The United States boasts over 779 standing, active lighthouses today. The oldest active lighthouse is in Sandy Hook, NJ which was lit on June 11, 1764. The most famous non-U.S. lighthouse is that of Alexandria. Built around 280 BC, the Lighthouse of Alexandria was constructed of large block in three tiers, reaching over 350ft tall. Due to three separate earthquakes over the span of centuries, the lighthouse finally collapsed into the bay in AD 1303. As recently as 2012, world heritage organizations seek to preserve the landmark even if it can only be reached underwater—thus declaring the protection for “submerged cultural sites.” Is it odd to preserve a ruined lighthouse, submerged underwater?
On this side of heaven, we Christians perhaps appear as a “submerged cultural site.” But there is nothing ruined in us any longer. We are on our way up out of the water, as described in Romans 6:4. Through our baptism we declare that there are many standing, active lighthouses even in the midst of a sunken world. The proclamation of our light is not to show the ruins or the reef, but, as any good lighthouse, to show the path to safety in Jesus Christ. Yes, the sunken world is broken, but the lighthouse tells the story of a new and better way—not just of two-thousand years ago, but of an eternity where Christ still reigns supreme from out of the depths of our conquered death.
How are you shining that light this week? How can you pray for those two believers going to be baptized this coming Sunday?
Pastor Chris
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