Posts by Betsy Schwarzentraub
John Wesley’s Creation Theology
The four sources of authority for John Wesley – Scripture, tradition, reason, and experience – have long been an important decision-making guideline for me. As a lifelong camper, I’ve tended to see this “quadrilateral” as the four corners of a tent with the crossbar of Jesus Christ holding them together in the center. Some people’s…
Read MoreLove in a Time of Climate Change
Rev. Sharon Delgado’s Love in a Time of Climate Change: Honoring Creation, Establishing Justice is a “faith response to climate change” (p. 178) that tells the truth about how far down the road we already are in global warming, while simultaneously giving us hope for transformation – IF we have the political will to take…
Read MoreBig Day of Giving 2018
Yesterday was this year’s Big Day of Giving. Begun in 2013, it’s a program of the Sacramento Region Community Foundation, to grow philanthropy through a 24-hour online giving challenge that highlights the year-round work of the region’s nonprofit community. Last year, donors gave almost 39,500 donations, worth $7.2 million. Yesterday, givers donated nearly $7.4 million…
Read MoreEarth Day Opportunities
Earth Day has become a tradition in a lot of places in recent years, and this year, this week, is no exception. It gives us the chance to celebrate and learn more about God’s gift of the earth and all living things that depend upon it, including ourselves and native human communities around the globe.…
Read MoreStewardship in Living Context
I was thrilled to learn about the Ecumenical Stewardship Center’s plans for resourcing churches starting next year! When our Resource Editorial Team met today, we heard about future possibilities for congregational resourcing, networking opportunities, and the growth of a digital stewardship library. For many years, the Giving: Growing Joyful Stewards in Your Congregation magazine has…
Read MoreHappiness and Money
Happiness can be elusive. Surveys from way back have shown that Americans in all economic levels thought they’d be happy if they had just 10% more. But recent research 1 is even more striking: When Harvard Business School asked more than 4,000 millionaires how much money it would take to be perfectly happy, 25% said…
Read MoreHeart, Character, Wills and Trusts
Here’s a great reminder of why we make planned gifts in any form! “Wills and trusts form a profound and lasting impression of what we affectionately hold deep in our hearts. We use them to honor congregations, church institutions, and our favorite charities by naming percentages or fixed dollar amounts. We can also use them…
Read MoreStephen Hawking: A Vast Legacy
I learned a long time ago that if math is the language of the cosmos, I’m in big trouble! But A Brief History of Time, by theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking, gave me a whole new way of seeing the universe and imagining it beyond any ability to view or comprehend. Don’t get me wrong: I…
Read MoreLive Courageously
I was thrilled to receive Live Courageously, this year’s issue of Giving: Growing Joyful Stewards in Your Congregation, from the Ecumenical Stewardship Center. In addition to a center section Leader’s Guide for an annual financial commitment program based on small groups, it includes “Bright Spot” stories celebrating real people practicing faithful stewardship and generosity, book…
Read MoreLocal Church Planned Giving Director Pat Lile
Most of us have heard of a Director of Planned Giving in a foundation, but how about one for a local church? I was pleased to meet Pat Lile shortly after she was named Director of Planned Giving in 2010 for First United Methodist Church in downtown Little Rock, Arkansas. In a position funded by…
Read MoreOlympics: Strength, Beauty, Excellence, Praise
It’s an admirable and challenging thing to be a good steward of one’s body: being healthy and living fit. But it’s another order entirely to give praise to God with our physical being, and showing that to the world! I was stunned and thrilled to see the world’s top figure skating athletes at the Olympics,…
Read MoreWall Street and “Enough”
I was intrigued by a recent article in MONEY magazine, 1 and the explosive reactions to it from some other MONEY readers. It’s written by Roz Warren, a freelance writer and part-time librarian. So what radical thing did she do? She pulled all her money out of the stock market. Warren had made a financial…
Read More“My Child Is a Flower” Stewardship Songs
Rev. Dan Damon is an inspired writer of hymn texts and tunes, as well as a seminary teacher, pastor and friend. I was thrilled when he showed me a stewardship song he had written after I preached at his church one day. But his new songbook, My Child Is a Flower, contains many thoughtful, creative,…
Read MoreI Am Blessed!
Last week I got to hear Rev. Dr. Alex Awad, pastor of East Jerusalem Baptist Church, professor at Bethlehem Bible College, and retired missionary for the United Methodist Church. A Palestinian Christian who was born in Jerusalem, he is a direct descendant of those first disciples at Pentecost. But because he is a Palestinian, he…
Read MoreRev. Dr. Martin Luther King’s Legacy
God calls us to be stewards not only of our personal relationships, but also of our communities, which ultimately can affect justice on a national, even world-wide, scale. In these turbulent political days, I am grateful for people who speak up publicly in a variety of ways, because of their faith. Today is the day…
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