Theologically, this censing is very important. Orthodoxy is focused on theosis, on “becoming like God,” not in Essence but through God’s Energies (as great writers like St John of Damascus and St Gregory Palamas made clear), which are imparted to us in myriad ways and chiefly through the sacraments. We cense the icons first because they are the people among us whom we venerate as having received theosis in high degree; we cense ourselves because we are in process, throughout this life, of becoming more and more God-like by grace. In a sense, you may also see censing people as a wake-up call: Recognize that you are made in the image of God and that you are being restored to that image and likeness through Christ who is at work in you through the Spirit to become a “partaker in the divine nature” (II Peter). Therefore, we cense the departed in the funeral rites to honor their bodies, made holy at Baptism, and to offer prayer for the repose of their souls.