Some of you, who are involved at the Annual Conference or denominational level, know that one of the ways I serve our connectional church is by serving on the Board of Directors of the UM General Commission on Religion and Race - a commission that was established in 1968, in the newly formed United Methodist Church, to hold the denomination “accountable in its commitment to reject the sin of racism in every aspect of the life of the church.” And while our primary focus continues to be the racial disparity with the church and beyond, our work now extends to a broader context - nationalism, homophobia, disability awareness, gender bias - because we know that all oppression is connected, and therefore cannot be dismantled in isolation.