"What we are is God's gift to us. What we become is our gift to God." — Eleanor Powell

Tell the truth, have you ever found God in a church? I never did. I just found a bunch of folks hoping for him to show. Any God I ever felt in church I brought in with me. And I think all the other folks did too. They come to church to share God, not find God. —Alice Walker, The Color Purple

The big question: Does God exist?

Today's Big Question is probably one of the first that pops into our minds when speaking of big questions. Is there a God? The ideas and religious backgrounds of friends, family events like birth, death, divorce, and exposure to religious institutions may all intensify the sixth grade search for answers. Youth whose families never discuss God may pray in time of need. Sixth graders whose families teach and expect belief in God may yearn for concrete proof. The God question may seem more perplexing for Unitarian Universalist sixth graders than for some of their friends, because UUs do not share and preach a common belief. We leave the question of God to individual consideration. Yet our faith offers much guidance to support youth and adults as they seek their own understandings. This session is part of that guidance for our sixth graders.

Goals

This session will:

• Pose a big question and explore UU responses to it: Does God exist?
• Offer spiritual thoughts from young UUs
• Familiarize youth with theological terms and ideas
• Reassure youth that independent thought and doubt are acceptable
• Present Unitarian Universalism as a tent in which people of diverse God beliefs gather
• Help youth explore and develop their own God beliefs.

Learning Objectives

Participants will:

• Consider the appropriateness of our national motto
• Internalize terms and ideas that can help them develop personal theologies
• Discover the wide Unitarian Universalist response to questions about God
• Explore their own ideas about God's existence and cosmic understanding.