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

Talk about the quotes. Does the first seem to work just as well if you substitute "Great Mystery" or another word or phrase for the word "God"? What do you think about the second quote? Why do you come to church?

WHAT WE DID TODAY

Today's Big Question is "Does God exist?" We talked a little about the national motto on American money — "In God we trust." We learned about some words connected with God ideas, and we heard the God ideas of some young UUs from Maine. We made a UU tent for WCUU, and talked about the different God beliefs we might find under such a tent. We ended up thinking about our own private "yes" or "no" answers to questions about God.

ANSWERING TODAY'S BIG QUESTION

What do family members and friends have to say about the question: "Does God exist?" Do members of your immediate family share the same ideas about God? How about your extended family? Different family members might define the word "God" differently or might use another word to describe something in the universe that is larger than us. Does your family include theists, who believe in God? Atheists, who say there is no God? Agnostics, who say they do not know? Do you pray as individuals or as a family? Do the different parts of your family talk with one another about God? Think about the family members whose ideas you think you know. Do any of them agree, or are they all different? Does that matter? What does matter about God beliefs? (Being comfortable with your own beliefs? Accepting that other people have different beliefs?)

SHARED SEARCH

Go together to a place where you or someone in your family experiences a sense of the holy or sacred, or very special place that makes you or they think about God, the eternal or the Spirit of Love. That might be your church. It might be a lake, or a mountain that fills you with awe, or maybe a place in your house where a family member prays or meditates.

TOUR YOUR TOWN

Drive or walk together around your community. Look at the different places of worship or religious buildings. Which say something about God on the outside? How do their messages make you feel? Do you want to go in? Stay away? Why?

PHOTO CHALLENGE

Photograph something in your house that makes you think of God. Maybe it is a book, like the Bible. Remember, thinking about God is not the same as believing that there is a God. Everybody has to think about God sometimes, because the idea of God is all around us.

FAMILY FAITH IN ACTION

Can your family think of a Faith in Action project that has something to do with God? Maybe it is as simple as telling a few other people that you are in a religion where people are free to have their own God beliefs. What else can you think of?