Life at the Hills
A week shaped by Scripture, hospitality, and service.
The day begins at the bell and ends at the bell. The week begins on Sunday, ends on Saturday in preparation. The year is held by the church calendar — Easter, Advent, harvest, mission report. Below is what an ordinary stretch of life actually looks like.
Daily
Sunrise bell. Morning prayer. The day's work and study. The Greeter at every door, the Prophet on every nightstand reading Scripture aloud. Sunset bell. Evening prayer at the Pillar.
Weekly
Sunday worship and shared meal. Tuesday teaching nights (open). Wednesday prayer. Thirsty Thursdays (open). Feed-the-Homeless Fridays. Saturday preparation. Sabbath posture.
Annual
Spring Easter festival. Fall harvest day. Advent candle-lighting. Late-winter Mission Report Sunday. Weddings, funerals, baptisms — and quiet hours when they are needed.
Daily
| Time | What happens |
|---|---|
| Sunrise | Morning bell. The day named. |
| ~7:00am | Optional morning prayer at the Chapel — about ten minutes, read from the Book of Common Prayer or a similar traditional liturgy. Open to any tradition. |
| All day | Households at work and study. The Greeter at every door. The Prophet on every nightstand reading Scripture aloud each morning. |
| Sunset | Evening bell. |
| After sunset | Evening prayer at the Pillar — about fifteen minutes, a Scripture reading, a hymn or psalm sung together. |
Weekly
| Day | Posture |
|---|---|
| Sunday | Community worship in the morning. Residents are also free to attend their own churches; many will. Shared afternoon meal. Sabbath posture across the whole community. |
| Monday | Work day. Gardens tended. Maintenance done. The community's own labor on its own place. |
| Tuesday | Teaching night — rotating series on Scripture, theology, Christian history, practical discipleship. Open to visitors. |
| Wednesday | Prayer meeting at the Chapel. |
| Thursday | Thirsty Thursday. Communal Scripture reading and water. Open to visitors. See below. |
| Friday | Feed-the-Homeless Friday. The community travels to a nearby town and serves a meal. See below. |
| Saturday | Preparation day. Homes cleaned, food cooked for Sunday, sabbath readiness. |
Annually
| Season | Mark |
|---|---|
| Spring | A festival around Easter. |
| Fall | A harvest day tied to the garden. |
| Advent | An Advent candle-lighting series across the community. |
| Late winter | Mission Report Sunday — the residents see exactly where the year's product revenue has gone, by name and by number. |
Thursday evenings
Thirsty Thursdays
Every Thursday evening, the community gathers — residents, and anyone who wants to come. A passage of Scripture is read aloud. Questions are welcome. Water is served, and the conversation moves at the pace of a table, not a stage.
The name is a double handle: literal water as hospitality (a cup of cold water in Christ's name), and living water as the point (John 4, John 7). Visitors from the surrounding towns are genuinely welcomed. The evening is advertised locally. Anyone who comes hungry gets fed; anyone who comes thirsty gets water and, if they want it, the gospel.
Friday afternoons
Feed-the-Homeless Fridays
Every Friday, a team from the community travels to a nearby town and serves a meal to people experiencing homelessness. Food comes from the garden in season; from donations otherwise. The team varies week to week so that every resident who is able participates regularly.
The meal is served with dignity. Residents sit with guests and eat with them when welcomed. Names are learned. Relationships build over months and years. Where appropriate — and only where appropriate — the gospel is offered in conversation, not at the guests.
What an ordinary morning looks like
The Lamp on the windowsill changes its verse before the household is awake. Coffee. The leather Bible open on the wooden table. The small device on the shelf reads aloud a passage from John, then is quiet. The morning bell rings outside. The day named, the day given.
None of it is a performance. None of it is for show. It is the way of living we were invited into, kept by repetition, kept by the bell.