Isaiah 58 contrasts true and false worship. False worship involves religious observance — “bowing one’s head like a reed” — but “ends in quarreling and strife” and evidences no concern for others. In contrast, true worship is reflected primarily in our actions towards the poor and oppressed:
Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to lose the chains of injustice
and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
and break every yoke?
Is it not to share your food with the hungry
and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter–
when you see the naked, to clothe him,
and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
(Isaiah 58:6-7)
Forgive me, O God, for bowing my head without also reaching out my hands to those in need.