Our world needs radical tenderness, not “niceness.”

In their piece Not nice, enfleshed co-founder and co-director Rev. M Jade Kaiser writes:

...Not nice.
But still, tender.
Tender like “in touch with pain.”
One’s own. Others’. Ours. Everyone’s. (but particularly and differently.)
Tender like knowing from experience.
Tender like there’s too much at stake not to be.
Tender like fiercely fighting for
the soft parts of us trying to make it,
the possibilities of right relationships,
the justice that changes everything – roots deep.

M’s stunning words offer profound guidance as I discern how to best show up in spiritual leadership right now.

Our world needs spiritual leaders who are done “playing nice.” We cannot disappear into a neutral, passive “niceness” that spiritually bypasses the reasons people often seek care in the first place.

Spiritual caregivers cannot be politically indifferent because care is not ambivalent in times of injustice. Loving people should not be apathetic when other people are suffering.

Spiritual care that is both attuned to the interpersonal condition and the state of the external world is necessary for a liberatory future.

May we embody radical tenderness as we witness the pain of the world and care for our communities.