inside
I set up my kids’ nursery with Winnie the Pooh décor. It wasn’t much, really—just a comforter and crib bumper. I used the same set in the crib and linens with all of my children. In later years, I read the stories of Winnie the Pooh and Christopher Robin aloud to my kids. Despite the […]
Birds and Branches
A Reflection on Being a Visitor About 8 years ago I attended a regional Catholic Worker gathering for families like mine: people of faith who operated houses of hospitality. I lamented to the other leaders that our first resident volunteer had prematurely announced her departure the week before, leaving the co-founder and me to lead […]
A Look at the Last EIGHT Years!
Happy Birthday, Mudroom! Today marks the 8th birthday of The Mudroom, which came into being in my mind in 2014. I was part of the now-defunct Influence Network, founded by Zondervan authors Jess Connolly and Hayley Morgan, who believed in my vision and sponsored our domain the first year. I wanted it to be a […]
For the Heavy Lifters
Dear You, Crouched in that corner of the closet you’ve made your own, so you can steal one more moment before you have to hold up half of the sky again . . . Before you flip the nebulizer’s switch and pray your lungs cooperate this time—so you can tuck your boys in tonight. Before […]
The Rest of the Time
Some mornings I wake up and I don’t feel tired. My hair isn’t frizzy and I had the forethought to iron my shirt the night before. I exercise. I pack a healthy lunch. I read a devotional. I drive the speed limit. But, the rest of the time…. I skip a few or all of […]
The Starting Line: The Journey Begins
The South African word ubuntu loosely translates, “I am because we are,” and highlights how our lives are deeply intertwined and impacted by one another. Without ubuntu, individualism, possessiveness, and self-centeredness are the order of the day. We need support from others, especially as we grapple with issues around race, equity, belonging, reconciliation, and revolution. […]
Episode 10: When We Listen to Our Longings
Sarah Guerrero’s Journey Through Feasting The religion that I had grown up with was a religion of rules and do’s and don’ts. These are the steps you take to be a good person; this is what you do to show that you love Jesus; this is what you don’t do to show that you don’t […]
The Feast of Friendship
I know it’s coming, but I’m not prepared. Fill in the blank with “it.” It could be dinnertime each day. I’m not prepared to answer the daily question, “What’s for dinner?” “It” could be the next difficult season up ahead, or it could the wildest season of joy. Why do I assume it will […]