Queerying Narrative Lectionary 115

Pace Warfield-May queeries the Narrative Lectionary reading.

Isaiah 42:1-9
¹Yo, look! It's my servant that I hand picked!

My chosen servant, in whom I find deep joy;

I have put my spirit upon her;

She will inspire and bring justice to all nations.

²She will not cry out or shout

Or try to call attention to herself in the streets!

³She will not even break a twig that's barely hanging on to the branch,

and she will not put out even the faintest flame on the wick:

She will faithfully bring forth justice.

⁴But neither will she grow faint or be crushed

until she has established justice in all corners of the earth;

and the coastal areas will wait upon her teaching.

⁵Thus says God/ess, the Becoming One,

who created the heavens and stretched them out,

who spread out the earth and what comes from it,

who gives breath to the people upon it

and spirit to those who walk in it:

⁶I am the Becoming One, I have called you in righteousness;

I have taken you by the hand and kept you;

I have given you as an unfailing, everlasting promise to the people,

a lighthouse for all nations to sail and navigate safely by,

⁷to bring wholeness and healing to those broken or in need,

to set the prisoners free, just and unjustly imprisoned alike,

for all prisons are unholy and broken.

⁸I am the Becoming One, that is my name;

my glory is mine alone,

no idols deserve the praise belonging to me.

⁹See, the old ways have died,

"a new, more glorious dawn awaits,"

before the sun rises on this dawn,

I am telling you of the wonderful things to come.

Queeries for the text:
What is this text building on?
What is the accompanying text?
Where is this headed?
What does a "new, more glorious dawn" entail?
Who is the suffering servant?
What needs to die in order to give birth to new life?

What are your queeries?