Tapestry of Faith: Riddle and Mystery: A Program on the Big Questions for Grade 6

God Is . .

Compiled by Tirrell H. Kimball of the Allen Avenue Unitarian Universalist Church in Portland, Maine.

Read — or ask volunteers to read — as many entries from this collection as time and interest allow.

Twice upon a time, the religious education leader of a UU church in Portland, Maine, decided to ask the kids in her program what they thought about God. From their answers, she made two different What Is God? books. Here is some of what they said:

From Shannon, age 5, with a picture she drew of squiggly lines: The squiggly lines are the words God told me to say when I closed my eyes to think about her. She also told me to draw a cross. God has lots of words to say.

From Allyson, age 5: I think that God is up in the clouds. I think that he has a long beard.

From Brandon, age 6: Maybe God looks like a tree. God would like us to stop polluting the water.

From Kate, age 7: I think there's a little light of God in everyone. I think God is all the things around us like the sky, the moon, the grass, the trees and the sun and, of course, you always call that nature.

From Lisa, age 8: I think God is a spirit and I think God is our home and the sky and the grass and the trees and the ground. God is everything.

From Taylor, age 9: God is . . . um . . . well . . .I don't really know. It's kind of a secret that only God knows. Basically, God is everything. It's inside us, it's around us. It's everything.

From Sam, age 10: I think the symbol for God is the Yin and the Yang because that symbolizes everything. And I think God is everything.

From Chris, age 11: It doesn't mean anything really.

From Selena, age 11: God is a feeling, an emotion inside of you. Something to believe will get you through danger safely. God is what some call your conscience. God is a spirit inside everyone. The strength of the god is determined on the capability of the person, determined on the faith, luck, and will to believe in themselves and the god. The attitude is also determined on the person, the attitude of the god. Each god of each person is born and dies with the person.

From Emily, age 12: God is like a small seed of creation.

From Brett, age 12: God is within us. It is a spirit buried inside of our bodies.

From Graham, age 13: God is an idea made to solve the unknown. Therefore, think what you want about it.

From Peter, age 13: God is one big face, not really happy or sad, not male or female, and when you get really close, it is made up of a lot of little tiny faces made of many colors.

From Stefan, age 13: God is Everything.

From Evan, age 14: Personally I don't believe in god or any gods. I believe that every person has their own belief and should stick to it.