By Gabrielle Kaplan Mayer

Can you pray with only six words? For the last three months, I’ve been doing so several times a week. This new practice began when my friend Alden Solovy, who lives in Israel and works professionally as a poet and liturgist, invited me to join a Facebook group of people writing, reading and commenting on each other’s Six word prayers. The idea was inspired by a popular project called “Six-Word Memoirs” started by the storytelling magazine Smith that’s taken off in popularity.

Alden describes how the six word storytelling format can be powerful when used for prayer: “The power and freedom of writing with only six words can also focus and enliven prayers,” he writes. “With so few words, the format eliminates the pressure to be poetic or deeply inspirational. Six-word prayers cut to the heart of our deepest desires, our highest yearnings and our most crushing griefs. Yet, there’s often an amazing contradiction: the results are often remarkably heartfelt, poetic and inspirational...read more