Sacred Smells: How Your Nose Connects You to God, Memory, and Life

One sniff of lilac blossoms, and suddenly Larry is standing beside his Grannie in her kitchen — decades erased in an instant. That's not nostalgia. That's neuroscience. And faith traditions have understood this power for thousands of years.

In this episode, Larry explores the surprising, sometimes overlooked gift of smell — from the trillion distinct odors the human nose can detect, to the sacred incense Moses was commanded to blend, to the lingering scent of costly perfume that filled the room when Jesus was anointed. He asks a quiet but important question: in the rush and noise of modern life, have we stopped paying attention to one of our richest connections to beauty, memory, and the sacred?

Listeners will come away with a fresh appreciation for a sense they use every day without thinking — and an invitation to slow down, breathe deeply, and discover that the world coming through your nose may be one of God's most underrated gifts.

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Transcript

The blooming days of Spring bring a favorite moment of mine: smelling the fresh lilac blossoms in my front yard. I enjoy the beauty of the white clusters but it’s the whiff of that scent that means the most. With a single sniff, I am transported to stand by my Grannie Payne and the lilac-based perfume she wore as I visited her house.

Grannie was tall for her generation and carried herself with grace and dignity. Her kitchen overflowed with delicious smells when my family came to share Sunday dinners. Isn’t it amazing that those good memories can return to consciousness with just the scent of lilac blossoms? 

Let’s explore a special gift we too often  take for granted: the powerful, even sacred, sense of smell. Paying attention to it might enrich both our faith and our lives.

Science has given great insight about the sense of smell. Here’s something amazing: humans can detect more than one trillion odors! Inside the human nose are more than a million olfactory sensory neurons. Each responds to the odor molecules which float in the air bearing the scent of the world around us. The neurons send electrical signals to the brain, which are decoded with astonishing nuance. A typical cup of coffee may offer as many as 800 different types of odor molecules and the brain can sense them all.  

Further, this process is closely connected to the emotional centers of the brain, influencing us before we can even think about what we are smelling. Our sense of smell gives us essential clues about safety, food, and social connections. For example, two-day-old newborns can distinguish the smell of their mother as distinct from other women.[1] 

Evidence from a few small clinical studies seems to show lavender may reduce anxiety while peppermint promotes increased cognitive abilities. Aromatherapy is a growing field with many practitioners who use sandalwood for calmness or rosemary for clarity of thought.

Here’s something that is important: science shows a stronger sense of smell is a part of higher sexual intimacy. Male and female hormonal odors subconsciously influence this. Some evidence points to what researchers call the “histocompatibility complex” which may guide us to the right mate who complements our specific genetic makeup. Does this mean too much cologne or perfume while we are dating can mislead us? I’m not sure about that.

Honestly, the overpowering smells of urban life—the diesel, the plastic, the manufacturing plant outside of town—may be promoting anxiety and diminishing our pleasure of life. Where I used to live, I found out there’s nothing quite like the smell of a 10,000 head cattle feed lot wafting on the evening breeze to sour a relaxing time on the patio.

Years ago Jan and I put our house up for sale. The realtor, looking for every advantage that would appeal to buyers, advised us to create vanilla smells when we were having an open house to create a pleasant, home-like, aroma.  

We can look back across history to find that faith and smell have been linked for ages. Archaeologists have unearthed incense burners from temples dated more than 5,000 years old. The Bible has some strange notes about smells. The ancient Hebrews said God loved the smell of a burnt offering—or not, if the heart of the worshipper wasn’t true.[2] 

Moses received specific instruction for blending the sacred incense to be burned in temples: “Take unto yourself sweet spices… with pure frankincense…  you shall make it a perfume.”[3] I’m told the smell would remind most of us of a library filled with old books and some sweetness added in.

Of course, the house where Jesus lived as a child was filled with powerful odors, frankincense and myrrh, which are some of the same sacred ingredients used by Moses. Frankincense comes from the resin of the boswellia tree that grows in Eastern Africa and Southern Arabia.  Myrrh also comes from a tree with a balsamic aroma. 

In the New Testament, the smell of a charcoal fire may have reminded Peter of when he betrayed Jesus or met the risen Christ by the Sea of Galilee.[4] The overpowering earthy scent of Nard, the expensive perfume, must have lingered for days after Jesus was anointed at the house of Simon the leper.[5] 

Certainly, the oddest reference concerning smell refers to the behavior of believers in Jesus being “the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and those who are perishing… a fragrance from life to life.”[6] Sadly, some Christians today stink in the way they act! 

For billions today, the incense burning in churches, temples, and synagogues invokes memories of sacred experiences. Unfortunately, my experience as a Baptist pastor holds a tradition that rejected the use of incense, creating an olfactory desert and neglect of sensory impact at church. The exception was the smell of fried chicken from potluck dinners in the fellowship hall.

I think using our sense of smell is important for enriching our daily life. My wife has an amazing capacity sense of smell. She can smell the wonderful odors of cooking and report the ingredients of the dish. That’s wonderful for her culinary enjoyment. However, this acute sense of smell can also detect when the trash signals it must be taken out or a skunk has had a bad day in the fields near our house. 

What are the smells that mean something to you? Do you consciously process scents as you go through the day? Or have the special moments of olfactory delight gotten lost in the rush of life? 

Let me conclude by saying, I think it is important to cultivate our sense of smell to enrich the human experience. I’m delighted when I capture a scent from one of my rose bushes. The smell of rain blowing across the prairies on my farm brings delight because it is so rare. The whiff of my wife’s perfume is alluring. And, whether spiritual or not, the smell of cinnamon rolls seems very close to a heavenly aroma!

The priests of Moses’ day filled the temple with incense. Mother Mary swaddled the baby Jesus in powerful perfume. I invite you to slow down, sniff deeply, and celebrate the wonder of God’s beautiful world that comes through your nose. 

[1] Marta Zaraska, “The Sense of Smell in Humans is More Powerful Than We Think.” Discover Magazine, October 11, 2017. https://www.discovermagazine.com/mind/the-sense-of-smell-in-humans-is-more-powerful-than-we-think

[2] Leviticus 1:9
[3] Exodus 30:34
[4] John 21:9
[5] Mark 14:3
[6] 2 Corinthians 5:15-16