THE GREAT CLOUD OF WITNESSES Sermon Preached by the Rev. Dr. Lindley G. DeGarmo Union Church of Pocantico Hills September 26, 2021 Psalm 80:1-2, 8-19 Hebrews 11:29 – 12:2 Numbers are on my mind this morning. The number twenty-four, for example. That was the number of worshipers who gathered here last Sunday, including Rick and […]

GIVING THE HEART Sermon Preached by the Rev. Dr. Lindley G. DeGarmo Union Church of Pocantico Hills September 12, 2021 Psalm 19 Mark 8:27-33 When Oregon State University students in a class on religion and American culture were asked a few years ago to describe their impressions of Christianity, they consistently responded with five adjectives. […]

DAVID AND HIS FAMILY Sermon Preached by the Rev. Dr. Lindley G. DeGarmo Union Church of Pocantico Hills September 5, 2021 Psalm 3 2 Samuel 12:7-12 Last week we heard the story of David and Bathsheba: David’s misuse of his power to commit adultery and murder, and how the prophet Nathan confronted the king and […]

DAVID AND BATHSHEBA Sermon Preached by the Rev. Dr. Lindley G. DeGarmo Union Church of Pocantico Hills August 29, 2021 Psalm 51:1-17 2 Samuel 11:1-5 Today, we turn to the story of David and Bathsheba, wife of Uriah the Hittite. David commits adultery with Bathsheba, and when it proves impossible to trick Uriah into thinking […]

DAVID AND MEPHIBOSHETH Sermon Preached by the Rev. Dr. Lindley G. DeGarmo Union Church of Pocantico Hills August 22, 2021 Psalm 133 II Samuel 9:1-13 I enjoy westerns. I grew up watching Roy Rogers and the Lone Ranger and Bonanza. Sarah and I spent one of our first dates talking about Larry McMurtry’s Lonesome Dove, […]

DAVID DANCES Sermon Preached by the Rev. Dr. Lindley G. DeGarmo Union Church of Pocantico Hills August 15, 2021 Psalm 150 II Samuel 6:1-22 When we last encountered David, he had fled from King Saul’s court and had gathered a significant force of renegades around him in the Judean wilderness. They survived by raiding and […]

DAVID AND SAUL Sermon Preached by the Rev. Dr. Lindley G. DeGarmo Union Church of Pocantico Hills August 8, 2021 Psalm 23 1 Samuel 18:5-16 The traffic was heavy on Main Street one late afternoon during rush hour. A man was being tailgated by a stressed-out woman. Suddenly, the light in front of him turned […]

DANGER IN THE WATER Sermon Preached by the Dr. Rev. Lindley G. DeGarmo Union Church of Pocantico Hills June 20, 2021 Psalm 9:9-20 Mark 4:35-41 There is danger in the water. That’s the point of this text for today, and on at least one level, we understand that point well. Oh, sure, there’s also beauty […]

MIRACLE GROW Sermon Preached by the Rev. Dr. Lindley G. DeGarmo Union Church of Pocantico Hills June 13, 2021 2 Corinthians 5:1-10, 14-17 Mark 4:26-34 I have some old friends—a couple who live in the country—who complement one another in an interesting way. He is a gardener and she is a worrier. The gardener is […]

FAMILY VALUES Sermon Preached by the Rev. Dr. Lindley G. DeGarmo Union Church of Pocantico Hills June 6, 2021 Psalm 138 Mark 3:20-21, 30-35 As we heard in this morning’s gospel lesson, the family into which Jesus was born did not approve of his zeal for the kingdom of God. They reckoned it overwrought, even […]