Red Shoe Pastor

Writings of Rev. Robert Glen Brown (Robby)

A space for compassion and love.

Category: Pastor Stuff

  • Be Kind To Yourself

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    Be kind to yourself. Stop judging yourself, stop trying to make yourself fit into the morality of anyone else — myself and the Church included — stop “shoulding” all over yourself. The world is better — fuller, richer, more beautiful — with you in it… Read more

  • 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

  • It Is Not Enough, but I love You

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    I love you, and I hope I love you enough to break open your heart a little to see the pain and struggle in another — and to condemn every action that would cause that pain. I love you, and my heart breaks for you. Read more

  • I (Finally) Found What to Say

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    If you have contempt for another, if you celebrate the suffering of another, if you condemn another, you do not love. Period. Love is universal and available to all, not just those you think need or deserve it more. Read more

  • Believe It for Each Other

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    Maybe, if we expressly believe it for each other, maybe if we can tell each other over and over that we are enough, maybe believing it for someone who cannot believe it for themselves can be enough, at least for the moment. 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

  • The (Chilling) Flag Outside the Window

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    And so I stare at that flag, let the chill go down my spine, and preach against it while it definitely flies out the window. Read more

  • God, Save Us…Hosanna…Save Us…Please…

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    Where can we find hope? I really do not know. Some days I feel like a fraud in the pulpit because I really do wonder how to have hope when exploitation, violence, and hatred grow like an unstoppable force — and we are not an immovable object. 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