Dying Well

Description

A real treasure: encouraging, heart-warming, informative and sensible. It answers the concern of many Christian doctors that the will o’ the wisp of medical imperialism has led the Christian community astray into excessive medicalisation of the process of dying, to the detriment of spiritual and family matters. John Wyatt writes very practically about dying with honesty and integrity. He shows us what can be learnt from Jesus’ death and resurrection. He emphasizes the ultimate conquest of death, our ‘mysterious and dreadful enemy’. This is a book for everyone, which will change souls for the better.

Over the years [John Wyatt] has made a profound difference to people’s lives and deaths… I’m giving great thanks to God that John has headed towards the pain, not away from it.

What a life-affirming book this is. Here’s a book about dying that had the curious and joyous impact of making me even more grateful for life, clearer about its preciousness, and more eager to make the most of whatever days God may grant me. The book’s brilliance lies in the effortless way John blends deep Biblical insight, long experience of compassionately accompanying the old, middle-aged, young and very young through their death, world-class medical expertise, and clear-eyed cultural critique of the way over-medicalisation has worked to strip dying of its potential to nourish spiritual growth, relational healing and enriching leave-taking. Full of careful, wise practical advice for the dying, and for all those involved, what emerges is a gentle, unsentimental, moving and liberating gift to us all.

Written with the heart of a pastor, the knowledge and skill of an experienced physician and the seasoned wisdom of a Christian believer who has walked the journey of grief himself, John Wyatt offers a pathway to ‘dying well’ for us all, however trying the circumstances of death may prove to be. Biblical, practical and full of wise insight, this deeply helpful and relevant book is important whether death seems a distant reality or is staring us in the face. Much of the material has been warmly received in the context of the Keswick Convention and I am delighted now to be able to commend it to a wider audience.

Drawing from our Christian past to help us face our future as Christians, Dying Well is wise, warm and refreshingly ‘real’.

It is easy to shrink from the subjects of death and bereavement. Here John Wyatt, an experienced physician, deals with the issues sensitively and clearly. Hidden fears are faced with comforting reassurances for those about to die as well as for their loved ones. The book deals with relevant physical, emotional and spiritual issues as well as offering practical and legal advice. Timely chapters on how the Lord Jesus faced his death, and the joys of resurrection to follow, remind us that our grief need never be without hope. Whatever brings the reader into the final valley, here is light for the way and ease for the pain.

The book, like its author, is in no doubt that death is unnatural to God’s original purpose – “the last enemy” as paul describes it – but cannot finally prevail. Yet our Father has his purposes for each of us in our death and faithful dying, and it is never too soon to begin thinking about them. We can ask for no wiser nor honest, practical and compassionate guide.