The home page of St Andrew Orthodox Christian Church is helpful in introducing those unfamiliar with incense to its use:
Why Do You Use Incense? Psalm 141 declares ‘Let my prayer arise in Your sight as incense; the lifting-up of my hands as an evening sacrifice’. Incense is thus linked to prayer. In the Apocalypse* (8:1-5) we also see this connection in a Christian context. In addition, we show that we honor someone or something when we burn incense before it or them. You will notice that the Gospel Book upon the altar table (the verbal image of Christ), the altar table itself (a sign of the throne of God), the icons (themselves representing the presence of the holy men and women and the events in the history of salvation), and finally all the faithful people who have assembled for worship are censed. (Remember that human beings are made in the image and according to the likeness of God (Genesis 1:27)—thus we are icons, too).
* The ‘Apocalypse’ is the Book of Revelation.
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