The Prayer Thread is a collection of teachings and practical prompts to help as we learn to pray in community. This text was originally delivered on November 7, 2025 as a short teaching at our online weekly prayer sit.
One of my favorite images to represent the Presence of the Holy One in the natural world is incense. When you first light a stick or charcoal circle or triangle stump of incense, the smoke rises and swirls and twirls. If you observe the movement of incense particles closely as they move through the air, they follow patterns of circles and spirals, at first tightly wound, and then opening up and dissipating broadly. I can’t help but delight in the images of activity.
Much like the patterns of Presence marked by the Holy One, the initial rising manifests tangibly, yet mysteriously, and then dissipates, yet permeates everything. The light that shines through the window of the Oratory illuminates these patterns powerfully. After the initial twists and turns of the first risings of the smoke, over time, the twirls turn into a dense fog that permeates the whole room. I notice the same pattern with the Holy One—a rising up, a manifestation, a Word, a whisper, a little light of insight delights my human senses like the twirls & swirls of incense, but then the moments of manifestation dissipate and as Presence spreads out, it can seem as if the Holy One is gone, has left, is not present, but rather absent.
It could seem this way forever, until I recognize that I can still smell the incense in the air, even after it dissipates. The Holy One is not absent, but rather, is present, like incense in the air, permeating everything, everywhere.
Despite the delights of incense, there are downsides to burning it. First, of course, are those who are sensitive to its particles as pollutants, rather than delights. Also, is the literal layer of particles that can pile up on the walls and furniture. Much like our practices and traditions in prayer, we have to clear away the dust, shake up the sludge that may accumulate, especially when the blanket of incense fog falls over our prayer life like a weighted blanket, heavy and suffocating, rather than light and delightful, like those initial twirls and swirls dancing in the air and bouncing off the light.
May we allow the Presence of the Holy One to delight and to permeate and to delight yet again our life of prayer, both personally and communally!
