Pastor Efraín Sermons, www.yuma1st.org

Seeing God Around Us

A fascinating art form that gained popularity in the 1990’s is the stereogram. These are three-dimensional images masked by various patterns. At first glance, the pictures look like arbitrary arrangements of shapes and colors. But if you carefully look at the picture in a special way, focusing the gaze of your eyes beyond the picture, the three-dimensional shape suddenly comes into focus. The three-dimensional image is always there, but you can only see it if you look at the picture in a uni...

I Shall Not Be Moved

Special music by the chancel choir.

Prayers of the People for Sunday, May 22, 2022

Prayers of the People by Pastor Jon Flint.

Faithfully Following Christ with Open Hearts and Minds

It’s interesting how habits and customs become integrated into our lives without fully understanding why we do them. For example, there was a family who had a favorite meatloaf recipe passed down for many years. Everyone loved it, so they were reluctant to modify the recipe in any way. One of the more peculiar steps was to cut the meatloaf in half before placing it in the oven. One day, at a big family gathering, some of the cooks were preparing the meatloaf for dinner when the great-grandmo...

You Say

Special music by Sheryl Clifton.

Prayers of the People for Sunday, May 15, 2022

Prayers of the People by Debbie Pallack.

Prayers of the People for Sunday, May 8, 2022

Prayers of the People by Susan Gleason.

Whither Thou Goest

Special music by Barb Jonson.

Getting the Message

This weekend is Mother’s Day. There are many reasons to celebrate our mothers, and a big one that comes to mind for me is their amazing devotion to their children. Granted, even mothers lose their patience sometimes, but they generally seem to have a unique ability to express an incredible amount of patience and compassion for their children well after others may have reached their limit. Mothers can answer the same question over and over as their child struggles to understand a new idea, an...

Prayers of the People for Sunday, May 1, 2022

Prayers of the People by Jim Essinger.

How Can I Keep From Singing?

Special music by the chancel choir.

A Change of Heart

People are often characterized by the consequences of their efforts, or you could say “by the fruits of their labor.” This generally makes sense – benevolent acts stem from people expressing kindness, and destructive acts stem from people expressing enmity. Unfortunately, moments of passion can drive a person to do things that have a lasting impact which fosters a negative impression on others long afterward. The good news is that we can repent and be forgiven by the grace of God. But our ne...

Prayers of the People for Sunday, April 24. 2022

Prayers of the People by Allison Essinger.

Because He Lives

Special music by the Chancel Choir.

Searching for Evidence

The Apostle Thomas, also known as “Doubting Thomas,” has been criticized over the centuries for his reluctance to acknowledge the resurrection of Jesus without physical evidence. After his resurrection, Jesus appeared to the disciples while they were hiding in a room, but Thomas was not with them at that time. Later, the other disciples reported the event to Thomas, but he wouldn’t believe them – it was too farfetched. But the next week, while Thomas was present in the room with the other di...

Easter Medley

Special music by Sheryl Clifton and Janice Sneller.

Prayers of the People for Sunday, April 17, 2022

Prayers of the people by Gail Roberts.

A Celebration of the Living

We are finally coming to the last week of Lent, Holy Week! During this week we will walk with Jesus as he has his last supper with the disciples on Maundy Thursday and endures a humiliating crucifixion on Good Friday. That final day could not possibly be considered “good” in its own time; only when we reflect upon it from the following Easter Sunday can we realize that it was actually “good.” It is only on Easter Sunday that we realize that Jesus’s acceptance of the path to crucifixion on Fr...

Trusting in the Provisions of God

There are many times in our lives when we may have not been sure how we were going to make it through some challenge we were experiencing. Whether it was paying the bills when the bank account was low, finding transportation when our car broke down, completing a degree or training program, or finding peace and acceptance when a loved one passed away. But looking back on those times, we find that things somehow worked out for us so that we could go on to fulfill some special role that God had...

Love Divine (cantata by Joel Raney, presented by the Yuma First Chancel Choir)

Love Divine (cantata by Joel Raney, presented by the Yuma First Chancel Choir)

Prayers of the People for Sunday, April 10, 2022

Prayers of the People by Ed Roberts.

Prayers of the People for Sunday, April 3, 2022

Prayers of the People by Pastor Mike.

Celebrating and Sharing

In this Sunday's reading, we hear a familiar story from the Gospel of John - Mary's anointing of Jesus' feet, and Judas' critical reaction to this act of extravagance. We sometimes read familiar passages of scripture and the behaviors in them through a lens of right or wrong, black and white, hero versus villain. But is that all we can take away from this story? Mary celebrated the presence of Jesus in her life through bestowing him a great honor - one that no doubt came at great personal c...

An Invitation to Joy

Jesus’ parables are layered stories that teach us many lessons. They are usually provoked by a question or a challenge, and in this case that challenge is key to understanding the story. Parables are meant to make us a little uncomfortable and to shift our perceptions. In one instance Jesus is teaching somewhere, and soon he was surrounded by tax collectors and “sinners”. There in the crowd, maybe off to the side, certainly bunched up together away from the “sinners,” were some Scribes and P...

Prayers of the People for Sunday, March 27, 2022

Prayers of the People by Pastor Mike.

I Can Only Imagine

Special music by the chancel choir.

For the Beauty of the Earth

Special music by Kimberly Ladage and Janice Sneller.

Bearing Fruit

Many people come to the United States seeking the opportunities of the “American Dream,” the ideal that anyone can achieve prosperity, success, and a higher social status through hard work, regardless of the circumstances of their birth. While there have been challenges to the reality of this ideal, especially for groups that have been traditionally marginalized for various reasons, many people have found opportunities here that they could not find in their country of origin. However, one ne...

Prayers of the People for Sunday, March 20, 2022

Peace Like a River with Amazing Grace

Special music from the Chancel Choir.

Prayers of the People for Sunday, March 13, 2022

Prayers of the People by Pastor Mike.

A Reason to Hope in Times of Fear

There seems to be a great deal of fear in the world today. With the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the thinly veiled threat of nuclear war the Russian president announced to the rest of the world as a means of intimidating anyone who might help defend the Ukrainian people, we have been bombarded with messages of gloom and destruction. Coupled with other ominous messages of economic crisis, global ecological threats, and the recent pandemic, we have endured a long, sustained barrage of event...

The Journey Through Lent

** Please note due due technical difficulties, only a partial recording of the sermon was made this week.  We apologize for the inconvenience.**  This week, we started our journey through the season of Lent. Lent is a period of forty days leading up to Easter, not counting Sundays, when we remember our mortality, reflect on our relationship with God, and consider changes we can make in our lives that will help us grow closer to God. This can be a challenging time because it requires an hones...

A Servant's Blessing

Special music by the chancel choir.

I Walked Today Where Jesus Walked

Special music by the Chancel Choir.

Prayers of the People for Sunday, February 27, 2022

Prayers of the People by Pastor Mike.

Who Changed, Really?

This Sunday, the final Sunday in the season of Ordinary Time prior to the start of Lent, is traditionally observed as Transfiguration Sunday. The basis for this celebration in the church year is found in our scripture passage for the week, Luke 9:28-36, where Jesus' glorious nature is physically and visibly revealed to Peter, James, and John. Just as we begin this season after Christmas with Jesus being recognized and celebrated by the Magi, by Simeon and Anna in the temple, and by John the ...

There is a River in Judea

Special music by the Chancel Choir.

Trusting in God

Prayers of the People for Sunday, February 20. 2022

Prayers of the People by Pastor Jon Flint.

Standing in the Need of Prayer

Special music by Jon and Sylvia Flint.

Prayers of the People for Sunday, February 13, 2022

Prayers of the People by Terri Strome.

Challenging Love

One of the most challenging, yet unique tenets of Christian teaching is to love your enemy. As we recently discussed in service about two weeks ago, this is not a suggestion to try to force yourself to have positive feelings for someone who is mistreating you – that would be impossible to do with any degree of authenticity. This is about expressing a specific kind of love the first century Greek community called αγαπε (agape) that involved looking out for the interests of the other person an...

Just a Closer Walk With Thee

Special music from the Chancel Choir.

Prayers of the People for Sunday, February 6, 2022

Prayers of the People by Debbie Pallack.

Giving It All Up for Christ

Multitasking is a common mode of operation today. With easy access to information and a lot of work being done through computers, we can quickly and easily switch tasks. This often leaves us working on several things at the same time, addressing issues on one project while waiting for updates on other projects. But, if you think about it, multitasking is kind of a misnomer. We can actually only focus on one thing at a time. We might quickly switch between projects or tasks, but we can only d...

Prayers of the People for Sunday, January 30, 2022

Prayers of the People by Fred Hancewicz.

Finding Love

The word “love” has many different meanings to us today, and it can have very different implications. Of course, there is the idea of “romantic love” that we associate with the strong attraction a person has with another. We also talk about loving other things like certain foods, books, or even ideas, such as freedom or peace. We sometimes talk about loving our children or friends. In general, we use it to describe a strong affinity for someone or something that motivates us to give preceden...

Down to the River to Pray

Special music by the chancel choir.

Moving With the Spirit

Isn’t it amazing how much we change over the years? For those who live with us, the small daily changes may be imperceptible, but when someone moves away and then returns for a visit after a long time, the changes may seem dramatic. Aside from the physical changes which are expected, especially when we are younger, there are changes in our personal maturity and how we cope with life’s challenges. We might learn new ways of dealing with certain issues that may have troubled us in the past, or...