Oaks Parish

Scripture Text: Galatians 2:1-10

Bryan Buck

Quotes for Reflection

Teresa of Ávila, Interior Castle

We must strip ourselves naked and cultivate detachment from things of the world. Abandon yourselves only under the condition that you harbor no illusions about the beloved being under some obligation to repay you for your sacrifice with divine favors.

Tim Keller, Galatians for You

We obey not in the fear and insecurity of hoping to earn our salvation, but in the freedom and security of knowing we are already saved i...

Scripture Text: Galatians 2:1-10

Bryan Buck

Quotes for Reflection

Teresa of Ávila, Interior Castle

We must strip ourselves naked and cultivate detachment from things of the world. Abandon yourselves only under the condition that you harbor no illusions about the beloved being under some obligation to repay you for your sacrifice with divine favors.

Tim Keller, Galatians for You

We obey not in the fear and insecurity of hoping to earn our salvation, but in the freedom and security of knowing we are already saved i...

The Oaks Parish Podcast

Bryan Buck & Martha Van Houten

with Special Guest: Hannah Oosterhout

Questions or comments about this podcast episode? Click here to email us!

Scripture Text: Galatians 1:10-24

Andy Tobin

Quotes for Reflection

Charles Simeon, Horae Homileticae: Galatians-Ephesians I would most gladly, if it were in my power, please all who are connected with me: but if they reduce me to the dilemma of either displeasing them or God, they must excuse me: for “I must obey God rather than man.” The persons who are offended with me, would expect their servant to obey them rather than a stranger: and is not God entitled to that deference from me? I am “a servant of Jesus Christ...

The Oaks Parish Podcast

Bryan Buck and Martha Van Houten

Questions or comments about this podcast episode? Click here to email us!

Scripture Text: Galatians 1:1-9

Bryan Buck

Quotes for Reflection

Tim Keller, Galatians for You

This is the humbling truth that lies at the heart of Christianity. We love to be our own saviors. Our hearts love to manufacture glory for themselves. So we find messages of self-salvation extremely attractive, whether they are religious (Keep these rules and you earn eternal blessing) or secular (Grab hold of these things and you’ll experience blessing now). The gospel comes and turns them all upside down. It says: You are in such a...

The Oaks Parish Podcast

Bryan Buck & Martha Van Houten

Questions or comments about this podcast episode? Click here to email us!

Scripture Text: Romans 5:1-5

Bryan Buck

Quotes for Reflection

C.S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain

Everyone has noticed how hard it is to turn our thoughts to God when everything is going well with us. We ‘have all we want’ is a terrible saying when ‘all’ does not include God. We find God an interruption. As St Augustine says somewhere, ‘God wants to give us something, but cannot, because our hands are full—there’s nowhere for Him to put it.’ Or as a friend of mine said, ‘We regard God as a...

The Oaks Parish Podcast

Bryan Buck and Martha Van Houten

Questions or comments about this podcast episode? Click here to email us!

Quotes for Reflection

Amy Peeler, Ordinary Time

Jesus’ life would have included many ordinary days, days in which he was simply walking from one place to another. His human experience was no less redemptive on those days than on the ones that eh did or said something the inspired evangelist chose to record. In fact, for his work on those memorable days to be fully redemptive, it had to be interspersed with these ordinary days, because such is experience of being truly and fully human. If Mary asked him at the end of many days of...

The Oaks Parish Podcast

Bryan Buck and Martha Van Houten

Questions or comments about this podcast episode? Click here to email us!

Scripture Text: Luke 10:38-42

Matt Jolley

Quotes for Reflection

F. Scott Spencer, Luke

[Jesus'] double “Martha, Martha” reflects sensitivity, not hostility (she and sister Mary are the only women Luke’s Jesus calls by name). He then conveys his loving concern by exposing the emotional roots of her ministerial angst. He never rebukes her [ministerial] action (how could he, since service constitutes the core of his own work?), but instead gently chides her attitude of excessive worry or anxiety and “inner turmoil” over getting everything done (Luke 10:41).

Earlier, J...

The Oaks Parish Podcast

Martha Van Houten with Special Guest Andy Jeffrey

Questions or comments about this podcast episode? Click here to email us!

Scripture Text: Jeremiah 29:1-14

Bryan Buck

Quotes for Reflection

Péter Nádas, A Careful Definition of Place

Ever since I have lived near this gigantic wild pear tree, I have not needed to go yonder when I want to look into the distance or back in time…On warm summer nights, quiet singing can be heard from under the wild pear. The villagers san quietly. The probably did not want to behave inappropriately and disturb the night.

Simone Weil, The Need for Roots

To be r...

Questions or comments about this podcast episode? Click here to email us!

Scripture Text: 1 Samuel 18:1–4; 20:35–42

Bryan Buck

Quotes for Reflection

Angela Duckworth, “I Study Successful People. They Have One Habit in Common”. The New York Times 08.28.26

You might think I’d love the image of the solo striver triumphing over every challenge. After all, I’m a psychologist who wrote a book called “Grit” about the necessity of passion and perseverance for achieving long-term goals. The truth is, I hate it. Without exception, every high performer I’ve studied credits a host of supporters for success. Research has found that a willingness to ask...

The Oaks Parish Podcast

Bryan Buck and Martha Van Houten

Questions or comments about this podcast episode? Click here to email us!

Scripture Text: Psalm 1

Bryan Buck

Quotes for Reflection

Byung-Chul Han, The Disappearance of Rituals

Rituals stabilize life. To paraphrase Antoine Saint Exupéry, we may say: rituals are in life what things are in space…They ‘have the function of stabilizing human life.’ Their ‘objectivity lies in the fact that…men, their ever-changing nature notwithstanding, can retrieve their sameness, that is, their identity, by being related to the same chair the same table.’ In life, serve as stabilizing resting points. Rituals serve the same purpose. Through their self-sameness, their repetitivenes...

Scripture Text: Psalm 129

Bryan Buck

Quotes for Reflection

George Herbert, The Sacrifice

With clubs and staves they seek me, as a thief,

Who am the Way and Truth, the true relief;

Most true to those, who are my greatest grief:

Was ever grief like mine?

Steven Lawson, The Holman Old Testament Commentary

In the face of defeat, God gave them the victory. In fact, such God-given victory marked the entire history of his people, Israel. God's people...

Scripture Text: Psalm 123

Bryan Buck

Quotes for Reflection

Paul Goodman, Little Prayers and Finite Experience

Patience is drawing on underlying forces; it is powerfully positive, though to a natural view it looks like just sitting it out. How would I persist against positive eroding forces if I were not drawing on invisible forces? And patience has a positive tonic effect on others; because of the presence of the patient person, they revive and go on, as if he were the gyroscope of the ship providing a stable ground. But...

Scripture Text: Luke 12:13-21

David Bast

Psalm 133

Josh Hill

Quotes for Reflection

Michael Reeves, Delighting in the Trinity

Since God is, before all things, a Father, and not primarily Creator or Ruler, all his ways are beautifully fatherly. It is not that this God "does" being Father as a day job, only to kick back in the evenings as plain old "God". It is not that he has a nice blob of fatherly icing on top. He is Father. All the way down. Thus all that he does he does as Father. That is who...

Sermon Text: Psalm 131

Bryan Buck

Quotes for Reflection

Tim & Kathy Keller, The Songs of Jesus

We so often approach God only for what he can give, rather than simply to rest in his presence.

John of the Cross, The Ascent to Mount Carmel

Where your hope goes, there too will go your joy, fear, and sorrow; and if it turns back, they too will turn back.

Eugene Peterson, A Long Obedience in the Same Direction

We are...

Scripture Text: Psalm 130

Jim Byrne

Quotes for Reflection

Christof Barth

It is the righteous who confess their unrighteousness before God.Only the godless man refuses to do this, because he regards himself as righteous.

Claus Westermann

Whenever one in his enforced separation praised God in song or speech, or silence, he was conscious of himself not as an individual, but as a member of the congregation. When in hunger and cold, between interrogations, or as one sentenced to death, he was privileged to praise God...

With Special Guest Bryan Buck

Click here to download liturgy and celebration ideas for the Feast of the Transfiguration.

Sources and Further Reading on the Feast of the Transfiguration:

In this podcast series, we have a chance to explore how the historic Christian church has marked time for centuries through special seasons, feasts, and other noteworthy days - and how we can embrace the value and beauty of these liturgical celebrations in our own community.

Sermon Text: Psalm 128

Jim Byrne

Quotes for Reflection

David Dickson (1583-1663)

The scope of this psalm is to show the blessedness of the one who fears God, which appears first in the temporal blessing of that person in their calling, second in their family, and third, in pouring spiritual blessings on them.

James Luther Mays

Because Zion is the place of the Presence, the pilgrims bring the needs and hopes of everyday life with them.

Willem VanGemeren

To sit under one’s...

Scripture Text: Psalm 127

Bryan Buck

Quotes for Reflection

Eugene Peterson, A Long Obedience in the Same Direction

The first people to sing this psalm had expended much effort to get to Jerusalem. Some came great distances and overcame formidable difficulties. Would there be a tendency among the pilgrims to congratulate one another on their successful journey, to swell with pride in their accomplishment, to trade stories of their experiences? Would there be comparisons on who made the longest pilgrimage, the fastest pilgrimage, who had brought the most neighbors, who...

Scripture Text: Psalm 126

Bryan Buck

Scripture Text: Psalm 125

Bryan Buck

Quotes for Reflection

Thomas Keating, Open Minds, Open Hearts

You can only face up to who you really are in the presence of someone you trust.

Steven J. Lawson, The Holman Old Testament Commentary on Psalms

What difficulties are you facing? What disturbing circumstances are threatening your peace? For what demanding challenge, threatening problem, or imminent crisis do you need God's help? Be assured that God is infinitely greater than whatever threatens you. This is the time to...

We apologize that the first couple minutes of this sermon replay are missing, but you can jump right in to the main content of the sermon!

Quotes for Reflection

Eugene Peterson, A Long Obedience in the Same Direction

How God wants us to sing like this! Christians are not fussy moralists who cluck their tongues over a world going to hell; Christians are people who praise the God who is on our side. Christians are not pious pretenders in the midst of a decadent culture; Christians are robust witnesses to the...

Scripture Text: Psalm 122

Bryan Buck

Quotes for Reflection

Anyee Bhutani, “Young New Yorkers Have a New Hot Spot: Sunday Mass, WSJ May 3, 2026 Gen Z Christians attend church more often than millennials, Gen X and baby boomers, according to the Barna Group, a firm that studies U.S. faith trends. In 2025, the typical Gen Z churchgoer attended nearly two weekends a month, the highest level since the firm began tracking, and up from around one weekend a month in 2020. Young men in particular are more interested in faith. A Gallup poll released in...

Scripture Text: Psalm 121

Bryan Buck (Series: Psalms of Ascent)

Quotes for Reflection

Steven Lawson, Holman Old Testament Commentary

Making the trip to Jerusalem required making an upward ascent in elevation into the holy city to attend the feasts. There were no paved roads but, for the most part, only well-trodden paths across the valleys, along the side of rivers, and over mountain passes. This psalm recounted the arduous journey and the abundant strength they found in the Lord himself to complete their trip. God himself was their strength, sustainer...

Scripture Text: Psalm 120

Series: Psalms of Ascent

Bryan Buck

Quotes for Reflection

Julian of Norwich, The Showings of Julian Norwich As long as we are in this life, whenever we foolishly turn our attention to those we deem not to be on a spiritual path, our Lord God tenderly touches us and blessedly calls to us, speaking to our souls: Let me be the only object of your attention, my beloved child. Focus on me alone, for I am enough for you. Rejoice in your savior and your salvation.<...

Sermon Text: John 4:1-42

Pat Roach

With Special Guest Jim Byrne

Click here to download liturgy and celebration ideas for the Feast of the Holy Trinity:

Sources and Further Reading on the Feast of the Holy Trinity:

In this podcast series, we have a chance to explore how the historic Christian church has marked time for centuries through special seasons, feasts, and other noteworthy days - and how we can embrace the value and beauty of these liturgical celebrations in our...

Scripture Text: Scripture Text: 1 Corinthians 12:1-13 and Acts 2:1-13

Bryan Buck

Quotes for Reflection

Ben Witherington III

Throughout Acts, the presence of the Spirit is seen as the distinguishing mark of Christianity — it is what makes a person a Christian.

John Owen, Communion with God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, Each Person Distinctly, in Love, Grace, and Consolation

But just remember…he is our most loving Father. Every other discovery of God, without this, will but make the soul fly from him; but if the...

The Liturgical Feasts Podcast Series

Martha Van Houten

With Special Guest Alex Wenig

Click here to download liturgy and celebration ideas for Pentecost.

Sources and Further Reading on the Feast of Pentecost:

In this podcast series, we have a chance to explore how the historic Christian church has marked time for centuries through special seasons, feasts, and other noteworthy days - and how we can embrace the...

Scripture Text: Ephesians 1:17-23 and Acts 1:1-11

Bryan Buck

Quotes for Reflection

N.T. Wright, Acts for Everyone

In the world of the first century, when someone was enthroned as king, that new authority would take effect through heralds going off throughout the territory in question with the news, ‘We have a king!’ That was always proclaimed as good news, because everyone in the ancient world (unlike many in the modern world) knew that anarchy is always worse than authorized government. Governments may be bad, but chaos is worse. So t...

The Liturgical Feasts Podcast Series

Martha Van Houten

With Special Guest Jim Byrne

Click here to download liturgy and celebration ideas for the Ascension.

Sources and Further Reading on the Feast of the Ascension:

In this podcast series, we have a chance to explore how the historic Christian church has marked time for centuries through special...

Scripture Text: Ezekiel 34:11-16 and Luke 15:1-10

Bryan Buck

Quotes for Reflection

Kylne R. Snodgrass, Stories with Intent: A Comprehensive Guide to the Parables of Jesus Few things are more important than our perception of God, for from that understanding we perceive our own identity, how we should think and act, and how the world ought to be.

J.C. Ryle, Expository Thoughts on the Gospel of Luke Christ’s love is a deep and mighty love. Just as the shepherd rejoiced to find his sheep, and the woman to...