Easter Blessings from BPUMC! Article by Joyce L. Wiedrich 04/16/2026 Pastor Jeannine told us again about the Easter story. What an Easter surprise! Mary Magdalene, and the other Mary went to the tomb where Jesus was buried. An angel was sitting on the stone, which was rolled away. The angel said to them- Don’t be afraid- He is Risen. The Mary’s must’ve been very afraid. But when they understood, they went into the town to spread the word. What are our fears? There are many things that we can’t do anything about. Pastor Jeannine told us that her mother was a grand worrier. She worried about the most minute things. Some of us worry about our health or other concerns. Don’t be afraid- we need to turn our worries over to Jesus. We have to have faith and believe. None of us get out of this alive, but Jesus did. Jesus was raised from the dead. The cloth that covered his face was folded and put on the tomb. This was a sign that Jesus is coming back. Death could not hold him down. Jesus was wrapped in a heavenly gown. Thank you to our choir for two beautiful anthems today. The choir also has been going to homes of some of those that are ill, and recently to the Homestead nursing home to sing to residents, including one of our own members. Happy spring. Hopefully the weather will soon cooperate!

Thank you, Marguerite Miller for directing the children and providing us with several cute songs as we celebrate music Sunday and Easter week beginning today with Palm Sunday. Article by Joyce L. Wiedrich 04/09/2026 Pastor Jeannine related to the children and the congregation the story of Palm Sunday. Jesus entered the city with great cheers of Hosannah and a parade. Coats were put on the ground for the donkeys to walk on. As the week progressed . the cheering of Palm Sunday turned to proclamations to crucify Jesus. This week reminds us what Christ went through for us. The tomb could not keep him or his message from us. Pastor Jeannine showed the children how Jesus is their living hope and has set us free. Please save any bed sheets, mattress, pads, or blankets for quilts that will be made by the group from My Brothers Keeper. These quilts are distributed at Christmas time for Yates County Christmas. Michele Covert read a beautiful poem entitled- God Speaks to us, written by Blanche Fingar. This past Sunday was also Music Sunday. The choir performed several numbers and Meridyn Whitford provided a beautiful solo entitled Sunday Sermons. In addition, Meridyn has been singing with the adult choir! Thank you, Meridyn, and our wonderful choir under the direction of Ron Miller. Our children also had two choir numbers. They are such an addition to our service. They also passed out palm crosses to the congregation members. Several of us will be traveling to Gettysburg for the memorial service of Bruce Westerdahl to be held there on April 25th. Bruce was our pastor for many years and a devoted member of our church along with his wife Nancy. He spent most of his growing up years in Gettysburg. For years, several of us joined the Westerdahl’s to decorate wreaths to put on the Gettysburg national Cemetery, and also the military cemetery at Quantico. We participated along with school children in the wreathlaying ceremony at Gettysburg. It’s nice to see the spring flowers popping up. It’s been a long winter. The sunshine and warm temperatures are so appreciated. It’s also good to see our snowbirds returning from the south. Norm and Sherri Hunt were back in church with us on Palm Sunday. See you in church at 9 AM on Sundays!

Deaconess Connie Glover gave us a presentation telling us of some of the programs that she has created in the Penn Yan area, including the PY Community Cafe. Article by Joyce L. Wiedrich 04/02/2026 Our Bible study this week centered around the scripture from John 11: 1-45. Pastor Jeannine first ask the children if they ever cried when they fell down or when they were sad, or even because someone else cried. It was mentioned in the Bible three times that Jesus cried, including when his best friend Lazarus, brother of Mary and Martha died. When Jesus arrived after being summoned when Lazarus was taken ill, he had died and already was in the tomb. Jesus was able to raise Lazarus from the dead and then rejoiced. This was another one of Jesus‘s miracles. We were fortunate to have a wonderful presentation from Deaconess Connie Glover in church this week. Connie started the Penn Yan community Café out of the PENN United Methodist Church 17 years ago. The community café has dinners twice monthly with takeout in addition to a sitdown dinner. She also had started community Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve dinners. Through Keuka advocacy services, Connie helps people in need with utility, housing and enrollment in programs, including finding and obtaining birth certificates and identification when needed. People need these items to sign up for many services. She also has started a weekend, food pantry, and a senior meal program with seven meals a week at Saint Marks in Dundee. Miss Connie‘s house is in progress which is going to be a woman’s shelter. There also is a warming and cooling center in progress. Connie needs not only financial support but volunteers to help with these many programs. One of her main goals is in helping people find jobs and financial independence. Thank you, Connie in enlightening us in ways that we also can help. On this coming Sunday we are passing the bucket for the community café. We’re invited to join the Tenebrae service on Monday Thursday, April 2 at 6 PM at Dresden UMC. There are many services and opportunities during Lent in our community. Our sincere condolences to the family of Meredith Nielsen who passed away recently. Her memorial service will be later this spring. Meredith was a lifelong member of Bluff Point United Methodist Church. She was able to come to church with us as recently as this January. Meredith remained active in church throughout her lifetime. She participated in many church activities and events including Bible study, church committees and road cleanup. Meredith was loved by all and will be missed. Our Easter service will be at 9 AM Sunday, April 5. Please come and join us as well as all of our other Sunday services.

We have a vibrant prayer shawl ministry. Pastor Jeannine has the children put their hands and pray on a prayer shawl for one of our congregation members who is facing surgery. Article by Joyce L. Wiedrich 03/26/2026 Pastor Jeannine asked the children how many of them liked music. Music is such an important part of our church. She looked at the hymn of Amazing Grace- always a favorite. She also looked at the hymns of To God be the Glory, and Blessed Assurance. Those two hymns were written by Fanny Crosby. Fanny got an eye infection when she was an infant as a result of this diagnosis and misdiagnosis she became blind. She looked at the blessings she had, and not the vision that she had lost. In her lifetime she wrote thousands of hymns and poems to glorify God. She could’ve been bitter, but instead, she was thankful for her life and what God had given her. God loves us! In our lessons today, we saw how Jesus used mud to plaster on a blind man’s face and restore his vision. Before this he had been a beggar. Jesus saw this man in the crowd who had been blind since birth. Jesus had the man wash the mud off his face, and his vision was restored. He felt the man was the light of the world. Pastor Jeannine asked us do we come to the light and believe in God? When the light of the world is in our midst, we need that shut our eyes and not be blinded by the light. Don’t forget that Palm Sunday is also music Sunday. Bring a friend or relative to church on Music Sunday on March 29th. Music Sunday is a beautiful celebration with our choir and children participating.

Millie Albertson enjoys her pancakes at a recent church supper. Article by Joyce L. Wiedrich 03/19/2026 Today our teachings were from John 4: 5-42, a very long passage! Pastor Jeannine first asked the kids what makes them feel better. She showed them a bottle of Gatorade, which is good after you exercise and work hard. Living water also makes you feel good. Christ is a living water. She told the children that we need Christ in our lives to feel better especially when we need a little extra! Our sermon was also about the Living Water. Christ is the Living Water. A Samaritan woman came to draw water from a well. Jesus asked her for some water. Usually Samaritans and Jews do not mix well. Jews considered Samarians impure. The Samarians expected a savior like Moses. They accepted the first five books of Moses. The woman was surprised that Jesus knew her, and that she had had five husbands, but was now with a man who was not her husband. Jesus loves all of us, the good and the bad, including the Samarian woman. The woman then ran into town and shared the news that she had met the Messiah. The town people followed her back to the well. We all need to share the love of Christ. We are still studying the final days in Bible study. Join us at 3 PM on Mondays. April 2 at 6 PM we have been invited to share the Maundy Thursday soup and bread supper at the Dresden United Methodist Church. You are welcome to bring something to share. There will be a lot of community activities coming up during Lent. Thank you to our nurture committee who set up for our brunch Sundays, the second Sunday of the month. The children have been practicing for music Sunday. Please bring a friend and see the great musical talent in our church during our service on March 29th!

Ring that bell! Come join us at church on Sundays at 9:00 am at Bluff Point United Methodist Church! Article by Joyce L. Wiedrich 03/12/2026 Who is your lifesaver? When you go in the water, should you have a life jacket or a flotation device around you? It’s important to have something like a lifeline to keep us safe. Pastor Jeannine told the kids about Nicodemus. He did not understand that Jesus was a lifeline to God. We understand though that Jesus is our lifeline. In the scripture from John 3: 1- 17 we see that Nicodemus was visiting Jesus. He came by night, likely so the Pharisees would not find him. Pastor Jeannine told us Jesus taught Nicodemus that to enter the kingdom of God he must be born of the spirit from above. Jesus knew Nicodemus was spiritually hungry, but he did not understand. We need to be baptized and get God into our lives. We know that we will not find peace until we find God. The nurture committee has placed names and addresses of people who have been unable to come to church lately in the back and front of the church. We are encouraged to write them cards and notes, hoping that they will be able to return to us soon. We recently had a great baked potato dinner at church. There were about 40 people who came to enjoy the nice meal together. The children have been practicing for music Sunday, which is the last Sunday in March. Mark your calendars and encourage your friends and neighbors to come join us for a very special musical Sunday. Thank you to Jean Murdock and Trish DeMondfort for tasty snacks after church this week!

Welcome new members Pam Whitford and Chris Reay! Article by Joyce L. Wiedrich 03/05/2026 Good morning! We have now entered Lent. We had a wonderful Shrove Tuesday pancake supper and served about 45 people. It’s always great to have a meal together. Thank you to the nurture committee for arranging and cooking for us! Today our topic was about temptation. Pastor Jeannine had a bucket of cookies that she showed the kids. She said when her two daughters were growing up they had to wait for the cookies she baked until they told mom about their school day. Do we ever do anything we shouldn’t do? Do we ever have temptations? A lot of the kids said they sometimes sneak a cookie and then try to cover the evidence! We all know the story of Adam and Eve from the scripture in Genesis. It was a story of good and evil in the garden. They both were told that they should not eat the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden, but were tempted anyway, and ate the fruit. Adam messed up big time and was kicked out of paradise. Because of Adam we now have a contract with death. Pastor Jeannine explained to us that Jesus broke up the power of sin and cleaned up Adam’s mess, bringing us hope. Jesus has paid the price for our sins and put things back better. He was a gift to us, and our hope. The father sacrificed his son so that we can live. He gave a lifeline to us. Lenten Bible study is of the final days. It is based on scripture from Luke and Matthew. All free to join in Mondays at 3pm. If you wish to order flowers for Easter to decorate the church in memory or honor of loved ones do so in the next week. Our church always looks so nice at Easter with all of the spring flowers adorning the altar. Please join us at 9 AM Sundays for our service. All are welcome.

The children always have a Bible lesson before a craft project in Sunday school. Article by Joyce L. Wiedrich 02/26/2026 This past Sunday was Transfiguration Sunday. So nice to be back in church today after weather related issues this month that had made travel, dangerous and nearly impossible on our rural roads with all of the wind and below zero temperatures. So good to see the sunshine and the warmer temperatures. Several events coming up at church as we enter Lent. This past week we had a wonderful Shrove Tuesday pancake and sausage dinner. We we’ll have a baked potato dinner later in the month. Blessings and congratulations to Robin DeSantis and Ron Jackson who were married on Valentine’s Day. Robin came to our church many times in the past while visiting her parents. She often joined choir events, playing her beautiful flute. Pastor Jeannine gave the children a lesson and told them about transfiguration Sunday before the adult sermon. This was based on scripture from Matthew 17: 1-9. It appears that Jesus asked James, John and Peter to go with him up Mount Tabor to pray. They followed him, but after they ascended the mountain, the disciples fell asleep. When they awoke, they saw Jesus speaking to Moses and Elijah, who had appeared, however both Moses and Elijah had been dead for several years prior to this event. Jesus’s clothes were transformed to a dazzling white. His face became beautiful and bright like the sun, as he was in the presence of God. Jesus asked the disciples not to tell anyone what they had seen. Are we willing to go up the mountain with Jesus to be transformed?

Snow Day! Cold Day! Article by Joyce L. Wiedrich 02/19/2026 I’m not sure if global warming has anything to do with global cold, but for the second time in a month, we have canceled our church services because of weather- it’s just not been safe to drive in the rural areas with the snow blowing all over and the temperatures hovering around 0°. Hopefully, from this point on the weather will be more conducive for safe travel. I hope people have been praying at home and reading their scripture. On 2/28 church members will enjoy a baked potato dinner from 4:00-5:30 with all the toppings! We hope the community will join us for Music Sunday at church at 10:00 am March 29th. Our kids will be participating and bring so much joy to the service. This is also Palm Sunday.