Fierce, Tender, and Transformative Love

May 2025

Beloveds of The Mountain Top,

As the blossoms of May sprout around us, we find ourselves called into a deeper exploration of what love truly looks like—especially love rooted in justice, mutuality, and equity. This month, our theme is Love as Equity—a fierce, tender, and transformative force that moves us to not only feel love, but to live it in ways that create space for all to flourish.

To love equitably is to recognize that fairness isn’t always sameness. Sometimes, love asks us to yield, to decenter, or to relinquish—power, privilege, comfort, assumptions—so that another may rise fully into their dignity, their voice, their freedom.

So I ask you gently, lovingly: Where in your life is love asking you to give something up, so that someone else might fully flourish?

It is a question of sacred invitation. An invitation into co-liberation. Into interdependence. Into the kind of beloved community we dream of, pray for, and strive to build together.

Throughout May, we are uplifting the voices, art, and legacy of Asian and Pacific Islander Americans through our social media series, “31 Days of Celebrating Asian & Pacific Islanders in American Culture.” This is not just about representation—it is about honoring the richness, resistance, and resilience of our API siblings, many of whom have shaped, challenged, and expanded our collective spirit and understanding of what it means to be fully human.

As you journey with us this month, I encourage you to engage with the stories we share. Listen deeply. Celebrate joyfully. Reflect honestly. And most importantly, allow these stories to shift something in you—however small—that makes more room for equity in your relationships, your leadership, and your love.

Join us in May:

• 5/4 6pm MT: 1st Sunday Gathering on ZOOM
• 5/14 1pm MT: Vision & Values on Google Meet
• 5/14 5pm and 7pm MT: Covenanting Conversations on ZOOM
• 5/18 6pm MT: Sunday Community Celebration on ZOOM and in person Los Angeles, CA & Denver, CO
• 5/28 1pm MT: Anti Racist Leadership for Religious Professionals on Google Meet
• 5/28 6pm MT: Race & Congregational Life on ZOOM

Please know that as you wrestle with these big questions, as you face the growing pains of transformation and the grief that sometimes comes with letting go, you are not alone. I am here to walk with you. Our community is here to hold you. And Love itself—great, wide, abundant Love—is here to sustain you.

With all my heart and with deep gratitude for the gift of you,

Pastor AJ
Pastor AJ Blackwood
Community Minister
The Mountain Top: A UU BIPOC Community

Office:  720-336-0910
Office:  714-699-3313 (direct/text)

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