Red Shoe Pastor

Writings of Rev. Robert Glen Brown (Robby)

A space for compassion and love.

Category: Pastor Stuff

  • Fidget Spinners and Rejecting the Youth

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    I can speak to churches wanting youth but treating the youth like failed adults who would really love church and all it represents if they would just grow up. I can speak of the Church rejecting the teachings of Jesus – and acting like the disciples in Mark 10:13-16 – to make the Church serve… 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

  • Blessed Agony

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    This moment – this moment when the weight and agony of seeking perfection makes me question everything I know I do well – fills me with such joy that I can – that I get to – do this for a family that expects nothing more than just a few words taken from a book,… Read more

  • Two Letters to My Beloveds

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    We are not enemies and neither group is evil nor unredeemable; may we, as the one who know and understand, start fighting our battles in that truth. Read more

  • The Difference in Murders

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    His death was senseless, and we long for something to make sense of it.  Making it about race helps the world make sense – even if horrific – and without that, we lost a little boy for no reason. Read more

  • Pastoring in the Tension

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    We have to choose to pastor in the tension – or choose not to. I just do not know how we sustain this. Or is it just me? Read more

  • Who Am I?

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    I am a pastor. My pastoral identity demands I provide pastoral care. Providing pastoral care for my entire congregation – not just those who agree with – require me to step lightly. If I am enough, and God made me who I am intentionally, that must be enough. Thought leaders will – and have –… Read more

  • I Did Not Forget

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    We had an opportunity, 18 years ago, to say that we care only about the content of your character and become a nation of unending lines outside blood donation centers and responding to acts of terror with love, compassion, and strength of character. We could have become the nation of our ideals and our promises. Read more

  • Scared to Preach

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    “I am scared to preach and paralyzed every week,” … I did not exaggerate or say anything close to untrue when I spoke those words a few Sundays ago. From the moment I got back from Festival of Homiletics, I have had constant, paralyzing fear when it comes to writing and giving sermons. I sat… Read more

  • Resist Hopeless Fatalism (or Stop Diagnosing Everything as Terminal)

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    I can own my personal frustration and purported hopelessness as of late.  I read my public writing – and especially my personal writing – and I can see how one might read my as hopeless.  I want things to go differently, I want a different world and/or a different situation constantly. But I am still Read more