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VIEWPOINT
Surfaces

Roxanne Willems Snopek

It was one of those lovely winter days we see here in British Columbia occasionally, when the clouds part and the rain moves elsewhere briefly. Not wanting to waste it, we packed kids and dog into the van and headed down to the lake for some exercise.

We strolled over the boardwalk, noting with interest the group assembled across the water, and the colourful people passing us on their way to join them. Little did we know that we had chosen to visit the park the same day as an organized “pot rally”. Their vocal enthusiasm carried over the water to the play area, but they were supervised by police officers, and everything remained controlled and peaceful. We soon forgot about them.

On my way to the parking lot a bit later, a rough-looking couple with a stroller stopped me to admire our dog. I slotted them into the “biker” category until the young man exclaimed: “I know you!” Indeed, he had been a night-class student of mine two years ago. We chatted briefly before parting, and I smiled to myself. His knuckles were tattooed with words that would have had me flossing Irish Spring for a week had I uttered them as a child. But here in the park, as in my class, he was polite and pleasant. Could it be that there was more to him than the leather-and-chains image he presented?

It’s impossible to not judge people by appearances. To a certain extent, we have to. It’s our first clue, sometimes our only clue, to the person beneath. The way we dress and our body language express something of our values. But we are mistaken when we believe they express everything. First impressions may be lasting, but rarely are they completely accurate.

We make judgments based on other “surfaces” as well. Identifiably Mennonite surnames, church membership and “Christianese” can be a sort of secret handshake, effectively, if inadvertently, barring newcomers from the club. How does a person just discovering the beauty of words like “redemption” and “salvation” deal with “scriptural exegesis” or “the doxology”?

Brought up in the bosom of the Mennonite Brethren Church, I can say this as an insider. Being “in the world but not of the world” was learned alongside “Jesus Loves Me” and “This Little Light of Mine”. I and all my churched friends and relatives knew the children with whom we could play, and those who were “of the world”.

In spite of my upbringing, I know what it means to be an outsider, too. In God’s wisdom and gentle justice, I’ve married a man who found his faith as an adult, from a family with no church connections. Not a Funk, Wiebe or Sawatsky in the bunch. They don’t know rollkuchen from zwieback, (or any other “Mennonite” food) and were initially rather alarmed at what was leaping into their gene pool. Once they discovered I don’t sell flowers at the airport or howl at the moon, my in-laws became very accepting of our faith, at times even curious. They’ve welcomed me in spite of my differences, and I’m grateful.

Are we as Mennonites as open to those who are different? Because my husband is relatively new in his faith, I’m sometimes assumed by association to be a young Christian of non-Mennonite background, too. It’s not very comfortable to experience the other side of the fence, the unwitting condescension that is often the lot of newer Christian, to experience pre-judging based on my name.

Like diamonds, we are all made of many surfaces. Gender, race, age, sexual orientation, occupation and a myriad of other facets make up who we are. Unlike diamonds, our surfaces are dynamic. With time, experience, knowledge and the grace of God, our surfaces change. No one surface reflects who we are in our souls, nor should it. The image of God in us cannot be appreciated by a casual glance, at us or at our resumés. Sometimes the beauty is deeply buried, or has yet to be refined and polished.

Surfaces can be deceiving. Frankly, I wasn’t surprised to see my leather-clad friend at the pot rally. But, as someone pointed out later, what did he think, seeing me there?

Roxanne Willems Snopek is a freelance writer living in Abbotsford, B.C. and a member of Northview Community Church.

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Last modified March 24, 2000.

© 2000 Mennonite Brethren Herald.
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