An actual New York City subway announcement made as a train pulled into the station and the doors did not open as they should: "This train is out of service due to a mechanical problem. The doors will not open. Please leave the train immediately."

Ever feel like your life is a bit like that? You know what you are supposed to do, but can't see your way to getting there for numerous reasons. No matter how try you hard your way seems blocked. Sometimes it is our own doing, as we sabotage ourselves. Other times the way is blocked from another putting an obstacle in our path. Figuring out a direction for our lives is hard enough even without the obstacles that will come our way. Often the directions of life are as confusing as that train conductor's announcement – here's what you are supposed to do, but you can't. In the face of it all have you ever found yourself saying, Ok, God, just give me a clear sign … let me know I'm following the right path … doing the right thing … listening to the your voice.

It is in that context that we explore the two scriptures lessons read this morning. First is the baptism of Jesus. John the Baptist has come out of the wilderness and is baptizing at the Jordan River. John speaks in previous verses of the nearness of God's kingdom, and how close the time is of complete fulfillment of God's promises. As he speaks and baptizes, his cousin Jesus appears and requests baptism. John is understandably taken aback by the request and protests: "It should be you baptizing me, not the other way around." But Jesus insists that this is the proper way for now: "Do it. God's work, putting things right all these centuries, is coming together right now in this baptism." What I understand Jesus to be saying in this is that in being baptized in the same way as everyone else, he is continuing to know what it means to be fully human. The incarnate God identifies with humanity completely. Our baptism liturgy states that our baptism is the sign and seal of our acceptance into God's kingdom. It is our public marking and declaration that we are the children of God. So it is for Jesus. In his baptism he begins his public ministry. And the heavens open up to declare that God is thrilled: "This is my Son, chosen and marked by my love, delight of my life." God's delight in this baptism echoes the opening words of this morning's reading from Isaiah: "Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my spirit upon him."

This reading from Isaiah comes from what is known as second Isaiah. It was written as the Babylonian exile was ending and the people of Israel were released from the captivity. The chapters of second Isaiah contain a message of trust and hope that exile will end, and God will once again be with the people of Israel. Our text speaks of a person who will fulfill God's purpose, one who even though innocent will suffer for the cause of God's people. This is one of the four Servant Songs in second Isaiah that speak of this person who will be God's special agent. No one knows exactly who Isaiah had in mind when he wrote these words, but the Christian church has seen the suffering servant as being embodied in the life and person of Jesus.

This public declaration of Jesus' ministry, and the leadership of Isaiah's suffering servant are what I'd like to lift up this morning. First because our world … our lives are often like the directions of the train conductor. We watch as nations edge closer to the brink of disintegration. Every day I get news stories from our United Methodist press of the devastation going on in Kenya and Zimbabwe … of how the lives of people like you and me are being destroyed because of the greed and ambition of another. In the Middle East if ten people are killed on one side, it is matched with a killing of that many more on the other side. As we escalate our involvement again in Afghanistan we find ourselves both feeding and bombing the country. Much of our world is as confusing as the train conductor's announcement – you need to get out, but the doors won't open. What will justice look like in those situations? On a more local level, last week I did a funeral service for a young man who had committed suicide. Since then I have found myself wondering about the future of the crowd of twenty-something year olds that were this man's friends. They seemed lost in the world without guidance or direction – how do they find a path, how do they reclaim what was declared in their baptisms – that they are the sons and daughters of God? Who tells them?

The second reason we lift up baptism and Isaiah's model of leadership today is because this is the day we celebrate leadership in the life of our church. And we are called to this ministry in the midst of difficult and confusing days. We have gone through (mostly) the nominating and official election process to bring these persons to leadership. This is the day that they proclaim publicly their "yes" to leadership and you voice your support for them. The model for their leadership is to be found in the Servant Song of Isaiah, and in the example of Jesus Christ. The changing of the world's cycles of violence and destruction begin in small ways, with individuals, with groups willing to be a different voice. It begins when we as the church hear God's pleasure and delight in us; as we say yes to God's justice. It begins when we realize we come to leadership in God's kingdom not to have our way, but to show God's way. It is in God's way that we find clarity … as God declares an end to the former ways and establishes new pathways. In the model of the Suffering Servant of Isaiah we find our vision. Barry Robinson writes that this is what will save us:

"by reminding us how to be simple and lowly, how to walk the earth like a candle flame endangered by the winds, like reeds more fragile than the bones of tiny birds. The vulnerability of such symbols are meant to urge us to pause and grow mindful of a humanity we have lost, of a way of being human in the world we no longer call to mind." (Keeping the Faith in Babylon, Barry Robinson; January 13, 2002)

The Servant in whom God declares God's pleasure is our way in the confusing, treacherous days in which we live.

In this morning's texts we have the models for God's pleasure. In our life and work together may we go the way of Jesus … may God say of us: "This is my daughter, this is my son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased."

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