Emphasis Preaching Journal

Joanne went home with her college roommate. On Sunday, she accompanied their family to worship in a highly liturgical church. Joanne was not used to all the goings on that she found there, but one thing impressed her: the incense. On the altar some incense was placed. When the prayers of the people began, the incense was lit. As Joanne listened to and participated in the prayers, her eyes were drawn to the curls of smoke from the incense, which spiralled upward to be lost in the beams of the open-style ceiling. When Joanne returned home, she told her pastor, “It was as if the incense gathered up the prayers and bore them to heaven. I had no doubt that they reached heaven and the very ears of an attentive God. It was a wonderful feeling.” That was the prayer of Solomon: Lord, hear our prayer.