Oaks Parish

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Stagione 4

Sermon: Resisting Freedom (March 1, 2026)

Scripture Text: Exodus 8 and Matthew 13:1-23 Andy Tobin Quotes for Reflection Dan Doriani The parable of the sower continues to declare that many hear the Word and fail to respond to it. Surely most Israelites considered themselves faithful, but most were not. So too, the vast majority of Matthew’s readers believe, often erroneously, that God numbers them among his people. Yet if they hear the Word, disobey, and bear no fruit, they are not redeemed. Jay Sklar In sum the signs make clear that Israel—and the entire world—is to obey Yahweh reverently because of his power, confidently because of his faithfulness, and joyfully because of his love. . . . In light of this we do well to ask questions such as these: How might obedience show my belief in Jesus’ power? Are there commands of his I consider too hard to obey or steps of faith I am too afraid to take? What might obedience look like instead? And how might obedience show my belief in Jesus’ faithfulness and love? How can his faithfulness encourage me to obey boldly and to quiet my heart’s fears? How can his love serve as a bedrock of assurance out of which I am free to live with wild abandon to him, knowing he will never let me go? To know the Lord is the most grounding and freeing way to live, because we have been created to do these very things. Augustine of Hippo Great are You, O Lord, and greatly to be praised; great is Your power, and of Your wisdom there is no end. And man, being a part of Your creation, desires to praise You — man, who bears about with him his mortality, the witness of his sin, even the witness that You “resist the proud,” — yet man, this part of Your creation, desires to praise You. You move us to delight in praising You; for You have made us for Yourself, and our hearts are restless until they rest in You. Application Questions 1. Think of a time when you were hard-hearted. How did God lead you to repentance? 2. How have you seen the gospel bear fruit in your life recently? Thank God for his grace in your life. 3. In what area of your life is God calling you to experience the freedom of repentance? What does the fruit of the Gospel look like in that area.

Sermon: The God Who Hears the Cry (February 22, 2026)

Scripture Text: Exodus 2 and Matthew 9:1-17 Bryan Buck Quotes for Reflection C.S. Lewis, The Slip of the Tongue I say my prayers, I read a book of devotion, I prepare for, or receive, the Sacrament. But while I do these things, there is, so to speak, a voice inside me that urges caution. It tells me to be careful, to keep my head, not to go too far, not to burn my boats. I come into the presence of God with a great fear lest anything should happen to me within that presence which will prove too intolerably inconvenient when I have come out again into my “ordinary” life. I don’t want to be carried away into any resolution which I shall afterwards regret. For I know I shall be feeling quite different after breakfast; I don’t want anything to happen to me at the altar which will run up too big a bill to pay then. N.T. Wright, Matthew for Everyone So how could Jesus and his friends not celebrate? They were in the middle of God’s new work, an outpouring of mercy which was already upstaging the Temple itself. As the prophet Hosea (6.6) had seen long ago, what God really wants is mercy, not sacrifice. The times were indeed changing. God’s new world was being born, and from now on everything would be different. The question for us is whether we are living in that new world ourselves, or whether we keep sneaking back to the old one where we feel more at home. Thornton Wilder, The Angel that Troubles the Waters Without your wound where would your power be? It is your very remorse that makes your low voice tremble into the hearts of men. The very angels themselves cannot persuade the wretched and blundering children on earth as can one human being broken on the wheels of living. In love’s service only the wounded soldiers can serve. Application Questions 1. Where do you see self-righteousness shaping the way people relate to one another today? What fruit does it produce—in our communities, our churches, even in ourselves? 2. Can you identify a moment when God exposed self-righteousness in your own heart? How did He humble you and what grace did He give you in its place? 3. If you were living more fully from mercy rather than self-righteousness, who might you move toward this week and what would that love look like?

Sermon: Living the Liturgical Year (February 15, 2026)

Scripture Text: Deuteronomy 16:1-17 and Ecclesiastes 3:1-11 Bryan Buck Quotes for Reflection Wendell Berry, “Damage” Novelty is a new kind of loneliness. Joan D. Chittister, The Liturgical Year Like a great waterwheel, the liturgical year goes on relentlessly irrigating our souls, softening the ground of our hearts, nourishing the soil of our lives until the seed of the Word of God itself begins to grow in us, comes to fruit in us, ripens in us the spiritual journey of a lifetime. So goes the liturgical year through all the days of our lives. The meaning and message of the liturgical year is the bedrock on which we strike our own life's direction. Rooted in the Resurrection promise of the liturgical year, whatever the weight of our own pressures, we maintain the course. We trust in the future we cannot see and do only know because we have celebrated the death and resurrection of Jesus year after year. In His life we rest our own. James K.A. Smith, How to Inhabit Time Time’s relativity and the now’s porosity is lived out liturgically in the church’s worship. To be constituted as such a peculiar people requires a strange sort of synchronization of time. Like operatives launching a mission in a spy thriller, coordinating their watches so they’re all on the same time, the people of God synchronize their soul clocks in relation to the story that cycles and repeats in the liturgical calendar. In the liturgical calendar, we are indexed to the solar time of the Son who is the light of the city of God (Rev 21:23) Application Questions 1. What is your favorite time of the year? Is there a core memory that marked this time in an embodied way? What does this say about the connection between practice and time? 2. Why is kairos-time so important for chronos-time? Think of an example of how this would play out in your life this week. 3. The season of Lent is marked by prayer, fasting, confession, reconciliation, and generosity. How can this mindset change your outlook on daily life over the next 40 days? How can God’s time cause you to flourish in a particular way in this season?

Sermon: A Dwelling Place for Glory (February 8, 2026)

Scripture Text: Exodus 25:1-9, 31-40 and 1 Kings 6:11-13 Bryan Buck Quotes for Reflection Peter Marshall Mason, A Biblical Theology of Architecture? The church is not at all like a garage; it is more like a richly furnished home into which we may gladly invite our friends and neighbors. C.S. Lewis, Miracles The archaic type of thought which could not clearly distinguish spiritual ‘Heaven’ from the sky, is from our point of view a confused type of thought. But it also resembles and anticipates a type of thought which will one day be true. That archaic sort of thinking will become simply the correct sort when Nature and Spirit are fully harmonized. Phillip Graham Ryken, Exodus God is a great lover of beauty, as we can see from the collection of his work that hangs in the gallery of the universe. Form is as important to him as function. Thus it was not enough for the tabernacle to be laid out in the right way; it also had to be beautiful. There was beauty in the color of its fabrics, the sparkle of its gems, the shape of its objects, and the symmetry of its proportions. The tabernacle was a thing of beauty. God made sure of this by taking the unprecedented step of endowing its artists with the gift of his Spirit. Application Questions 1. Have you ever worshiped in a space whose architecture deepened your sense of God’s presence? What stood out to you? 2. Why do beauty and utility often feel in tension in church spaces? How might Oaks faithfully hold both together? 3. What elements of our sanctuary help draw your attention toward God in worship?

Sermon: Sacramental Mystery (February 1, 2026)

Scripture Text: Titus 3:3-8 and 1 Corinthians 10:14-22 Bryan Buck Quotes for Reflection Mother Maria Skobtsova, The Second Gospel Commandment Does he not see in our ugliness, in our impoverished lives, in our festering sores, in our crippled souls-does He not see there His own divine image and a reflection of his eternal glory and eternal beauty? And so He will return to the churches and bring all those whom He has summoned to the wedding feast. The Westminster Confession of Faith, chapter 27 “Of the Sacraments” Sacraments are holy signs and seals of the covenant of grace, immediately instituted by God, to represent Christ, and his benefits; and to confirm our interest in him: as also, to put a visible difference between those that belong unto the church, and the rest of the world; and solemnly to engage them to the service of God in Christ, according to the Word. C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory In speaking of this desire for our own far-off country, which we find in ourselves even now, I feel a certain shyness. I am almost committing an indecency. I am trying to rip open the inconsolable secret in each one of you-the secret which hurts so much that you take your revenge on it by calling it names like Nostalgia and Romanticism and Adolescence; the secret also which pierces with such sweetness that when, in very intimate conversation, the mention of it becomes imminent, we grow awkward and affect to laugh at ourselves; the secret we cannot hide and cannot tell, though we desire to do both....The books or the music in which we thought the beauty was located will betray us if we trust to them;.... they are not the thing itself; they are only the scent of a flower we have not found, the echo of a tune we have not heard, news from a country we have never yet visited. Do you think I am trying to weave a spell? Perhaps I am; but remember your fairy tales. Spells are used for breaking enchantments as well as for inducing them. And you and I have need of the strongest spell that can be found to wake us from the evil enchantment of worldliness which has been laid upon us. Application Questions 1. When have you dedicated yourself to a course of action that, at first didn't seem to have an impact, but imperceptibly changed you over time? What was that experience like and what was the result? Share with others or journal the details. 2. What questions arise for you regarding baptism and the Lord’s Supper? What clarity comes from the Scriptures? Discuss this with people in your Parish Community to gain further insight. 3. How have you experienced God's presence with you during baptism and the Lord's Supper? Share how that has impacted you in small or even large ways in your faith journey.

Sermon: The Work of the People (January 25, 2026)

Scripture Text: 1 Peter 2:4-10 and Hebrews 10:19-25 Bryan Buck Quotes for Reflection Tish Harrison Warren, Liturgy of the Ordinary I need rituals that encourage me to embrace what is repetitive, ancient, and quiet. But what I crave is novelty and stimulation. James K.A. Smith, Desiring the Kingdom Being a disciple of Jesus is not primarily a matter of getting the right ideas and doctrines and beliefs into your head in order to guarantee proper behavior; rather, it's a matter of being the kind of person who loves rightly--who loves God and neighbor and is oriented to the world by the primacy of that love. We are made to be such people by our immersion in the material practices of Christian worship--through affective impact, over time, of sights and smell in water and wine N.T. Wright, Hebrews for Everyone Faith isn’t something you can just drum up like that by your own efforts. It’s what comes when you are looking hard at the object of faith, namely Jesus – or, if you like, God seen in the light of, and in the face of, Jesus. The whole letter has been about Jesus, and about who we are as a result of who he is and what he’s done. Thinking that through, and holding firmly on to it, produces the complete assurance Hebrews is talking about. Application Questions 1. What do you notice about the difference between cognitive and embodied learning? 2. Liturgy is defined as “the work of the people.” How do you paradoxically experience God’s grace while doing this “work.” 3. Why would Peter say that we are chosen to proclaim the excellencies of God? How does this aim change your relationship to God this week?

Sermon: The Shape Of Our Loves (January 18, 2026)

Scripture Text: Psalm 115 and Romans 12:1-2 Bryan Buck Quotes for Reflection James K.A. Smith, You Are What You Love The heart is the existential chamber of our love, and it is our loves that orient us toward some ultimate end or telos. It’s not just that I “know” some end or “believe” in some telos. More than that, I long for some end. I want something, and want it ultimately. It is my desires that define me. In short, you are what you love. William James, Psychology: The Briefer Course All our life, so far as it has definite form, is but a mass of habits - practical, emotional, and intellectual - systematically organized for our weal or woe, and bearing us irresistibly toward our destiny, whatever the latter may be. Martin Lloyd Jones, Authentic Christianity A man's god is that for which he lives, for which he is prepared to give his time, his energy, his money, that which stimulates him and rouses him, excites, and enthuses him. The Songs of Jesus, Timothy & Kathy Keller Idols are usually good things turned into ultimate things because we look to them to give us the significance and security that can come only from God. How can we “put away” our idols? Whenever you see your heart in the grip of some kind of temptation, anxiety, or fit of anger, ask: How are my feelings being caused by an inordinate hope for something to give me what only Jesus can? How does Christ give me so much more fully and graciously and suitably the very things I am looking for elsewhere? Application Questions 1. Reflect on a personal passion in your life. How has this affection practically shaped your life for good or ill and what does this dynamic reveal? 2. Identify a love at work in your heart that rivals God. When you deconstruct the habit that supports this love what insight to you gain for its transformation? 3. Why is liturgy so good for keeping us in an abiding relationship with God?

Sermon: Created to Behold (January 11, 2026)

Scripture Text: Genesis 1:1 - 2:3 Bryan Buck Quotes for Reflection Makoto Fujimura, Art and Faith: A Theology of Making God the Artist communicates to us first, before God the lecturer. Gordon J. Wenham, Sanctuary Symbolism in the Garden of Eden Story The garden of Eden is not viewed by the author of Genesis simply as a piece of Mesopotamian farmland, but as an archetypal sanctuary, that is a place where God dwells and where man should worship him. Many of the features of the garden may also be found in later sanctuaries particularly the tabernacle or Jerusalem temple. These parallels suggest that the garden itself is understood as a sort of sanctuary. Elisa Yukiko Weichbrodt, Redeeming Vision: A Christian Guide to Looking At and Learning from Art The Bible begins with God making a place, the garden of Eden, and it ends with a description of him restoring creation as the new heavens and the new earth. The creation mandate, God’s command to humankind in Genesis 1:28, is to “be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it.” The fall, however, breaks Adam and Eve’s relationship not just with God but with their own selves, each other, and the created world. The rest of the Old Testament is the story of a people looking for a “place.” They are displaced as slaves in Egypt and then wander in the wilderness. They gain and then lose their place in the promised land. Jesus, though, shows us that God’s good news is neither a single plot of land nor disembodied salvation for individual souls. In the incarnation, Christ affirms the importance of the particular. Application Questions 1. What sort of beauty strikes and transforms you? Why does this particular type of beauty have this effect? 2. Fujimura writes, “God the Artist communicates to us first, before God the lecturer.” How does that influence your view of faith? 3. If the sanctuary is designed for beholding, how does that change your view of worship in the church?

Sermon: A Weary World Made New (January 4, 2026)

Scripture Text: Matthew 11:25-30 Bryan Buck

Sermon: The Living Word (December 28, 2025)

Scripture Text: Psalm 119:25-32 and Hebrews 4:12-13 Pat Roach

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