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| Bishop Noel Jones & The City Of Refuge |
New King James Version (NKJV)
Fasting that Pleases God
1 “Cry aloud, spare not; Lift up your voice like a trumpet; tell My people their transgression, And the house of Jacob their sins. 2 Yet they seek Me daily, and delight to know My ways, as a nation that did righteousness, and did not forsake the ordinance of their God. They ask of Me the ordinances of justice; they take delight in approaching God. 3 ‘Why have we fasted,’ they say, ‘and You have not seen? Why have we afflicted our souls, and You take no notice?’
“In fact, in the day of your fast you find pleasure, and exploit all your laborers. 4 Indeed you fast for strife and debate, and to strike with the fist of wickedness. You will not fast as you do this day, to make your voice heard on high. 5 Is it a fast that I have chosen, a day for a man to afflict his soul? Is it to bow down his head like a bulrush, and to spread out sackcloth and ashes? Would you call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the Lord?
6 “Is this not the fast that I have chosen: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, to let the oppressed go free, and that you break every yoke? 7 Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and that you bring to your house the poor who are cast out; when you see the naked, that you cover him, and not hide yourself from your own flesh? 8 Then your light shall break forth like the morning, your healing shall spring forth speedily, And your righteousness shall go before you; the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard. 9 Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer; you shall cry, and He will say, ‘Here I am.’
“If you take away the yoke from your midst, the pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness, 10 If you extend your soul to the hungry and satisfy the afflicted soul, then your light shall dawn in the darkness, and your darkness shall be as the noonday. 11 The Lord will guide you continually, and satisfy your soul in drought, and strengthen your bones; you shall be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail. 12 Those from among you shall build the old waste places; you shall raise up the foundations of many generations; and you shall be called the Repairer of the Breach, the Restorer of Streets to Dwell In.
13 “If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on My holy day, And call the Sabbath a delight, The holy day of the Lord honorable, and shall honor Him, not doing your own ways, nor finding your own pleasure, nor speaking your own words, 14 then you shall delight yourself in the Lord; and I will cause you to ride on the high hills of the earth, and feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father. The mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
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Tao Te Ching (The Way)
by Lao-tzu
translated by: J. Legge
9
It is better to leave a vessel unfilled, than to attempt to carry it when it is full. If you keep feeling a point that has been sharpened, the point cannot long preserve its sharpness.
When gold and jade fill the hall, their possessor cannot keep them safe.
When wealth and honours lead to arrogancy, this brings its evil on itself.
When the work is done, and one's name is becoming
distinguished, to withdraw into obscurity is the way of Heaven.
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Commentaries on the “Silver Rules”
of Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan
by Pir Zia Inayat-Khan
Silver Rule 9
Shortcomings: we all have them. We are human. We are ephemeral and imperfect. And imperfection can be uncomfortable. One tries hard to repress the awareness of one's imperfections, trying to project a picture of perfection and infallibility, trying to push deep down the reality of our fragility and brokenness. But of course imperfection cannot be escaped, and the deception proves far more dangerous than the original limitation.
Another response is to succumb to one's shortcomings, to wallow in them, to hopelessly confess one's self low and ignoble. And this is just as dangerous and debilitating. But there is a third way. And this is what Murshid is pointing us to.
The third way is to address our shortcomings with clarity, understanding, compassion, hope, and faith. It means seeing that we have been created imperfect, and that our very imperfection means that there is room in us for growth, change, and movement—room for transformation. Perfection is not a far-off, icy ideal. Perfection is the process of moving toward greater depth and fullness, a process that proceeds in increments. And each forward movement is a glowing act.
A great Sufi once said that the instant of time is a sharp sword that cuts away the guilt and regret of the past and the avarice of the future. This means living fully present in the instant. A sword pierces the surface and cuts into the depth. A sword is straight, like the straightness of the spine, which is conducive to clarity. And the sword is polished steel, shimmering and bright. Can one meet one's limitations with acute sharpness of vision, and with compassion and hope?
Pause for a moment and invoke if you will, inwardly, a limitation that you perceive in your life, an aspect of your life that does not match up with the perfect picture of who you feel that you should be. The word “should” raises a question. What is the basis of the compulsion that prompts you to be something other than what you are? Is it an unhealthy one? Is it from outside of yourself? Guilt and shame? Or is there, on the contrary, the sense of hearing the call of destiny: an urging emanating out of the fullness of one's total being, inspiring one with the image of capacities that are as yet latent and which are stirring within, seeking fuller expression? Then consider one's shortcomings, one’s imperfection in the light of this latent power, beauty and grace. Consider the state of an infant or egg or seedling as compared with the fully gown, fully realized adult of the species; perhaps one's imperfection is like this. And even in the awkwardness and perhaps distortion there is already the promise of what is to emerge. One sees one's self with the divine glance, the glance of beneficence.
My conscientious self, meet your shortcomings with a sword of self-respect.
Printed with permission of the Sufi Order International.
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Father, thank You for renewing our minds to Your way of thinking so we are no longer bound by the mores and conventions of the past. We are grateful that with You all things are possible. Thank You for being the source of revitalizing our cities in Jesus name, amen.
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