Incense is a symbol of sacrifice and it is a symbol of prayer. We don't use it all the time, just on special days. We use music all the time, but on special days we use more of it and the choir sings more of the service to a special setting - this morning the Oldroyd. Incense is the symbol of prayer because it rises and it leaves an aroma. Part of what music does in worship is to uplift and inspire us in ways that a simple reading of the words would not do.
People shy away from the Book of Revelation because it has been so misused.
It has been misused and impoverished by generations of literalists who have tried to turn it into a book of predictions about specific things. And that is not what it is. It is an extraordinary work of literature which attempts, with considerable success, to communicate to us very deep truths about the nature of being human, the ways of God with people, and about some of the deepest, most basic, realities of human life. And it is a shame it is so neglected, because some of the realities are significantly underappreciated, and underappreciated in ways that can do us harm. This morning's lesson from the Book of Revelation, Chapter 12, is a very clear example of that.