Vol. 1:2 Grace notes, Earth care, Begin anew, Community within
Vibrant Rhythms
Exploring spirituality in daily living
August-September 2026 issue, Vol. 1:2
Dear friend, I hope this bimonthly newsletter will help us as we explore together the “spiritual whitespace” around the text of our lives.
Betsy Schwarzentraub
Grace Notes
“Let my first thought today be of Thee; let my first impulse be to worship Thee; let my first speech be Thy name; let my first action be to kneel before Thee in prayer. Amen.”
– Martin Marty in When True Simplicity Is Gained
Caring for the Earth
Climate Change and John Wesley
How can we care for this Earth and all that grows and lives on it, when there is so much human indifference, commoditization, and consumption of resources? Methodist founder John Wesley flagged several things we can do that reveal God’s grace, to do good and do no harm. Doing no harm often means digging deeper than simply doing good, especially when we’re enmeshed in complex global systems.
Sharon Delgado’s book, Love in a Time of Climate Change, prompts us to stop allowing the accidental extinction of species because of human interference, and to work for justice for people living in the most vulnerable climate “sacrifice regions.” Check out the report by the UN’s Intergovernmental Committee on Climate Change from the world’s top scientists at www.ipcc.ch. Delgado’s book invites us to explore climate justice from Wesley’s viewpoints of scripture, tradition, reason, and experience. I highly recommend this book.
Finding New Rhythms
New Life Once Again
In the first church I served, I discovered the writings of Dr. Leon Loofbourow, a long-ago former pastor of that congregation. One of his booklets was about the redwood tree as a metaphor for our
spiritual growth. The image has stayed with me ever since.
Our long-time home up in the Sierra foothills was surrounded by trees, many of them redwoods. I was often struck by the visibility of their new growth, as Dr. Loofbourow had mentioned. This photo shows the beautiful tips of one of those branches.
I remembered these new beginnings when I read “Create Me Anew” by Hillel Zeitlin, in the Jewish worship book for the Beth Shalom congregation in Carmichael, CA. It begins:
God,
O great and holy God of all mankind,
You create the world, Your child, every instant.
The prayer continues, and ends by saying:
One ray of Your light and I am immersed in light.
One word from You and I am reborn,
One hint of Your eternal Presence and I am refreshed with the dew of youth
For You create everything anew,
God, please, create me, Your child, anew,
Breathe into me of Your spirit
That I may begin a new life.
May you be blessed with new beginnings.
Practicing the Presence
Christian Meditation: The Community Within
When I came back to the Church in my early twenties, a group then called the Ecumenical Institute introduced me to some core habits of the Early Church. Another phrase for those fundamental practices is “spiritual disciplines,” not in the sense of punishing, but coming from the word “disciple,” which means “follower”—in this case, follower of God in Christ.
Meditation is one of the three solitary Christian disciplines, alongside contemplation and prayer. It is an inward state of mind and heart, a dynamic internal dialogue with God and with those gutsy people of faith who have lived their lifetimes before I came along in history.
Personally, I didn’t grow up with an official category of saints, but there are plenty of them anyway, including a lot of compassionate people and feisty advocates for justice, such as Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Mahatma Gandhi, several of whom may have had nothing to do with religion. As one leader told us back then, meditation is “a state of being that enables you to be concretely related to the mystery that never goes away.”1
Meditation is also a conscious action: that is, intentional. It’s listening for sources within our unique, individual life and our common life together. But underneath that, it’s listening to The Source of those witnesses. It can remind me to celebrate my existence, and also to be accountable to the Word, or message from the Divine, for me and for us all. That Word may also come as it did to Elijah,2 in the “sound of sheer silence” that prompts both awe and praise.
Meditating brings Good News, because even as I dialogue with my inner voices and with those who have gone before me, I know deep down that God’s name is Love.
– Betsy
1 – Rev. Joe Matthews, founder of the Ecumenical Institute.
2 – Bible, 1 Kings 19:12.
Here and There
Several Fall events will give Betsy a chance to meet you and talk about reading, writing, and books. They include:
· Sept. 12th at the Gold Country Fair, 209 Fairgate Blvd., in Auburn, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. She’ll be there with other amazing authors at the Gold Country Writers booth, and three of her books will be at the booth throughout the Fair days, Sept. 11–13.
· Oct. 11th through 17th with the Elk Grove Writers Guild, celebrating California Writers Week. They will do some book readings in area retirement communities and libraries. See www. generousstewards.com or egweg.org for where and when.
· Oct. 24th, 1-5 p.m., at the Holiday Inn Express Hotel, 9175 W. Stockton Blvd., in Elk Grove. Authors Daniel Babka will speak on “Beginning a Memoir: Where Do I Start?” and Anna J. Stewart will talk about “Writing Romance.” Then marketer Shawn Langwell will present on “You Wrote the Book, Now How Do You Sell It?”
Betsy will be there at registration and will get to enjoy it all alongside you. She hopes to see you there.
Moving Forward and Looking Back
Betsy Schwarzentraub has filled several roles in her life, including a lifetime of writing and of books, 46 years as a pastor, 20 years as a stewardship professional, and 43 years as a wife and stepmom, then grandma and great-grandma. She looks forward to gathering some insights learned thus far in these Vibrant Rhythms issues, hopefully leading to deeper, truer questions.
Betsy was named after two great-aunts whom her mom loved, Aunt Betty and Aunt Bob (both “Elizabeth”). One was a sophisticated woman of words and frequent correspondent. The other was a sheep rancher, a mosaic artist, and a down-to-earth woman of faith. On a good day, Betsy hopes she can reflect a bit of them both.