A friend and clergy colleague, Rev. Heather Hensarling, posted the following statement on her Facebook page yesterday (as General Conference began). I’m sharing it with her permission. If I substitute “Council Grove” for “Forest Hill” and “Great Plains” for “Mississippi,” it speaks for me.

Today, and in the days ahead, let us all be in prayer for our dear, United Methodist Church. This church has helped to shape and form the person I have become and am becoming. For better or worse, she has held me in her arms and has imbued in me the greatest knowledge of all…”Jesus loves me. This I know for the Bible tells me so.” I may not be the best Christian in the world, but I am a follower of Jesus because of those first little lessons I learned at Forest Hill Methodist Church. Church, I have no desire to be proud of you, but I do not want to be embarrassed by you either. GC2016: Be faithful. Be kind. See the good in one another and love one another just as Christ has loved you. Stand on the promises and not on the differences. And to my own Mississippi Delegation, remember to pause and pray before you speak. Pause and pray before you vote. Seek the face of Christ in every face represented. And know that we are praying for each and every one of you. May you be grounded in peace and love from the inside out. God bless us everyone.