Posts by Betsy Schwarzentraub
Another Take on the Three Ts
When it comes to giving (no, not just money), one message I’ve shared for some years is this: Focus not only on our response, not even on the gifts we’ve been given, but on God, the generous Giver. Yes, that’s true, to get the authentic, deep-down context for generous-hearted living. But at some point it’s…
Read More“Live Free” Program
Written for the CA-NV United Methodist Conference Instant Connection, 7/30/2015 Live Free, the 2015 issue of Giving magazine from the Ecumenical Stewardship Center (ESC), is now available. The center section, written by California-Nevada Conference minister, the Rev. Betsy Schwarzentraub, is the leader’s guide for a four-week worship emphasis on holistic stewardship that also helps fund…
Read MoreLocal Church Stewardship Plan Guideline
Written for the CA-NV United Methodist Conference Instant Connection, 7/30/2015 The 2012-2016 U.M. Guideline, Stewardship: Nurturing Generous Living, is now available. This nuts-and-bolts booklet, written by the Rev. Betsy Schwarzentraub, former California-Nevada Conference Director of Stewardship, is written for a local church stewardship team to build a generosity plan for the congregation. The forty-page booklet…
Read MoreOver-Busy Minds
My email program went haywire recently, and I finally called our computer guru to do his wizardry. Other people’s servers had been sending emails to me but weren’t getting a message back that my server had received them. So they kept sending them over again. Likewise, the same thing was happening with my emails going…
Read MoreContagious Generosity
What an act of generosity! Our friends were coming up to this year as their fiftieth anniversary. Having lived in Australia and the United States over the years, they had formed strong friendships with a great number of people. So they decided to spend their special anniversary money, and more, on bringing the two communities…
Read MoreSpecial Olympics
The televised segments of the World Special Olympics this week have related story after story of inspiration, persistence, and generosity. Some of the generosity was spontaneous, as when people chipped in to buy matching uniforms for one national team. But a lot of generosity was planned, for example by the thousands of volunteers who assisted…
Read MoreStewards of God’s Mysteries
Space discoveries have been thrilling these past few weeks, thanks to traveling telescopes launched many years ago. The New Horizons program, nine years on its journey, has sent back amazingly detailed photos of Pluto, the icy dwarf planet at the near edge of millions of icy-rock balls in the Kuiper Belt at the far edge…
Read MoreFood, Simple or Easy
Living more simply is not necessarily living more easily. In fact, it often means putting in more time and effort to do things the old-fashioned way. Take food, for instance – finding it, preparing it, cooking it – choosing more natural, organic foods, without preservatives, fillers, or radiation that kills the “food” part of the…
Read MoreWater and Justice
The colorful Acorn Woodpecker perches on the top of our fence at the edge of the lawn. He dips his head as the sprinklers sweep by, as if in thanks for the welcome spray. The four-year California drought is taking its toll. By this month of July the grass, trees, and animals large and small…
Read MoreOur Bodies on the Line
I want the donut, but do I reach for vegetables instead? It depends on my mood, stress level, self-image at the moment, all kinds of things. And to my anything-goes appetite, it feels like this question is way too personal. But why not? Paul tells us that our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit,…
Read MoreCLayM Ministry Expands
Joy, joy! I felt like a proud mom for the Conference Lay Minister (CLayM) program at California-Nevada’s Annual Conference Session this past week. CLayM is an exciting ministry that trains and deploys experienced, skilled church leaders as volunteer pastors to serve congregations needing a few years without the financial requirements of a seminary-trained, ordained pastor.…
Read MoreThe Ripple Effect
I heard years ago of a national study that showed on average, people share a piece of bad news eleven times, but they share good news only four times. In other words, people tell others almost four times more about a faulty product, poor service or failed expectations than they do about receiving a kindness,…
Read MoreGiving Simply
“I never carry my checkbook to church. Ninety percent of the time I make financial giving decisions, it’s in front of the computer monitor. How can I even participate in supporting the church financially when you don’t have online giving or even automatic transfer?” The young woman looked around at the room filled with stewardship…
Read MoreCosmic Pentecost
Today is Pentecost, when we celebrate the living presence of the Holy Spirit in our midst. For years, I used to describe Acts 2 as when God sent the Holy Spirit among us. But God is the Holy Spirit as clearly as God is the Creator and the Redeemer. And the Holy Spirit has been…
Read MoreCreating Community
Recently I went to an outdoor memorial to celebrate the life of a friend. She had multiple interests and participated in several different groups. Hearing different people speak about her life, I marveled at how she had the gift of cultivating community wherever she went. Sometimes a sense of community develops quickly among people with…
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