We’re exploring our travels… not holiday trips or memorable vacations but faith journeys and traveling companions. With Luke 2:41-52 as a guiding text, we’ll explore six topics that invite us into more authentic relationships with the Holy, our world, each other and ourselves. We are (A Group of) Travelers on distinct and similar paths.
Beginning Tuesday, February 20, and Thursday, February 22, these community groups offer space for connection and conversation. Drop in for one, some, or all of the virtual gatherings. Each week will stand alone, but we think you’ll want to build community and build upon the content. Register now.
Traveling Companions: Community Groups Hosts
Rev. Melissa Guthrie (she/her) will be your traveling companion for the Monday morning groups and Rev. Brian Frederick-Gray (he/him) is your traveling companion for the Thursday evening groups.
Melissa serves as the Executive Director + Minister with AllianceQ – the Disciples LGBTQ+ Alliance. She is also the Founding Director and Pastor with Salvage Garden, a ministry that centers individuals with disabilities. Melissa says being a mama is the best job. She is an Iowa native who moved to North Carolina to teach high school English as a corps member with Teach for America. Melissa enjoys cheesecake and cycling, in that order. She likes being outdoors and reading and writing poetry (outdoors). She knows a lot about dinosaurs because her almost six year old loves dinos. Pink and yellow are her favorite colors. She finds herself wearing more purple (read Allen Harris’ purple chapter in Colors of Hope) and she paints at least a couple of her nails with glitter.
Brian serves as the Director for Justice and Advocacy Ministry with Disciples Home Missions, where his work seeks to empower Disciples to use our voices and our actions to promote greater justice and mercy in the world. He also serves in a part-time capacity as Director for Mission Support & The Peace Intern Program with Disciples Peace Fellowship, where he has been responsible for strengthening connections with the church while equipping young adults as ambassadors for peace and justice. Prior to his current roles, he served for seven years as Senior Minister at First Christian Church in Scottsdale, AZ, where he helped revitalize the congregation for mission and ministry. Rev. Frederick-Gray has extensive experience participating with, and providing leadership to, organizations that do justice and advocacy work. He is a co-facilitator for the Disciples Justice Ministries Working Group; he previously served as part of the Arizona Faith Leaders Public Policy Working Group; he was president of the founding board of Arizona Interfaith Power and Light; and he has served as a Political Fellow with the Center for Progressive Leadership. Brian lives in Cambridge, MA with his wife (the Rev. Dr. Susan Frederick-Gray), their 17-year-old son (Henry), and their adorable puppy (Hercules).
Luke 2:41-52 The New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition (NRSVUE)
Now every year his parents went to Jerusalem for the festival of the Passover. And when he was twelve years old, they went up as usual for the festival. When the festival was ended and they started to return, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but his parents were unaware of this. Assuming that he was in the group of travelers, they went a day’s journey. Then they started to look for him among their relatives and friends. When they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem to search for him. After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers. When his parents saw him they were astonished, and his mother said to him, “Child, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously looking for you.” He said to them, “Why were you searching for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” But they did not understand what he said to them. Then he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was obedient to them, and his mother treasured all these things in her heart.
And Jesus increased in wisdom and in years and in divine and human favor.
About Luke 2 and (A Group of) Travelers
This community group is growing out of a same-named sermon from Executive Director + Minister Rev. Melissa Guthrie, originally presented in December 2021. Excerpts of the sermon will give shape to weekly content and discussion questions. From Melissa:
“The good news in Luke 2 is not that Jesus was found. He was never lost. Those who are different from you, they’re not lost. The queer kids, we’re not lost. We don’t need found.
…we thrive in community when we listen to one another and learn from one another. This gospel is a story of growth, but it’s not about Jesus’ maturation from baby to preteen to adult. It’s about Mary and Joseph, their growth. Me and you, our growth.
‘Growing up is not about how old we are ultimately… It is Jesus, here in this story certainly, but also in our lives who grows us up. He is the one who will grow up Mary and Joseph. Children have a way of doing that to the adults in their life. They challenge us to look at our world, our lives, and ourselves, in new, different, and sometimes painful ways.’
…like 12-year-old Jesus, listen and ask questions. Widen your group, yes, but journey out. Journey into deeper and more authentic relationships with all of God’s beloved people.
What journey will you lean into? With whom will you journey?”
Register for Community Groups and journey with LGBTQ+ kin and allies.
A Prayer for our Community Groups
God of the journey, we have traveled through Advent, celebrating your gifts of hope, peace, joy, and love. We have traveled past Christmas night’s manger scene and followed a guiding star. We know about the gifts and message of the magi. As our journeys continue in a new year, we want to live into more authentic relationships with the Holy, our world, each other and ourselves. We are (A Group of) Travelers on distinct and similar paths. May Jesus “grow us up.” With whomever we travel, may they “grow us up.” May God bless every traveler, every group of travelers.” Amen.