Pastors brush up against the boundaries of life and death frequently, and during my five years as a hospital chaplain who worked particularly with people at the end of their lives, I found that boundary to be one that was often porous, rich and fruitful both for those crossing it and for those accompanying them to its edge.

I am co-pastor with my husband, Michael, at Our Savior Lutheran Church & Student Center in Hanover, New Hampshire. We live in the nearby Lebanon woods. My first call was to Holy Nativity Lutheran Church in New Hope, Minnesota, and Michael and I have served at University Lutheran Church in Cambridge, Massachusettes, the Vienna Community Church in Vienna, Austria, and the English-speaking congregation of the Lutheran Church of the Redeemer in the Old City of Jerusalem.