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The Heceta Head Lighthouse is the most photographed lighthouse on the Oregon Coast.  If you pull off Highway 101 just south of Heceta Head close to the Sea Lion Caves you will understand why this lighthouse is frequently captured in pixels.

If the lighthouse is so photogenic then why this pic? It hardly shows anything of the lighthouse.

We ought not forget why this lighthouse exists. It was a calm day when this picture was taken but imagine six to eight feet swells filling this fissure. The power is amazing, the sound deafening.  A wave would have no problem sweeping you off the rocks if you put yourself in harms way. One of my high school classmates lost her brother because of such a wave.

The lighthouse is there to save lives.

“He fulfills the desire of those who fear him; he also hears their cry and saves them.” Psalm 145:19 English Standard Version

That is why the Church exists. Now granted, we don’t do the saving, that’s the work of the Holy Spirit, but the Spirit uses the Church, the baptized, the fumbling, mumbling community of saints to bring people into the presence of the Holy God.

Let’s not forget why God “calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies the whole Christian church on earth,” to quote Luther. His desire is that we be his life giving presence in the rocky terrain of life.