Red Shoe Pastor

Writings of Rev. Robert Glen Brown (Robby)

A space for compassion and love.

Tag: Healing

  • The Problem with Our Contempt

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    When our hearts get sick with hatred, we start dehumanizing the other and no longer see suffering but just justice served. Once you celebrate the suffering of one, then there is no bar to cross of how evil or bad someone needs to be to celebrate their suffering, and eventually you cheer when ordinary people… Read more

  • I Want to Hear Your Story

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    So, this is my call: tell me (or someone else) your story. I have ears that provide great pastoral care while sharing “an amount” of alcohol, I have eyes that love to read the stories of others, I have a desire to know you deeper, even or especially if I do not know you much… Read more

  • It Happened

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    All of it happened. And it was all bad. Some of it threatened me, threatened God’s call for me, or threatened my marriage, and the virus took the most innocent of us. It happened. And your trauma happened, too. Read more

  • Why Confess? (An Ash Wednesday Reflection)

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    Every Sunday, immediately after the first hymn, I invite a group of people to join me in a prayer to confess our brokenness. I invite them to publicly pray for forgiveness (more on this in a second) and to publicly call themselves sinners. Every Sunday we read a bit of a psalm together, sing a… Read more

  • Silence About the Hardest Problems

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    “It bothers me that, when we need the most help and we suffer the most, we cannot ask for help. The hardest problems of this world should not leave us abandoned like Christ at his end.” Read more

  • How Long, O Lord?

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    I still have no words. The beginning of Psalm 13 has rang in my ears since I first started watching the attack on our democracy yesterday: “How long, O LORD?” How long will we deny the problem?How long will our leaders deny truth?How long will the powerful sow seeds of hatred?How long will can we… Read more

  • Self-Care and Novocaine

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    I need to confess today. Actually, I confessed multiple times last week, but today I confess publicly: Before Thursday, when I found myself with zero choice, I had not seen a dentist since age twelve. Going to the dentist after so long scared me.  The actual dentistry did not scare me–the needles and drills and… Read more

  • Stop Hiding

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    Sermon on Genesis 3:8-12 – Stop Hiding We need to set up the scene.  This immediately follows creation.  God gave Adam and Eve one instruction—one singular rule—and this passage happens as a direct result of them failing to follow that rule. We cannot ignore that; they broke the rule, and that indiscretion had consequences.  Remember… Read more