Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Embodied Faith

Home
Catholic
So This Is the Place Where I Say the Things

So This Is the Place Where I Say the Things

Last updated on: April 11, 2023 at 11:59 am by Colleen C. Mitchell

So This Is the Place Where I Say the Things 2023-04-11T11:59:08-04:00 Colleen C. Mitchell

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Hi! Welcome to “Embodied Faith”. I’m Colleen. I’ve been a writer and blogger for about eleven years now, and I’m an ever-evolving one.

Here’s a brief time line of my blogging life:

2007: Have all the kids. Write about it.

2008: Homeschool all the kids. Write about it.

2009: Bury a baby. Survive a broken heart. Write about it.

2010: Realize you are forever different and your heart keeps breaking. Don’t write that much.

2012: Found a nonprofit and move to Costa Rica. Fight through sketchy internet to write about it some,

2014: Move, get better internet, and have a heart full of things to say. Start saying the things again.

2015: Write a book. Say more things.

2016: Have a nervous breakdown. Write another book. Don’t say that many things.

2017: Move back to the US, go back to work full time, watch life look different in all the ways. Don’t write much.

2018: Find my footing. Find my voice. Realize I care way too much to be silent. Start writing the things again.

Why “Embodied Faith”?

I chose to name this new space “Embodied Faith” because it encompasses everything about what I believe is important and hope to address here. We are incarnate beings living inside bodies in a world with other incarnate beings living inside bodies called into existence by a God who chose to live inside a body then established a community for us to live in that he called His Body. I am part of a church that feeds me with the Body of my Savior and calls me to feed the hungry in my midst.

From everything I can see, my God and my Church are telling me that faith is a tangible existence lived inside the flesh and experienced corporally and corporately. We live and breathe and have our being inside our bodies. We form one Body with our fellow humans. And we worship as a body of believers. If my faith is to be strong enough to bring the Kingdom of heaven down to meet us where we are, I’ve got to build up the bones of that body with spiritual strength and put muscle to that body with active work.

What Will I Write About?

Good question. I won’t write about my kids. Except when I do. I won’t write about my personal life. Except when I do. I won’t write about political issues. Except when I do. I won’t write about my struggles and doubts and pains. Except when I do. I won’t rant about things. Except when I do. I won’t say things that make you go “hmmmm?”. Except when I do. So, yeah, let’s all just hold on tight and see what happens, because, for real, God only knows.

You can be guaranteed these things will come up: being a woman in the world and the Church, mental health, social justice, grief and loss, prayer and confusion and the great majestic mystery of God, being in a body in a Body.

What Matters to Me Right Now?

The immigrant crisis
Mental health and how we talk about it
The role of women in the Church
Creating spaces of refuge in our lives for the hurting
The power of stories to be the Good News that changes the world

So expect to see those themes come up for the next few weeks. I do hope you’ll join my journey and evolve with me in this space. Because we all want to be a little more human and little less ape-ish, do we not?

Thanks to my friends at Patheos for having me and giving me an empty lot on which to build a new internet home. Framing is up. Watch it all come together with me.

Come hang out with me?

On Instagram preferably. But there’s also Facebook and Twitter if you prefer. If you’re the emailing type, don’t forget to subscribe for posts straight to your inbox.

Previous Post

June 30, 2018

The One Thing We Can All Do Today

Next Post

June 20, 2018 Keep Your Easy Button

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Christian Living Social Justice Writing

Select a Month June 2018

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who was king when Daniel was thrown into the lions' den?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Nebuchadnezzar Darius Belshazzar Cyrus