Does your Congregation burn incense during worship

[Rocky1960]

No we do not.

Guess it would be ok if the building was old and had a "musty" smell.

Heaven must be pretty musty.

 

[daydreamergurl15]

Yes, that is what I said: People in heaven.
What I fail to see how how something that is done in heaven can be bad for us to do on earth? I admit I have never been at a service that has done this myself, but I cannot see anything that is neccessarily wrong with it.

I'm not saying that it's bad but that it's not comparable.
Look at way the incense is described, "which are the prayers of the saints..." if we are to do likewise, do you think that our "incense would be described as "which are the prayers of the saints?"....I'm getting the feeling that our incense isn't the same as the one in heaven.

And I have maintained that our congregation does not practice it because it is not told for us to do so in the NT. I'm not going to go above and beyond that. I know that what I have in scripture, I'll try my best to do but I'm not going to try and do stuff in Revelation that I have no understanding about. If I were to follow how they used the incense in heaven, in Rev 5, they went to the throne of the Lamb and worshiped....I'm getting a feeling that if I had the incense, I wouldn't be using it in the same way.

 

[mark46]

We were all asked whether we used incense. You wnet much further in decribing your feelings regarding the appropriateness of such use.

From your posts, I presume that you believe that incense, icons and statues are not forbibben. You seem to think that they would be stumbling block for your congregation. You point out that folks might tend to misuse icons. Obviously, our church traditions and experience are different from yours. For many of us, worship involving all our senses. Smells, bells, icons/statues are not stumbling blocks; rather they help cocus our worship, they serve as pointers. If we have a copy of a painting of the Last Supper, we do not worship the painting. If we have a representation of Jesus on the road to His crucifixion, we do worship Him, not the representation. If we have icons or statues of saints, it is not so that we would worship the saint; rather, it is a pointer to God. Yes, I have been quite comfortable worshipping in Quaker environment, plain, unadorned, in silence waiting up the Lord. However, that is not what I prefer. I would not think to criticize Quakers for their style of Godly worship.

.
When the question arised "Does your congregation incense during worship?" My answer was no, because it is not asked of us to do in scripture under the NT.

 

[daydreamergurl15]

We were all asked whether we used incense. You wnet much further in decribing your feelings regarding the appropriateness of such use.

From your posts, I presume that you believe that incense, icons and statues are not forbibben. You seem to think that they would be stumbling block for your congregation. You point out that folks might tend to misuse icons. Obviously, our church traditions and experience are different from yours. For many of us, worship involving all our senses. Smells, bells, icons/statues are not stumbling blocks; rather they help cocus our worship, they serve as pointers. If we have a copy of a painting of the Last Supper, we do not worship the painting. If we have a representation of Jesus on the road to His crucifixion, we do worship Him, not the representation. If we have icons or statues of saints, it is not so that we would worship the saint; rather, it is a pointer to God. Yes, I have been quite comfortable worshipping in Quaker environment, plain, unadorned, in silence waiting up the Lord. However, that is not what I prefer. I would not think to criticize Quakers for their style of Godly worship.

I gave the OP my reason for it and then when I was quoted, I had to defend it.

 

[Optimax]

Heaven must be pretty musty.

Some prayers I've heard are!

 

[mark46]

Many Protestants do indeed attack the Traditions and traditions of the Church. Then they start quoting their spritual leaders from the 16th and 17th century. They quote from the canon of Tradition, making believe their Scripture came from on High with an index, in modern day English, and a study guide agreeing with their interpretations. All churches have traditions that are considered very, very important.

That is a humorous irony seeing as how I have been "discussing" some things with a particular gentleman who condemns all tradition. Fascinating.

 

[OrthodoxyUSA]

Never been to a church that did? I think I might like to though

And you would be welcomed.

We use candles, icons and incense every service.

Forgive me...

 

[Spirko]

I decided to make a poll thread on how many Congregations in Christianity still use incense in their church services, as there was a pretty large discussion on another thread concerning it [link at top].

The question is pretty simpleoes your Congregation use incense today? Thank you

We don't. But on Sundays when we have what is commonly called in the South, "dinner on the ground", the guys start the pits early and you can smell them during the service. It smells better than incense.

 

[Rocky1960]

Never been to a church that did? I think I might like to though

Me too.

 

[Fireinfolding]

Look who is doing these thing and where.
Angels, Elders and living creatures in heaven.
By the way, it is discussed on the 1st and 2nd page.

And read it again, does it say "golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints."

Wait....are those "incense" prayers of the saints? I'm not so sure if those incense the same as we think they are.

Its amazing when we reread it isnt it?

Nice spot

 

[Thekla]

Funny, "Thou shalt burn incense" is not in the NT either.

it is demonstrated in the New Testament, and prophesied in the Old Testament.

 

[PilgrimToChrist]

laconicstudent,
Those verses uses the words "angel", "elders", "living creatures with 6 wings" in HEAVEN.
I venture to think that how they worship would vary differently than how we worship.


If that was so, than God would have told us.
I doubt very seriously that the Angels in heaven take of the communion like we do.

"If Angels could be jealous of men, they would be so for one reason: Holy Communion." ~ St. Maximilian Kolbe

No, the angels do not take Communion, but they still worship Him who is the Bread of Angels.

It is certainly good for us on earth but I don't understand why it would be the same in Heaven when Christ died for the human race only. If you continue reading Revelations, you'll see that those up there worship God a lot differently than we do.

Actually, it may be a lot different than what you do, but what we do is a participation in that Heavenly Liturgy.

But no matter, God tells us how He wants to be worshiped.

Yes, you just have to be willing to listen.

 

[katherine2001]

Act doesn't lay out a worship service.

Actually, the NT doesn't lay out a worship service at all. You would think that if it was changed after Christ's coming, the new form of worship would be laid out in detail in the NT, just as it was in the OT. Of course, that is not done. Evidently, when God laid out the form of worship in the OT, He didn't know that His son would become incarnate, live a sinless life, be crucified, and then resurrected.

 

[PilgrimToChrist]

Is yours followed with ....
5 And the angel took the censer, and filled it with fire of the altar, and cast it into the earth: and there were voices, and thunder, and lightning, and an earthquake.

The whole of History is Liturgical. That will happen at a certain point.

 

[PilgrimToChrist]

Angels, elders, and living beings are very different from one.
One different: Christ died for us not for them.

and?

also, I'm pretty sure the elders are human beings.

 

[katherine2001]

Yes, we do burn incense in my church during every service. Anytime I go into church (we all have a key so that we can go in anytime), I can smell the incense. I love the smell of incense. Many Orthodox have small incense burners at home and use incense during their daily prayers (especially morning and evening prayer times).

Here is what the home incense burners look like:

http://orthodoxincense.com/images/Censers/CEN1801.jpg

The incense looks like this:

http://orthodoxincense.com/display_...archive=0&final_h=200&final_w=301&percent=100

You buy small round charcoals, light one of them and get it red hot and put the incense on top of the charcoal.

 

[PilgrimToChrist]

I'm not saying that it's bad but that it's not comparable.
Look at way the incense is described, "which are the prayers of the saints..." if we are to do likewise, do you think that our "incense would be described as "which are the prayers of the saints?"....I'm getting the feeling that our incense isn't the same as the one in heaven.

Incense used in Liturgy represents and is symbolic of our prayers ascending to Heaven. The symbol and the reality go together quite nicely.

And I have maintained that our congregation does not practice it because it is not told for us to do so in the NT. I'm not going to go above and beyond that. I know that what I have in scripture, I'll try my best to do but I'm not going to try and do stuff in Revelation that I have no understanding about.

Thankfully Christ gave us a Church.

If I were to follow how they used the incense in heaven, in Rev 5, they went to the throne of the Lamb and worshiped....I'm getting a feeling that if I had the incense, I wouldn't be using it in the same way.

What?!? You wouldn't use the incense to worship the Lamb? I hope I'm misreading that....

 

[VolRaider]

We've never used incense in my UM Church. The small Episcopal church I grew up in never used incense, but the larger one I attended when I was much younger used it on Christmas and Easter. My father's Anglican Church (APA) uses it much more frequently.

 

[RND]

Of course, there are no laws requiring us to do community service (well, unless you get it for a criminal sentence) or donate blood either.

You mean 'do unto others as you would have them do unto you" doesn't resonate?

 

[laconicstudent]

You mean 'do unto others as you would have them do unto you" doesn't resonate?

That verse commands me to donate blood and do community service.... how?