Colleen was a good woman with a bad heart. She had been a member of my last congregation for more than thirty years, ever since she'd married a man who'd grown up in our church. But for several years, she had been living with a weakened heart. It was just one of those things that afflict some people, and she'd been doctoring for it for some time. Initially, she'd kept working, but as she missed more and more days on the job because of the problems from her heart, it eventually became clear that she could not continue. By the time I arrived at that parish, Colleen, in her late fifties, was essentially homebound.

Because of the limits imposed by her health, she hadn't been able to come to church in more than two years. I'd visited her in her home a few times, and I also saw her at the hos…