Episode 4 - ​ Coffee Hour to go! Live from Camp Washington at the Renewal of Vows & Blessing of Holy Oils 

Today’s episode took place at Camp Washington, a summer camp and year-round conference center that is part of ECCT, located in the northwest hills of Connecticut : “Coffee Hour To Go.” We listened in on some  spiritual meditations, and a Eucharist, on Tuesday in Holy Week, and recorded the teachings and the sermon. 

Every year, the bishops, priests, and deacons come together on Tuesday in Holy Week (the week leading up to Easter Day) for rest, renewal, and retreat; to renew their ordination vows; and to replenish the oil in the small vials they use during the year for spiritual anointing. 

Leading this year’s meditations were Mark and Lisa Kudolowski, wilderness guides and retreat leaders, who had led the 40-day pilgrimage down the Connecticut River last year.  Bishop Douglas was one of the participants in that pilgrimage.

Mark is an oblate of Saint Benedict, a wilderness guide, and a retreat leader. His work focuses on recovering the Christian contemplative tradition and on the role of nature as a path of deeper union with God. Lisa is a professional  baker who started the artisan bakery LeFevre Bakery, and wilderness guide. She has worked in campus ministry and directed a community house for spiritual discipleship. "Metanoia of Vermont" is the name they gave their ongoing work and programs and state that their mission is "to support all people to know and enter into Divine Life, bringing body, mind, and spirit into Union with God.”

We began with conversation with ECCT’s bishops: Bishop Laura Ahrens talked about what the renewal of ordination vows means to her, and Bishop Ian Douglas shared why he invited Mark and Lisa to lead these meditations. 

Mark and Lisa gave two presentations, each leading to an outdoor spiritual practice.  Each presentation began with silence, scripture, song, and a reading, followed by the teaching, then more detailed instructions for the practice. Most everyone went outside afterwards, keeping a holy silence. We recorded the teaching portion of the two presentations. 

The first one was called “Awakening to Life” and the practice was called, “Coming to our Senses.” It was about bringing your senses to the natural world: coming out of your head, coming out of abstractions, leaving all the worries about the future and the past, and instead, using all five of your senses to experience the outdoors. 

The second was called “Dying without End.” The practice was called “The Passion of Creation.” This time people went outside to find something that’s in the process of dying. There were four steps: looking at it empirically with their senses, looking at its connections, considering it as a metaphor, and finally, just being present with it — and maybe even having a conversation with it. If they’d chosen to observe a smaller item, which was portable, Lisa invited the clergy to bring it back with them to place on the altar.

At the Chrism Mass, where clergy renewed their vows and received Holy Oil for the next year, Mark and Lisa gave the sermon. It was about the call to come and die, and about dying into life without end. ​