Quick Summary:

In the first of four Servant Songs in the book of Isaiah we learn that God’s tactics for dealing with the world are not what we expect. "A bruised reed he will not break; a dimly burning wick he will not quench." The vulnerable ones—who the world would just as soon cast aside—God’s Servant shelters, nurtures, tends to. This is an image of gentleness, patience, persistence, and a willingness to abide and even to shelter vulnerability.

Today as we stand at the Jordan River with John and Jesus, they summon us to reorient our lives around what God intends; to reorient our lives around the servanthood of which Isaiah speaks. This call to servanthood begins with baptism--a lifelong sacrament of reorientation and rebirth.

God's covenant with us in baptism extends throughout the whole of our existence and even beyond, never loosening its claim upon our lives, no matter how bruised or dimly burning we might become.