Cultivate NJ

God is more beautiful, loving, and trustworthy than we can imagine, and God longs to be known as He truly is. As God's people, we are being freed from false images of God and transformed into living reflections of divine love. Beloved, let us welcome God's work in us by praying that God's name may be honored in and through our lives on display to all people.

The Lord’s prayer is NOT just a prayer script we repeat at church or in our own prayers. It CAN be those things, but it’s so much more as well.  This prayer Jesus gives his disciples is a way of learning to become the people of God who are becoming more and more open to the presence of God.  The God who created all things is not distant or difficult to reach. In Jesus, we have become God's bel...

Pentecost is the revelation of a slave-freeing, fear-healing, deliverance-dealing, all-embracing movement of God. Church, behold God's presence and power in your body, among our body, reaching forth in the world to call every-body home. 

The work of God moves forward by the spirit of Jesus outside the gates, among the excluded and the marginalized, making peace until all fear is vanquished and all people find a home in god's community. To whom is the spirit of Christ moving you and moving us to today?

Jesus—the risen and glorious One—is Lord over all chaos. He calls us into a love that reaches beyond space and time. As we love one another, God’s glory breaks through, pushing back the forces of sin and death,  drawing all things toward new creation. Beloved, let’s press deeply into love today, giving praise to the One who is making everything new.

And what kind of shepherd is Jesus to us? He is the One who lays down his life for the sheep… the One who knows us and calls us by name… the One who shares our suffering and cares for us in our sorrows… the One who holds us securely in his loving hands, protecting us from all the powers that seek to harm us, taking full responsibility for everyone and everything, even to the point of death… The on...

You’re not crazy if you feel like we’re living in a world on the brink of disaster, not in a world where Jesus is raised in victory. Can you relate? If so friends, we declare our need and we proclaim good news into this.  Beloved, take heart. The kingdom of God will not be jailed up, damned up, or cut down by human hands or by any principalities and powers. Wherever you find yourself this morning,...

Christ is RISEN. He is the first fruit, raised ahead of us, reigning with us until the last enemy, death, is destroyed. Church, in Adam all die, but in Christ we are all made alive. Be alive in Christ this Easter day. 

The cross of Christ reveals the horror of what we've done to the world, to each other and to ourselves; and in the same moment, reveals the depths of God's love for us and the potency of God's power to save us. Beloved, we really are in bad shape, but we are held with a love that goes deeper than our worst and is working even now to liberate us from the fear of death. Behold the man up...

 Yahweh is our unbreakable promise… He always finds a way to fulfill His word and work powerfully through quiet, unseen acts of courage and obedience. As followers of Jesus, we are invited into that same story—trusting that even our hidden faithfulness matters and is part of a much bigger story that we may never fully see. 

The trauma of our past is not the final word on the quality of our future. Our God specializes in metamorphosis – turning silenced victims into archetypes of agency. Helping the voiceless find their voice. Transforming the shamed into paragons of promise. Beloved, your story is not over. This covenant-making, covenant-keeping God has promised himself and all things to you.

Our God works through his people, and through our relationships with each other, to accomplish his plans and advance His kingdom. Our God is always present and at work. We look for and support what He is doing above all things and within the relationships and friendships given to us. 

Beloved, though the days are dark and difficult, persist in prayer and don't lose heart. Because more is happening through our prayers than we can see. Though the way to better days may seem closed off for a time, God is good and is present with us in the barren places. He will remember his people and raise us up in due time. Arise and pray… there is no Rock like our God.

God is always doing a new thing among his people, overturning the xenophobia of the past to make way for his everlasting love. Even today beloved, God is expanding the boundaries of his ever-widening mercy – Turning the faithless into the faithful; Turning the bitter into springs of hope; Turning the rich into sources of goodness; Turning curses into blessings. The question is NOT “Is God moving a...

God delights to subvert our ideas of power, raising unlikely people and calling us to lead together for the flourishing of the world. Even now, God is stirring courage in ordinary hearts and inviting us to refuse the world as it is. When we say yes — even imperfectly — peace begins to take root among us. So let us walk in Deborah’s footsteps, trusting that through faithful partnership our land may...

God delights to work in and through overlooked and underestimated people. He uses the least who hold those with power to account and bring about justice when justice is denied. The Tamars of our world are here to enable us to open our eyes to injustice. They are often more righteous than us and will lead us to become better versions of ourselves. How are you being invited to open your eyes today?

When we think about the book of Exodus our minds are typically drawn to the singular leadership of Moses standing up to Pharaoh, the 10 plagues, God demanding “Let my People Go”, the parting of the Red Sea, the giving of the 10 commandments, the golden calf, etc.  But without the unsung women of chapters 1-2, there is no Moses. They risk their lives to disobey the highest human authority without a...

The God Who Sees intervenes on behalf of the oppressed and mistreated. He calls them by name; hears their story; promises his goodness to them; and sends them into the world imbued with new status. Today beloved, see the God who sees you in your distress and look for those who need the waters of his presence. The well is still there for all who thirst.

This Message is the Start of a New Series :  Hidden Figures:  We will be looking at the stories of an array of people throughout the Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament). These are some of the women and men that partner with God to advance the story of redemption. They are often overlooked either because of their gender, their ethnicity, their social standing, or because of their mistakes and poor ch...

Even though we continue to suffer and doubt and grieve, tonight, our Advent longing makes room for Christmas JOY. Because in the incarnation of Jesus, the word made flesh, God has taken on all that it means to be human… All our suffering and pain and weakness and frailty are now shared by God and brought into God's presence to be seen and dignified and honored. From this moment on, friends, hu...

 A new identity is given to us this Advent as we move toward the light of God’s presence this Christmas. But this light is a fire that has come to burn away all the junk in our lives and to make the soil rich for a plant that will bear much fruit. So, prepare for this light and fire by rethinking your relationships… to your wealth, work, and the weak. A fresh start is here. 

Advent means : Getting in touch with our own waiting, our own suffering, our own darkness in solidarity with the rest of God’s people as we watch and pray for the arrival of Jesus, light in the darkness. God is meeting us in the middle of this mess to instill HOPE and strengthen our hearts in holiness, as we watch for the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ who brings justice and redemption. Thou...

The Bodily Resurrection of Jesus from the dead is the PATTERN of Eternal Life. What has happened to Him WILL happen to us. Therefore, your body isn't a prison from which your soul needs to be set free. You ARE an embodied soul. And Eternal Life is FULL of bodies, moved and animated by God's Spirit. And that Spirit is available to you today to train you for the life you’ll always have in et...

The church is not a community of the pure; it is a community of the forgiven. Sin is not the end of our story; Sin is an identity crisis for those who have been claimed by love. See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God, and this is what we are. So, let’s contend for our true identity today, trusting that there is always a way back to who we’ve always been.

The Spirit of God broods over creation today, bringing peace from the chaos of fractured human relationships. Brothers and Sisters, the church is a foretaste of that peace… offering communion and salvation to everyone. So, today, we are held firm together with all the church throughout history. Come and find your place among the saints and join the work of healing that the Spirit brings.