Sunday November 29, 2015. Ping-tung, Taiwan.
The Drekay Bible translation team asked me to preach today at Laladhengane / Mei-yuan美園 / Beautiful Garden Presbyterian Church. My friend and coworker Rev Pelenge (陳松得牧師 General Secretary of the Drekay Presbytery) translated my message from Mandarin into Drekay. I shared from John 11, that Jesus is the Resurrection and the Life. During the Lord’s Supper we felt the presence of our Crucified and Risen Lord in a very special way.
This is the Drekay Church where one of our lead translators Rev Adriu (賴阿忠牧師) was serving when he had his debilitating stroke in May 2014. When I visited him once in hospital, our eyes seemed to connect as I told him how the translation team was progressing. Unfortunately, the stroke was so severe that Adriu never recovered. He died peacefully on October 30, 2015 with his four children and other family members at his side. He was 68 years old. His beloved wife cared for him during the early months of his stroke then, sadly, developed cancer. She died in April 2015.
I have never known a congregation where the serving minister’s wife and the minister passed away within 6 months of each other. During the past year and a half the 120 members of Laladhengane PC never stopped loving and supporting their pastor and his family. They gave Adriu’s family his monthly stipend throughout his illness, as if he were preaching and caring for them rather than lying motionless in bed. Today the Church presented the family with a bereavement gift of over CDN$10,000, a gift originally intended for Adriu’s retirement. Such love and care by a congregation for its pastor and family is an inspiring witness and genuine response to the compassionate love of God revealed in Jesus Christ.
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The Drekay Presbytery held a large memorial service for Rev Adriu on November 6 when grieving family and friends gave thanks to God for this faithful and gifted servant of Jesus Christ. Unable to attend the Presbytery funeral, I thank God I could speak today at Adriu’s most recent Church. This Sunday marked the end of what the Drekay people call the “official period of mourning.” Adriu’s siblings, children, their families and many friends joined with his Church family to remember him and thank God for their beloved relative and pastor. It was a privilege to share with them the Good News of the eternal hope we have through faith in Jesus Christ.
It was also an honour to represent Rev Daniel Cheng (鄭正人牧師 General Secretary of the BSTWN), Rev Hsu (許承道牧師 Board Chair of the BSTWN) plus praying friends in the PCC, to pay tribute to Adriu. When you think of Bible translation work that we continue to support among the Drekay people, please remember Adriu’s family and friends in your prayers. The translation team and I all miss him very much.
Adriu was born into the family of a Drekay chief, a role he later inherited in accordance with Drekay custom. When he was 12 years old, his family sent him to Hua-lien to attend the Mustard Seed Mission School run by PCC missionary Lillian Dickson. He excelled in his studies, graduated, then studied Bible and theology at Yu-shan (the PCT’s indigenous seminary). Years later he earned a Doctorate in Missiology. Adriu was a gifted scholar who always treasured his Drekay language, culture and customs. For decades he collected stories and insights about traditional Drekay life passed down orally from Drekay elders. Over 200 of these are posted online at the National Council for Indigenous Affairs website. His second son has been studying and working in the Indigenous Studies Department of Hua-tung University. He hopes to continue his father’s work by gradually publishing all the information Adriu left behind in order to share the riches of Drekay language and culture with others.
Adriu postponed his ordination as a PCT minister until he was 65. Instead, he served over 40 years as an “evangelist” providing pastoral leadership in a dozen Drekay churches. He preferred serving in smaller churches which gave him more time for Bible translation and other scholarly work. At the same time, he participated in the Paiwan and Drekay Presbyteries, and groups such as the PCT’s Committee for the Promotion of Indigenous Languages in Taiwan.
I only knew Adriu for three short years. He was an excellent translator and an expert in his own language and culture. He made extensive contributions to the Drekay Bible. He served faithfully on the team that first translated the New Testament (published in 2001). After that, he worked hard to prepare the Old Testament draft for Job through Malachi. Then he helped review the entire draft of Genesis to Esther. His deep learning and expertise have made significant contributions to the whole Bible. As the team and I continue to review and refine the translation, we remember Adriu and thank God for all of his input. While working we feel we can still hear him saying, as he often did, “Keep at it! This is God’s Word. Let’s translate the Bible the very best we possibly can.”
Just last week Adriu reminded the team that Drekay has different words for “crown” which we can use to distinguish Jesus’ “crown of thorns” from an athlete’s “crown of victory” from the “golden crowns” which the saints will lay before God’s heavenly throne…We had gone online and discovered an article Adriu had written about traditional Drekay head-gear or “crowns” which was posted on the National Ministry of Education’s website for The Dictionary of Taiwan Indigenous History, Language and Culture. Inspired by memories of Adriu, the team continues to work hard. We pray that we can complete the translation of the whole Bible by the fall of 2016.
A loving husband, father and grandfather. A humble and generous scholar. A caring pastor and teacher. A brilliant Bible translator. A faithful servant of <<Twaumase>> “God” and <<Yesu Kirisitu ka Takipalribulribulaneta>> “our Saviour Jesus Christ.” Adriu cherished his indigenous Drekay language and culture, and did all within his power to preserve it and pass it on to the next generation. Adriu’s parting words to his children were printed in Drekay in the bulletin at his memorial service under a beautiful photo which shows him in regal attire hand-in-hand with his beloved wife:
“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. From now on there is reserved for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have longed for his appearing.” (2 Timothy 4:7-8)
