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, […]

Whispers from the Side Door

Listen to Nichole Woo read this anonymous piece by clicking below.   She scuffs over sidewalks toward heavy high school doors, (always locked) with dauntless steps that prick my heart. One thing I know: Her feet will forever fall on roads in want of wear.1 Frost – he got to choose. But not my girl. […]

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 […]

Will We Weep?

One clings to a flagpole. The other wades in a cistern’s mire. She, a black activist in South Carolina. He, a Jewish prophet from Jerusalem. Bree Newsome Bass climbs thirty feet from the ground. Jeremiah wallows almost as many below it. To Grieve is to Anguish, over nations who turn from God to idols of […]

Troubled Waters

Have you heard the one about Sisyphus and his rock? Me either . . . “Who?” I queried my kids, as it surfaced between Minecraft lore and stupid memes. “The boulder guy,” answered one. “You didn’t learn that in school, either, mom?” followed the other, baffled by my “1900’s” deficiency. So I compensated with indulged […]

When We’re Empty

Editor’s Note: Today’s picture was captured by the remarkable writer, photographer, Mudroom alumna, and friend— Dorothy Greco. You can find more of Dorothy’s words and images at her website, dorothygreco.com.  *** Here in the wastelands of February, we brush up against brilliance. We behold winter’s splendor—as she blankets sleeping soil with trains of white and […]

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 […]

“We Are the Waiting”

Editor’s note: “Are We the Waiting” makes for fitting background music for this piece. Click here. I am listening to my new favorite Advent song. From Green Day. How’s that for antithesis? I won’t tell you which album as this teaser is already polarizing. I’ll admit: I’m not cool enough for the punk genre, because […]

Why I Quit Church

It’s been two years since I quit the table— and the pew; since I’ve pinched the broken piece of bread between my fingers and dipped it in the crimson cup. The body and blood of Jesus, given for me . . . and promptly declined. At first, it wasn’t on purpose. (There was a global […]

Why are you in the Queue?

Here in the queue, time stands still, like the rest of us— whispering of a million things to do but THIS. I ignore her taunts for the brush with greatness I’ll find at this line’s end. A man ahead of me presses for some Marlboros. The one after inches forward with a six-pack of microbrews. […]

What We Waive

Here, between the corners of this flat, concrete square— is the crushing weight of contradiction, everywhere: Cameras, hidden, in pedestrian plain sight. One guard pats me down at the fence with steely, cold precision— while a second scolds a tiny toddler squeezing through another. (The one that protects the towering monument above from an onslaught […]

The Unlived Life

You go there. I do too, sometimes. Here’s mine: I’m in a packed-out bar sitting at a table, elbow-to-elbow, with my closest friends. The burly man on stage does tap-“check-check” as he tiptoes around some electric guitars, an upright piano, maybe even a few drums, and then slips into the spotlight. “C’mon down!” he proclaims […]

Podcast: Through Thorns of Belonging

The walk on the narrow path towards belonging means scraping past a million thorny thickets. Writer and poet Prasanta Verma feels your pain. She meets us in The Mudroom after navigating the twists, turns, and pinpricks of belonging in ways few of us can imagine. Join us, today, for a way forward on the path […]

Under this Same Sun

It wasn’t cued to play today. It’s been years. But somehow between My Chemical Romance, Green Day, Imogen Heap, and all the other music encroaching the playlists of parents with teens, it surfaced: This fragment of life Lora gave me a lifetime ago. I listen to The Weepies, as the Steve Tannen from 16 years […]

Podcast: The Secret to a Life of Words

Writer Nicole Walters meets us in The Mudroom today to share some highlights of her journey of words. She elaborates on the absolute necessity for collegiality in her writing life and describes her strategy for theme writing.  References: The Bluest Eye by Toni  Morrison Nicole’s most recent Mudroom piece: “Grace in the Middle” http://mudroomblog.com/grace-in-the-middle/ Mudroom Podcast, Episode 5: Finding Grace […]