Let my prayer rise before You as incense,
the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice. Ps 141
At the For You youth conference last week, we had plenty of chances to meet in the chapel for worship. For evening prayers, Pastor Kind used incense.
Being a typical Lutheran who has very little experience with incense, it was very interesting to me to WATCH the incense. I like the idea of incense, assuming the building is large enough and assuming my asthmatic daughter isn't too close to the altar. But I always thought of incense as going UP, like prayers going up to God. I guess I thought of it as very much like smoke from a chimney.
But it didn't just go up. The incense billowed out and up. And as I watched it through half an hour of prayers, I saw how it thinned out and spread. Not just up, but throughout the chancel. Throughout the nave. Up and out and through. Even down. And even when you lost sight of the smoke, it wasn't gone. You could smell the perfumed incense permeating the air, beautifying the place. Couldn't see it, but it was there.
From Bender's Lutheran Catechesis, page 29:
The Lord's Prayer shows us that our lives are made holy by God's Word that is received and believed. We cry out to Him because we believe in what He has promised us. The Lord's Prayer directs us sinners where to find our help. This is the holy life of faith in Jesus Christ.
Thinking about that incense, it's like prayer. Prayer rises like incense, not like smoke from a chimney. Prayer doesn't just go UP to God. It goes out and through our lives. It may not be visible. As it spreads its perfume, our lives are made holy by the Word that is spoken to us and by us in our prayers.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Lovely.
ReplyDeleteOne of the other things I've noticed about incense is the way it lingers. Long after the censer is out, the perfume remains.
Susan, I love incense. The smell makes me feel like I am IN church. It also reminds me of being newly married and spending time in many beautiful Anglican cathedrals. Sometimes I wish that Lutherans also used incense, but our church architecture doesn't always allow for it's use. It can become very overpowering in a small space, but then again, the pastor can burn a smaller amount of incense according to his space (Such as my husband in his chruch study!).
ReplyDeleteChristopher's collars newly out of the package smell of incense. Smell Gary's sometime. Smelling collars...how weird is that?
"Let my prayer rise before You like incense; the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice."
ReplyDeletePsalm 141:2
Evening Prayer, LW, p. 253 or
LSB, p. 245.