“How’s that, Hank?” the Parson asked.

“Well,” said Hank, “I tried it last week whilst I was ridin’ fence over on the east range. My hoss stepped in a prairie dog hole while I had my eyes closed and broke his leg.”

An article in the Dallas Morning News describes a new movement on a very old theme, take time to pray eight times every day. A growing number of Christians are adopting a practice once largely relegated to the convent and the monastery. It is based on literature that is showing up in bookstores and on the Internet. Specific scripture passages, drawing heavily on the Psalms are used to guide the prayers. The regimen consists of eight prayer times: 6 a.m., 9 a.m., noon, 3 p.m., and 6 p.m. The other three are evening prayers, midnight and early morning before 6 a.m. each day. These times were established in ancient times when bells were rung to call the faithful to prayer.

Several years ago I visited a monastery in Macedonia. The monks demonstrated how they did this with large boards cut to resonate with a bell-like tone. It could be heard for miles through the mountain passes.

According to the News article, daily prayers are not just for monasteries any more but have become popular with evangelical Protestants as well. Most practitioners admit they pray less often usually only once or twice a day but the result in their lives has been remarkable.

“Praying the hours” it is called and it gains some of its sense of power from the knowledge that individual prayers are joined with all others being raised at that time throughout the time zone, this, according to Author Phyllis Tickle who has written four prayer books that have been very successful in the bookstores. One book on the hours, The Glenstal Book of Prayer, topped the best-seller list in Ireland in 2001.

Praying the hours pedates Christianity, having evolved out of the Jewish practice described in Psalm 119:164: “Seven times a day I praise you for your righteous laws.”

Praying the hours has its merits. I like the idea of a communion with others who are also addressing the same prayers to God at the same time, prayers of adoration and of thanksgiving scripted for us by master wordsmiths. We often forget to even say thank you because we are so busy seeking God’s favor.