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Happenings at the Hutch

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15 September 2022

Kia ora e te whānau,

Ko tenei wiki ko te wiki o te reo maori, e whakanui ana, e whakamaumahara ana ki a tatou ano mo te whai waahi ki te whakaora i nga mea kei te ngaro.

This week is māori language week, where we celebrate and remind ourselves of the importance to participate in restoring what is in danger of being lost.

Colleen and I have had the privilege of spending time in Cambodia and discovering ways to communicate meaning in another language in ways that our own simply can’t do! God has given us millions of languages that even combined can’t express His beauty and nature. 

Confession: my opening statement was a Google translation of the English. It’s probably wrong. But I have a personal goal to one day be able to write a Paper Plane in Te Reo Māori on my own.

Why? Why this emphasis on Te Reo and on understanding Te Ao Māori (the Māori world)?

Simply this: a people, a culture, a language and a land has been negatively impacted by unjust actions, and our God is a God of Justice – of righting wrongs, of restoring people and places.  God seeks to express himself and make himself known in and through the cultures and languages of all people! We are called to participate in this.

We started our series on Micah last Sunday. The prophets focused on addressing the social issues and events of the day – often where minorities and vulnerable groups were disadvantaged.

What would the prophets say to us today in New Zealand? The Baptist movement has often been a prophetic voice on social issues, and today the Baptist Union is working hard to play its part in this area.

I want to be part of that.

Adam

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144 Sawyers Arms Road
Christchurch, New Zealand

+64 3 352 4227

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