Bothering Friends and Presidents

From the time of my return to Melbourne till about Christmas, I vigorously pursued the answers to these questions with anyone who would talk to me about it.

Soon, however, my persistent questions of the Lutheran position made my fellow pastors uncomfortable and they began to withdraw from our company and friendship. At the advice of my president I stopped worrying other pastors with my questions (save the few he had instructed me to talk to) and followed his instructions as faithfully as I could.

I maintained e-mail contact with two seminary professors but neither convinced me of anything substantial. I should add here that one of them produced some very clever and inventive ways of justifying the Lutheran claims to catholicity, even if they didn’t stand up to the final ‘how do you know?’ question. The trouble was that he was almost the only Lutheran in the world who held that position, so it couldn't be taken seriously as a 'Lutheran' position. I also kept up some conversation with my confessor father and my zone counsellor. Neither had any answers save some amateur psychology which dodged the questions altogether.

My district president offered his own theory that I was merely experiencing one of the many (expected) crisis in a young pastor’s ministry. He also hinted that my relationship with my father might have influenced my thinking. He ‘strongly advised’ that I see a psychologist (a specific man he recommended) for a while to sort things out.

Next: The Visit to the Psychologist