Aaron must burn fragrant incense on the altar every morning when he tends the lamps. – Exodus 30:7

Today's Scripture Reading (October 17, 2021): Exodus 30

It might seem a little strange, but one of my favorite quotes about prayer comes from Mahatma Gandhi, a Hindu believer and a proponent of religious pluralism. But Gandhi said this about prayer: "Prayer is not asking. It is a longing of the soul. It is daily admission of one's weakness. It is better in prayer to have a heart without words than words without a heart." The words might not be spoken by a Christian believer, but they reflect the belief of the Christ-follower. Prayer is never about me changing God; it is always about my willingness to allow God to change me. It is an admission that I need something else in my life to be the best person that I can be. When prayer becomes transactional, when I promise God something to get something from him, it ceases to be real prayer and becomes something else.

For those who start every day in prayer, part of what our ask is that God would guide us into what he wants for us during the day ahead. It is the longing of our soul to make a positive difference in the day that is ahead and a desire to walk with God wherever he might lead us. And I hope it is a prayer that is filled with our hearts and not our words. Prayer is so much more than just reciting "Our Father, who art in heaven" without considering what the words mean in our lives. But like everything that we do in a ritualistic way, it can become an empty rite. Sometimes, we pray and feel like the sky is empty, but the fault doesn't lie with the empty sky but rather with our empty prayers.

A while ago I attended the funeral of a friend. The funeral took place in a Christian church outside of my tradition and was also done outside of a language that I readily understood. And when you don't know what is being said, sometimes you get a clearer view of the actions. And on this day, I was fascinated with the priest's actions as he walked down the aisle waving his incense censer, allowing the sweet smell of the incense to greet those sitting on the aisles of the sanctuary. And then he walked around the casket, still waving the censer. Maybe it was a ritual that had lost its meaning long ago, but the incense's symbolism has always been one of prayer, but prayer without words. The sweet-smelling incense was an image of the sweet smell of our prayers that are offered up to God, prayers that were filled with our weaknesses and longings. The incense was a prayer without words but filled with our hearts.

God instructs Moses that every morning, Aaron, and later the priests that would follow him, would begin the day by burning incense before God. It was a prayer without words, but maybe the most crucial offering that Aaron would give to God during that day. It was a symbol of the prayers that the priest was bringing to begin the day, offering the longing of the people before their God. It was an admission of the weakness of the priest, and the sufficiency of the God who received the priest's prayers. 

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Exodus 31