This is the season when ice houses begin to multiply on Lake Waconia. A village springs to life atop the frozen lake. Each day it grows.

Yet to many who have made their home here, this is normal. This is a Minnesota lake community, so there is always someone casting a line into the lake—even if the water is frozen. 

When I was recently in Israel, I was struck that Jesus made his home by a lake. In Matthew 4:13, when Jesus chose a home from which to begin his missionary enterprise, he chose a fishing village on the Sea of Galilee in a community of fishermen. It was here in this lakeside town, Capernaum, that Jesus began calling disciples. 

I imagine this choice was intentional. Lakeside communities have a knack for getting out from behind the comfort of their walls even when challenges persist outside. The lake itself seems to beckon us, to call us, outside—to cast our nets (or lines) into the lake again and again. 

Just as Jesus did at the shore of the Sea of Galilee, he does today along the shores of Lake Waconia. He calls to us, “Come and follow me.” Get out from behind your four walls and go into the community casting widely the love and forgiveness of God in Jesus Christ. 

At Faith’s recent annual meeting we named increasing our engagement with the city of Waconia and surrounding communities as a goal for the next year. So, we will be working together to bravely get the word out about how God is at work at Faith. We will communicate to the community more clearly, inviting our neighbors into the gifts of our church. And we will find increased opportunities to serve, showing up as those called into service by Christ. This is something to which we’re called—to which you’re called.