Red Shoe Pastor

Writings of Rev. Robert Glen Brown (Robby)

A space for compassion and love.

Category: Pastor Stuff

  • Breathing (and Practicing What You Preach)

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    So outside we went. She sat in the sun, I sat on a chair, and I just stopped: stopped thinking, stopped doing, stopped talking. I let the sun hit my face, the warm air calm me, and I just enjoyed the moment, listening for God to tell me something. Read more

  • Fr(act)ured

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    My response shouldn’t be, “How did it get so bad?” My response should be, “How have we fractured that relationship – again – knowing what has been given and knowing what can be taken away?” How the hell are we so fractured when we have Jesus, we have the instruction, we know what the right… Read more

  • The Problem of Pastors and Politics

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    Now if I say that a chicken sandwich at Chick-fil-A* was tasty but the breading was a bit soggy, I have expert status because I eat a lot but not because I’m a pastor. I’m just a sad, sad man at that point. But if I say that one candidate is better than another, my… Read more

  • The Bible Trivia Exam came up again…

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    …OR, maybe just maybe, the PCC can stop being stuck in a “memorization is the only way” mentality with the BCE… Read more

  • I Hurt

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    The correct action when this happens is to mourn. It is not politicize, it is not find our bully pulpits and soap boxes, it is not call for radical changes and for people to resign because they didn’t make the correct accusation, it is not stand on the bodies of those who lost their lives… Read more

  • I Want to Be a Sheep

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    14 “I am the good shepherd. I know my own sheep and they know me, 15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father. I give up my life for the sheep. – John 10:14-15 CEB (Heads up: this blog has always been a place for me to be vulnerable in a Read more

  • Ash Wednesday is Dark Hope

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    I love Ash Wednesday.  It’s not something I realized that I loved until I started planning the worship service for tonight, but it is something that I love. All throughout seminary there was this hesitation to admit that we were incapable – on our own – to contribute anything to God’s mission, that we brought Read more

  • A Moderate in a Radical World

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    I just listened to this podcast and at the very tail end, when discussing why young protesters are more effective today than 20 years ago, one of the qualities of young protesters were described as was, “More radical.” It stopped me in my tracks.  The whole episode is worth a listen* but that one little bit Read more

  • A(n Unanswered) Prayer

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    (UPDATE: As I read old posts to transition to the new blog, I see pieces that are a snapshot of what we went through before and not where we are now.  So many of our prayers were answered in a way that we love, just on God’s timeline and in ways we couldn’t understand in the Read more

  • Responding to Senseless Tragedy

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    My soul weeps at every senseless death, and stands horrified if that death is intentional at the hands of another person. Period.  Nothing I say after this has any influence on what I just said.  I will draw a line in the sand and make sure that everyone knows what they are responding to. I Read more