Southern Hills Church

06/01/2026

We’re just 34 days away from the start of Vacation Bible School, and we’d love for you to join us in preparing through prayer!
Each day in June (and leading into July), we’re focusing on a different aspect of VBS—from our volunteers and leaders to the children and families who will be part of this special week.
👉 Follow along with our VBS Prayer Calendar and take a few moments each day to lift it up in prayer.
Let’s come together and ask God to move in powerful ways through VBS this year! 💚

06/01/2026

2026 Graduate Sunday 🎓

05/31/2026

The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! John 1:29

Good morning! I love movies - mostly because I love a good story. I took my kids to see the movie, "The Sheep Detectives". It was a lot of fun, in part because the story is told from the perspective of a flock of sheep. In one scene, some sheep are walking through a churchyard and a young sheep asks an older sheep about a human church:

Lily: What is this?
Sebastian: This is the church, where someone named God lives.
Lily: Who's God?
Sebastian: It's a bit confusing, God is a shepherd.
Mopple: So he could be our shepherd?
Sebastian: No. Because he's also a lamb.
Lily: What?
Sebastian: And he's also invisible. And he's made of bread. And he damns things.
Lily: Dams things? Like a beaver?
Sebastian: Yes.
Lily: So God is a big invisible lamb beaver, made of... bread?
Sebastian: Yes. And they eat him on Sundays.
Mopple: Poor God.

The conversation may seem disrespectful, but it was funny in the context of sheep trying to understand what humans do on Sundays. It reminded me of conversations with kids, but also those who didn't grow up attending church and how many of the traditions that we take for granted can be confusing to someone who didn't grow up practicing them. In those moments, it's important to show patience and grace....and encourage more questions. You never know what conversations that God can use. God used some silly Hollywood storytelling to remind me of that. It also reminds me that our VBS! will be themed around Psalm 23 and God as our Good Shepherd! This is a great opportunity to invite families for a fun week of stories, songs and activities! Six weeks!

I hope you have a great week!

May the Lord bless you and keep you, mary

05/24/2026

Sunday May 24,2026

05/24/2026

Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to act. Proverbs 3:27

Good Morning! I can't believe how quickly this year is zooming by! It is Memorial Day weekend already. Eek!

We have lots of friends who are traveling this weekend. One family we know is visiting Washington D.C. for the first time, debating what to visit there with their kids and asked our advice. We have taken our kids to all kinds of museums, battlefields and memorials over the years, but none are as moving to me as Arlington National Cemetery. Perhaps it is odd to suggest to a family with young children to visit a cemetery, but it is not to be missed. There are all kinds of famous soldiers, diplomats and politicians buried there - but the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and the rituals surrounding that space remind visitors of the loss, honor and sacrifice inherent in serving our nation. The fallen there are honored with silence and ceremony overlooking all the other monuments and buildings of D.C. used to memorialize and remember. It is powerful and opens doors to important conversations - for both kids and adults - which is how those who have served are best remembered.

As we remember the fallen this weekend, I hope we can all take a moment to have important conversations about those who have served and the hope that we have in Christ. Please remember to pray for all those who have lost loved ones, those who continue to serve in the military and our leaders who are making decisions to send our soldiers into battle.

May the Lord bless you and keep you, mary

05/21/2026

05/17/2026

Worship

05/17/2026

"But the Lord stood at my side and gave me strength, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. And I was delivered from the lion’s mouth" 2 Timothy 4:17

The Women's Bible Study that meets at Southern Hills just finished a study on Paul in the last week and I have been thinking about this verse and Paul's situation as he wrote words like these.

I think it is easy to read, "I was delivered from the lion's mouth" and forget the cultural and political reality of believers at that time. People of faith that Paul undoubtedly knew and loved were literally being fed to lions as entertainment for the masses. Trying to avoid a violent political death from an oppressive empire was an every day reality for early believers....and Paul's situation in particular.

This study and the study on 1 Corinthians on Wednesday nights has helped me think about the letters to the churches in a new and personal way....in particular how easy it is to take the history of our faith...and the sacrifices that Paul and other early Christians made...for granted as we comfortably and leisurely read words like these, written under duress, from the comfort of our pews.

Studying the Bible in community - during Women's Bible study or Wednesday nights or any time we dig deep together - allows, "the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom". I encourage you to get into a group study at Southern Hills or any community of faith to share your wisdom and to gain wisdom from others as we under go our own modern struggles and remember the struggles of "all who have longed for his appearing". It's on my mind.

May the Lord bless you and keep you this week! mary

05/10/2026

Sunday, May 10 2026

05/10/2026

All the troops with Joab came and besieged Sheba in Abel Beth Maakah. They built a siege ramp up to the city, and it stood against the outer fortifications. While they were battering the wall to bring it down, a wise woman called from the city, “Listen! Listen! Tell Joab to come here so I can speak to him.” He went toward her, and she asked, “Are you Joab?”

“I am,” he answered.

She said, “Listen to what your servant has to say.”

“I’m listening,” he said.

She continued, “Long ago they used to say, ‘Get your answer at Abel,’ and that settled it. We are the peaceful and faithful in Israel. You are trying to destroy a city that is a mother in Israel. Why do you want to swallow up the Lord’s inheritance?”

2 Samuel 20:15-19

Good Morning! Happy Mother's Day to all those who have taken the time an energy to care for the vulnerable in your lives.

Perhaps it is easy to reduce motherhood in the Bible to the busy, productive mom in Proverbs 31, but the Bible gives us a vast history of women who used their strength, wisdom, courage, careers and proactive faith to change history: Shiphrah and Puah, Pharoah's Daughter, Miriam, Rahab, the wise woman of Abel-beth-maacah, the woman of Thebez, Mary Magdalene, the woman at the well, Abigail, Deborah, Phoebe, Dorcas, Priscilla....the list goes on and on. Medical practitioners, politically powerful, social outcasts, gifted leaders, dancers, musicians, negotiators, diplomats, soldiers, social workers, disciples, evangelists, sick women, business women, leaders in the church, judges, seamstresses...they are all there making a difference for their families and communities while serving God. I am so grateful for their stories and influence both then and now.

I am also grateful for the myriad of women whose stories are not written down, but who influence history by their calling and care every day....and how cool is it to have a holiday set aside to celebrate them. I hope you will take time this week to encourage and pray for the women in your life - mom or not - who make a difference.

May the Lord bless you and keep you, mary