Dear Bay Shore,
As I have officially completed my first month working as the Youth & Fellowship Director here at Bay Shore, I wanted to take this opportunity to share a little more about myself and what I have been working on.
I grew up attending an ELCA church in Waukesha, WI and was very involved in the church in any way that I could be. After I started studying at UW Milwaukee, I very quickly found and fell in love with The Corner House which is the ELCA campus ministry located right next to UWM. During the seven years getting my degree, I faced many life changes and found myself questioning what career I was really being called to. Ultimately, I decided to change my major from physical therapy to sociology to pursue my desire to become a pastor. After graduating this past May with a bachelor’s degree in sociology and a certificate of LGBTQIA+ studies, I decided that I wanted to do a little more work in the church before starting seminary, which is what led me to Bay Shore!
This past month has been a whirlwind of learning as much as I can and starting to plan events and activities for the church. I must be honest, I’m most excited to get to know the youth and plan fun activities for them. Youth group was so important to my faith growing up, and it is where I have met some of my best friends to this day. In middle school and high school so much is expected of you, and on top of that you are expected to have a booming social life and faith life, too? I hope to provide spaces for youth to have fun and make friends but also explore their own relationship with God and how they see God at work in the world around them. On October 13th we will be hosting a pizza and game night for all 6th-8th graders to bring a friend and have some fun, and arguably more importantly, so I can get to know them, and they can get to know me better.
Another really exciting event that is happening soon is my presentation on the letters of the LGBTQIA+ alphabet which will be held after our worship service this Sunday October 6th. This will be the first part of a multi-part series that will help Bay Shore begin the process of becoming R.I.C. (Reconciling in Christ). The point of this presentation is to familiarize ourselves with the different sexual and gender orientations that make up the LGBTQIA+ community. My hope is that this can be a welcoming and inclusive space to learn and to ask questions without fear of judgement from others. This topic might be outside of your comfort zone, but I still encourage everyone who is even a little curious to come and learn with us.
I want to share with you all a quote from the book Queer Virtue written by the Reverend Elizabeth M. Edman. She writes, “Queer individuals are called to perceive a truth inside themselves, name it as an identity marker, reckon with it, tell the truth about it even in the face of hostility, find others who perceive a comparable identity marker, and build community for the betterment of all of us. That, to me, is the essence of a spiritual journey. It is more than that. In my faith tradition, we refer to this as a call. It is a vocation.” (pg. 9).
I really hope this passage gets you thinking about the ways that queerness and Christianity go hand in hand, and I really hope to see you on Sunday!
God’s peace and love to you,
Marissa Knopick
PS The featured image here is of Marissa in 2015, attending the National Gathering with her home youth group!