Detail:
Our Guest: Rev. Tim Rynearson
Christian Decision Making at Life’s End handout
Decisions, Decisions, Decisions … When someone’s health is failing there are so many decisions to be made. Where should they live? What treatment should they undergo? When is “enough, enough”? Years ago, people died from famine, disease, war, and poor nutrition. Now they often fade away from sight, from others, from life. In the midst of this, how does a Christian decide what should and should not be done? Martin Luther wrote: “We should familiarize ourselves with death during our lifetime, inviting death into our presence when it is still at a distance and not on the move.”
Rev. Tim Rynearson serves as one of the pastors of Peace, Redeemer, and Zion Lutheran Churches, Brookings, Flandreau, and White, South Dakota. He is also on the faculty of the Institute of Lutheran Theology (an independent Lutheran Seminary primarily serving the new Lutheran churches: CALC, LCMC, NALC). He is a member of the American Society of Bioethics and Humanities and has taught ethics and bioethics at South Dakota State University. He has spoken across South Dakota on end-of-life issues for South Dakota Lutherans For Life. He and his wife Ruth (nee Theiss) are about to celebrate 40 years of marriage. They have two children and four grandchildren (one whom they are looking forward to meeting in August).
Recorded May 17, 2022.