Archives for January 2026

Imagine a visit to The Kilns in Oxford, England. It is the former home of C.S. Lewis, his brother Warnie, and for a too-short three-year marriage, the home of Joy Davidman, Mrs. C.S. Lewis. Across the hall from the Dining Room was the Common Room, a book-lined room with easy chairs, a writing desk, and a fireplace. If the walls could talk, they could relate many conversations about religion, news, and their creative work.

We have set aside a similar space for you at the Hideaway, albeit minus the smoky haze. The Common Room will be available around the clock for conversations, conviviality, and creativity.  Bring a handicraft from home or take advantage of a clay handicraft that will be there for you.  It will be a cozy atmosphere, replete with tea and chocolate. Hope to see you there!

I’ve been contemplating the idea of retreat as a form of vigil-keeping: a set-aside time characterized by withdrawal from routine and assuming a posture of watchfulness. It’s the calm before a new weather front moves in; the intake of a breath; the return at the end of a typed line; an opening up of a space for something new to enter.

The word vigil comes from Latin vigilia and means “awake.” It is attention. Attention paves the way for new ideas to take root.

As I was reading Robert Elsmere, in preparation for a talk, I came across this passage of a rather unusual vigil:

Rose’s gowns were legion. They were manufactured by a farmer’s daughter across the valley, under her strict and precise supervision. She was accustomed, as she boldly avowed, to shut herself up at the beginning of each season of the year for two days’ meditation on the subject. And now, thanks to the spring warmth, she was entering at last with infinite zest on the results of her April vigils.

At CMER 2026, we invite you to set aside the retreat time as a time of watchful attention and readiness to receive a word the Lord may have in store for you. Or, a new direction to take or a new idea to take form. We pack our time together with many options for you to choose from, but you don’t have to attend them all. Allow space for attentive wakefulness.