Scot,
I’m a low church Christian who grew up Catholic. I listened to the sermon on the Lord’s Prayer that you did at Mars Hill and found it really helpful – I agree that sometimes in low church we just find something to be wrong because “that’s what the Catholics do”.

Fixed-hour prayer is a way of discipling the time we’ve been given in our lives. I think low-church Christians (and I’d put myself in that camp, though in recent years I’ve been migrating toward some higher-church prayer practices) love the idea of “always-on” access to God without the formality of a schedule. They chafe at the religiosity of schedules smacking of obligation or works. The idea for many is that fixed hour prayer is a false, human-centered way of scripting connection with God. Low church people fear those scripts – even if what replaces them is something fragmented, undisciplined and shallow.

I think Michelle is correct in her analysis, but I think the low church preference for “always on” access to God in reality is more often a “never on”. I think we all overestimate our attention to prayer and we probably need a regular prayer practice (if we are honest with ourselves) just to insure that we do pray. I recently listened to a two-part podcast with Frederica Matthewes-Green about The Jesus Prayer. She had some really useful insights on fixed-hour prayer and contemplation. I would recommend listening. I searched Frederica Here and Now in podcasts on iTunes. You want the 12/31/09 and 1/6/10 editions.

Good point about time being carefully regulated. I am expected at work at a certain time each day and if I miss that there’s a penalty. For me, I’ve never given much thought to fixed hour prayer and I suppose it’s because I look at prayer as a spontaneous act. Praying at a fixed hour or praying prayers out of a prayer book feels very un-spontaneous. However, as I’ve defended the use of rote prayers to low churchers with my premise being that we can’t know what’s in someone’s heart, it sounds like I need to take my own advice. There’s no reason that praying at fixed hours can’t be spontaneous in terms of how and what I pray.

“Too Catholic,” “Too religious,” or “Too stifling,” I would guess, particularly if we carry baggage from going through the motions as kids. Many of us chafe at the thought of structure or discipline, as they sound like hindrances to a more lively and experiential religion or to our religious “freedom in Christ.” Of course, that quickly freedom starts to resemble spiritual pride — and most of us have probably never been disciplined enough to qualify for an opinion on spiritual disciplines.
At root, I suspect we will find not a little of that ol’ “I don’t like it or get it and can’t stand the possibility that you might” attitude.

I have, in the past year, grown to love the concept of fixed hour prayer. I often find it difficult to integrate into my life with consistency, but when I am practicing it, I not only enjoy the connection to Christians everywhere and from every time, but I also feel closer to God.
As to why so many low churches retreat from the idea of fixed hour prayer, I think it has a lot to do with its Catholic connection.
Indeed the pendulum has swung so far that it is finally beginning to swing back. This is why many evangelicals today and even low church individuals are becoming infatuated with and truly grown by this concept of fixed hour prayer. There are, however, some who were pushed (or pushed) with the pendulum away from all things Catholic. Some of them are staying at the extreme, as far away from Catholicism as they can. Many of them are elders and preachers in our churches. I’m not trying to say all churches are like this in the low tradition. My own church, while not pushing fixed hour prayer as a body, is allowing me to teach a class on monastic spirituality where this will be one of our topics.
My question is not why are some afraid of this spiritual discipline, but what can we do to allay those fears?

David,
one thing that could be done would be to remind people that the first Christians were Jews, and continued many aspects of Jewish worship. (It was approximately ten years between the Lord’s ascension and Cornelius’ vision.) One of those aspects was fixed hour prayer- “seven times a day will I praise You”. When Peter and John prayed for the begging paralytic to be healed, they were on their way to the temple for – yes, that’s right – fixed hour prayer.
Dana

Dana,
That is not a bad idea, though I feel that the swing away from Catholicism was also a swing away from Judaism. Many people in parts of my church’s movement (though not at my church) believe that the OT is not useful for finding spiritual practices. Nevertheless, they need to learn it.