What is Incense?
Incense is made from various aromatic resins and gums from trees and other plants. When burned it gives off scented smoke. In church it is normally burned in a CENSER or THURIBLE. Because it is difficult to burn on its own, and to create the maximum amount of smoke, it is burned along with charcoal.
Which Churches Use Incense?
Most of Christianity use, or have used, incense in worship. All the Eastern Orthodox Churches burn incense at most of their services, or liturgies. In the ‘west’ the Roman Catholic Church burns incense at many points of its services.
The Church of England used incense throughout its history, until the mid 1600’s, when it fell into disuse generally. But even then, it continued to be used in worship in isolated churches such as York Minster, and since the mid 19th century its use spread and increased. Nowadays many churches, and particularly Anglican Catholic churches, are rediscovering the benefits to be gained from burning incense as part of their worship.
Why Burn Incense?
Incense and the Liturgy
LITURGY is the formal public worship of the Church, its work. The Liturgy of the Church is made up of each individual Christian, and should be the best that can possibly offer to God.
Christian worship erupts out of our love of God and our desire to express that love. As such we should worship Him ‘with all our heart, with all our soul, and with all our mind, and with all our strength.’ Good liturgy is designed to stimulate just such a response in us, by exciting the senses and feeding our imagination.
One of the elements of good liturgy is, for example, the use of colorful vestments, processions and the like. Singing and chanting is another important element of liturgy, stimulating as it does the sense of hearing. The use of incense enables even fuller participation in the liturgy by stimulating the sense of smell. It also provides color, movement and sound as the thurible is swung and its chain ‘clinks’ and ‘tinkles.’
Incense as Symbol
Symbols help to point our minds in the direction of invisible realities, and speak to us in a language often richer than words alone. As a symbol, incense is exceptionally rich in associations. Of its many possible associations, two are particularly worthy of mention here.
1. In Matthew 2:11 we read of the Magi bringing Frankincense (a particular type of incense) as a gift to the Christ child. In the words of the well loved Christmas carol “Incense owns a Deity nigh,” which means that incense is a sign of our belief in the Real Presence of Christ, the Son of God. What was good enough for the Magi is surely good enough for us!
2. In the Book of Revelation, or Apocalypse, the burning of incense appears to be an important part of the worship of heaven. In Revelation 5:8 we read of “golden bowls full in incense, which are the prayers of the Saints.”
While this book is symbolic, and was never intended to be taken as literally accurate, many commentators believe that the writer of the book was strongly influenced by the worship, or liturgy, of his own church. When we burn incense we remind ourselves that our prayers, like incense, ascend to the throne of God and mingle with the prayers of the Saints in heaven.
The Offering of Incense
At the heart of worship in the Temple at Jerusalem was sacrifice. The sacrificial offering was usually a living thing such as a lamb or bird, but the fruits of the earth were also offered, including incense. In the Temple there was even an altar specially set aside for the burning of incense.
Whit the destruction of the Temple by the Romans in 70 A.D., the sacrificial worship of the Old Testament came to an end. The necessity for much of it had already been brought to an end several years before by the all-sufficient sacrifice of Christ on the Cross. Our human need to offer thanksgiving and sacrifice to God remains, however.
In our daily lives, Christians have the opportunity to give the best of themselves back to God in service of each other. In our worship we have the opportunity to offer tokens which represent ourselves. Incense is a token of the best we have to offer. In 2 Corinthians 2:15 we read, “We are indeed the incense offered by Christ to God both for those who are on the way to salvation, and for those who are on the way to perdition. To the later it is a deadly fume that kills; to the former a vital fragrance that brings life.”
In the Mass we join our offering with that of Christ Himself on the cross, as at the hands of the priest. He offers Himself to the Father on our behalf. The burning of the incense in the Mass reminds us that Christ’s sacrifice is real, and just as effective for us who are alive today as it was when He died on the Cross.
When We Burn Incense
The most natural and appropriate time to burn incense is when the Lord comes among us in Person in the Eucharist. In the same way, if you are fortunate enough to attend a church in which the service of Benediction* is available, you will find incense burned then.
Incense is traditionally burned at particular points during Divine Service, notably during the TeDeum and Benedictus at solemn celebrations of Morning Prayer, and during the Magnificat at Solemn Evensong. It is also occasionally used at other times, such as at funerals, and when objects and places are blessed.
*BENEDICTION is a particularly beautiful and moving service in which Our Lord is worshiped, present in person in the Blessed Sacrament, and in which His blessing is sought.
“Let my prayer be set forth in thy sight as the incense…”
What we do in Church and Why - Incense
