So What has brought me here?

To answer this I must go back in time to:

November 1999 Nearing the end of our sixth and final year in seminary, I told my classmates that I would be completing a 10 month call in an Australian parish and then moving to the USA, to take up study for a Masters degree in theology. There was talk, even then, of continuing to a doctorate.

February 2000 after serving that parish for only three months the members asked us if we would consider staying for another six months. We gave it serious thought. The idea was appealing because we were already worried about finances for our study in the USA and family were not being supportive. But we had committed to placing our lives in God’s hands no matter what the cost, so we re-affirmed our intention to travel to the USA in August of 2000.

March 2000. A month later the district president asked me to consider a delay of one year before travelling. I refused on the same grounds as our first decision. A week later he sat me down after the congregations call meeting (where they decide who they would call to be their pastor after I had gone to the USA) and told me they had called me. He asked me to seriously consider a permanent call to this parish. I was impressed with his persistence and that of the parish, so I asked why he thought I should stay. He said he thought I was too young to be achieving higher academic qualifications and thought I should seek some parish experience before aiming to study.

He encourage me to study locally (here in Melbourne) which seemed to contradict his own reasoning that I was too young for such study. I am unsure if part of his motive was to keep me away from my intended destination in the USA, which has a reputation as a conservative institution, and not his cup of tea at all.

Seeing the strain Susie was under from parents and finances I chose, in the end, to put my new family first and not risk harming them in any way. We accepted the permanent call to the Parish. The parishioners were overjoyed and we felt welcomed and affirmed in our decision. Family were more relieved than anything that we would be local for a few more years at least.

Not long after agreeing to stay in Australia I was flooded with requests to be involved in various youth district events and committees and was also told by senior pastors I was considered a budding young leader in conservative circles of the Lutheran pastorate in Victoria and South Australia. I was sceptical about that. It sounded much more like an attempt to gain loyalty by flattery than a genuine observation.

Even if this was true, it was not to be.