LIVE Workshop via Zoom | Tuesdays, February 3, 10, 17, and 24, 2026 from 7:00 - 9:00 PM ET
The Tender Sword—On Truth-Telling and Compassion
With Rev. Ali’a B. Edwards
An experiential workshop on the spiritual discipline of telling the truth without severing love, drawing on James Baldwin’s prophetic love and the Bodhisattva Never Disparaging’s vow to honor every being’s potential for awakening.
Workshop Cost: General Public-$160.00 · Affiliated One Spirit Alumni - $125.00 · Affiliate Today!
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In this workshop…
You will participate in communal pathfinding that bridges liberation theology, Baldwin’s prophetic Christianity, and Nichiren (Mahāyāna) Buddhism, not as theory but as embodied training. This workshop is rooted in the meeting place between prophetic love and enlightened seeing. It’s both contemplative and kinetic, literary exegesis, ethical inquiry, and meditative practice entwined.
Baldwin’s demand that love must unveil what is unseen meets the vow of the Bodhisattva Never Disparaging, who bows even to those who scorn him because his conviction in faith demands that he unfailingly perceives their innate potential for awakening. The Tender Sword explores truth-telling as an act of compassion where rebuke invites and invokes revelation rather than humiliation. We will ask ourselves:
What does it mean to love someone you must also correct?
How can truth cut through delusion without severing connection?
What is the energetic difference between a rebuke that liberates and one that shames?
This workshop is both contemplative and kinetic - an invitation to cut through delusion without severing love. Through meditation, textual reflection, and embodied dialogue, we’ll practice correction that unifies rather than punishes.
This workshop is for…
Ministers, artists, educators, and seekers who wrestle with how to engage in challenging discourse: rebuking, refuting, or remonstrating to correct without condemning, to hold boundaries without losing respect and love, or anyone seeking to refine their skills.
Attendees can look forward to leaving this workshop with embodied tools for sacred confrontation in ministry, justice work, and everyday relationships.
What you’ll Explore
The moral architecture of love and truth
How compassion transforms confrontation
The energetic difference between rebuke and shame
What you’ll Experience
Guided meditation on reverent seeing
“Compassionate Refutation” dialogues
Skill-building instruction
Reflective writing
Silence and sound integration.
What you’ll Integrate
Embodied tools for sacred confrontation
Methods for truth-telling that preserve connection
Ongoing practices of spiritual hygiene and moral courage
What you’ll Receive
Shared agreements for Right Relationship Repair
Sacred safe space for dialogue circles and practicing honesty, humility, and compassionate correction in real time
Dreaming for Sacred Visioning, Four Sessions
Session 1: Bowing to Potential
Grounding meditation and shared agreements; introducing compassionate correction as spiritual hygiene.
Session 2: The Fire and the Lotus
Close reading of Baldwin and the Lotus Sutra to uncover the shared architecture of love and truth.
Session 3: The Art of Sacred Rebuke
Practicing truth-telling without severing love through partner dialogues.
Session 4: Letters to the Beloved Foe
Writing and ritual closure to integrate lessons into ministry and daily life.
About the Presenter,
Rev. Ali’a B. Edwards (she/her)
is a multi-disciplinary artist, designer and producer, and spiritual leader crafting devotional pathways that awaken coherence, compassion, and creative power. From her projects The Monastery Within, ArtisChurch, and SoulSpa to traveling installations like The Art of Encouragement, her ministry weaves world pilgrimage and prayer into a single practice of presence.
She guides movement builders, artists, caregivers, and ministers in discovering the sacred strategy within their own creativity. She serves One Spirit as a Facilitating Dean.
“I am offering this workshop because we live in a time of moral confusion where silence is mistaken for peace and outrage for clarity. The Tender Sword offers a disciplined alternative: how to speak truth as an act of compassion. ”
Where can I access the workshop?
All One Spirit workshops are hosted on Hylo - our online community platform. Workshop access will be provided via email after registration is complete. Please check your spam and/or promotions folders for your confirmation email from One Spirit. You will be guided to create a Hylo account, if you don’t already have one, and then given access to the Course Hylo Board, where you will find the Zoom Link, Course Materials (when posted), and Course Recordings (within 72 hours of the live class).