Rev. McKinley L. Sims, M.Div.

Friends,

There’s a lot going on right now. Understatement. Big understatement. But the undercurrent of all that’s going on right now is the tension between the great uncertainty of this upcoming election season, and the great promise of what the future holds for our nation and for us here at Restoration. I’m so proud of the work put in by members of the Justice Council in registering folks to vote and canvassing according to their conscience and religious beliefs, for reaching out to our Muslim neighbors to break bread together in these divided times, and for making sure that our church is not a just a building with four walls, but is a living community that overflows into the community.

We have guests at Restoration for the next couple of weeks, and I encourage everyone to be mindful of their privacy and space, as well as reaching out to say hi when you can. The families are wonderful, and I’m glad we have the space to help out.

Speaking of helping out, I wanted to offer a personal story up on this Sunday as a respite from the anxiety and dis-ease that I’ve been feeling in the run up to this November 6th Election Day. I’m planning on driving folks to polls and being here to greet and be present to those who come to Restoration to exercise their civil rights. I plan on doing the small things as often as possible and I believe that if we all do the small things together, the big things will take care of themselves.

To help frame the story on Sunday, I need to illustrate a main sticking point about my life while growing up: the presence of something called a cattle-guard. Do you know what a cattle-guard is? It’s this thing:

It keeps cattle from wandering off onto the road, and it serves as a kind of border crossing point for ranch land. I’ll let you ponder what the heck I might talk about in regards to this piece of equipment, but I assure you…it’s a fun story.

Come take a breath before we dive back in, come what may, to November, to our lives, to our nation’s future. We’re in this together, and that’s what gives me hope.