Niceness isn’t enough
by David Sellnow
In Minnesota, where I live, there has long been a reputation that people are “Minnesota nice.” There are mixed emotions about what that means. Positive connotations point to politeness, courteousness, and goodwill. But there are negative undertones: sticking to small talk and surface-level relationships while burying deeper concerns, keeping people in their place and leaving inequities unchallenged, exhibiting airs of judgmentalism and passive-aggressiveness. It can be more about the appearance of niceness—wanting others to think we are nice people—than it is about genuine commitments to kindness.
“Minnesota nice” was deeply challenged recently, as thousands of federal immigration enforcement agents descended on the Twin Cities and their suburbs, and then expanded to Saint Cloud, Rochester, Mankato, and other cities in Greater Minnesota. Many Minnesotans were motivated to move from being “nice” and avoiding conflict to standing up for their neighbors and their communities. Niceness isn’t enough when people’s lives are at stake. Mutual aid networks sprang up in neighborhood after neighborhood, to get groceries to people scared to leave their homes, to do laundry and run errands for them, to give rides to work and medical appointments, to raise money to help affected families pay their rent.
Niceness isn’t enough in a world where the poor, the marginalized, the outsiders are pushed down and shoved out When persons in power have overstepped their authority and have begun to abuse and demean and dehumanize the people underneath them, God‘s prophets have not kept quiet or stayed passive. Prophets like Micah spoke out forcefully to heads of state and rulers, saying, “Should you not know justice?—you who hate the good and love the evil, who tear the skin off my people and the flesh off their bones” (Micah 3:1,2)? He excoriated them for abhorring justice and perverting all equity, for building their country with blood and wrongdoing (Micah 3:9,10), warning that by practicing cruelty and heartlessness they would cause the ruin of their nation. Zechariah set before the people the right path: “Render true judgments, show kindness and mercy, do not oppress the widow, the orphan, the alien, or the poor; and do not devise evil in your hearts against others” (Zechariah 7:9,10). Isaiah added: “If you offer your food to the hungry and satisfy the needs of the afflicted, then your light shall rise in the darkness and your gloom be like the noonday” (Isaiah 58:10).
Scripture’s instruction to us is not, “Be nice and non-confrontational.” Rather, we are asked to love our neighbors as ourselves (Mark 12:31). That command concerns all neighbors—all the persons around us, not just those who look like us or share the same heritage. God told his people, “When an alien resides with you in your land, you shall not oppress the alien. The alien who resides with you shall be to you as the native-born among you; you shall love the alien as yourself” (Leviticus 19:33,34).
God’s people too easily can forget that once we were not his people, but were welcomed by him. Once we had not received mercy, but were brought into his mercy (1 Peter 2:10). We ourselves were “aliens and exiles” (1 Peter 2:11), but have been brought into his kingdom by God’s limitless compassion. God demonstrated his love for us “in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).
God’s glory is seen most evident in Christ’s ultimate act of sacrifice on the cross. Jesus did not enter our world proclaiming religious nationalism or asserting a dominant group’s position and beliefs over all others. The way of Christ is much different than the way of those who would push out or push down minority groups and individuals whom they view as substandard. The way of Christ is one of giving ourselves to others. In Christ, we seek to lift all up equally as fellow human beings, all of us together having value as objects of God’s grace.
Let this Lent be a time not just for giving up some bad habit to make ourselves feel nicer or more virtuous. Niceness isn’t enough. Let us embark on a pattern of committed love in action, guided by the love we have known in Christ. Let us love not merely “in word or speech but in deed and truth” (1 John 3:18).
A recent blog post here that you may have missed: What’s in a name?
For a previous Lenten message here on The Electric Gospel, see:
* “A Point of View: I Am Uncomfortable with ‘Minnesota Nice,’” The Inclusion Solution (5/8/2017).
** “The Eeriness of Minnesota Nice,” CrimeReads (10/12/2021).
*** “In Minneapolis, Community Care is the Model for Resistance,” Prism (2/16/2026).
“Scripture quotations are taken from the New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
