The Gospel is about beginning again, again.
Carmen Fowler LaBerge
In the beginning (the Beginning beginning) everything was as it should be. Everything was as God created it to be. Nothing was out of order. Nothing was broken. Everything worked perfectly. Nothing required charging, fueling, insuring, fixing or replacing. Nothing and no one was obsolete. Nothing was ever late or missing or lost. That was the beautiful, perfect reality before the realities of sin and death.
On this side of the Fall everything is broken, marred, subject to decay and death. Nothing is as God intended. All creation groans with eager longing for redemption and we see and experience the effects of that groaning in our bodies, in our relationships, in our culture and in ourselves. Things are not as they were meant to be. But God does not leave us nor does He forsake us! The good news of the Gospel is that God redeems – He provides us a way to begin again again.
The Gospel is the redemptive reality of God’s righting what was wronged in the Fall and allowing us to begin again again.
As individuals, couples, families, churches, organizations, societies and cultures we all fall short of the glory of God. We all suffer the deep effects of sin and no part of who we are escapes the power of sin’s depravity. We all need redeeming – we all need Jesus – we all need resurrection hope in both this life and the life to come.
The Presbyterian Lay Committee board of directors and staff recognize the periodic need to begin in ministry again. The culture and national climate in which this organization was formed (1965) no longer exists. Likewise, the Presbyterian family of denominations has multiplied even as the primary denomination we have traditionally served has dramatically constricted. The advent of social media and digital real-time reporting has made print journalism all but obsolete. And yet, the PLC continues to sense a powerful calling to speak the truth in love to Christians adrift in a culture of accommodation to relativism and pluralism.
We are not going anywhere, we are going everywhere.
We will continue to work for and with partners within the PCUSA through our Remnant ministry even as we reach out in new ways to new sectors of the Church and culture through other ministries. We will continue to publish at the Layman.org even as we launch new sites designed to speak to and with a larger constituency.
Indeed, we are beginning again again. And we invite you to join us in this redemptive expression of God’s goodness and grace.
Yes, there is grief in the loss of what has been. But there is great joy in moving with great anticipation into the future filled with hope that God has planned. As we embark on this new beginning we welcome you to join us. Forgetting now what lies behind but pressing on to what lies ahead – taking hold of that for which Christ Jesus has taken hold of us – all for His glory.
Carmen