To others, God is an oppressive power used to bind and blind the wretched of the earth
To some, God is the creator who breathes the breath of life into our bodies
To others, God is the creation of an infantile humanity, superstitious and scared to grow up
To some, God is a motherly parent, birthing creation and holding her people to her breast
To others, God is a tyrannical father, never pleased enough, loathed and feared as he traps us in dependence
To some, God is a liberator, hearing the cries of the oppressed and moving to help them
To others, God is a collaborator, deaf to the cries of the oppressed and siding with the powers that be
To some, God's hands were split open by violence in suffering love for women and men
To others, God's hands are stained with the blood of countless atrocities and needless human suffering
To some, the praises of the church rise like incense to be breathed in by the God of love
To others, the smoke of Auschwitz and Hiroshima rise like a finger accusing God, like smoke which blinds God's eyes
Some of us find all our hope and sense of meaning in God
Others have lost all faith in God
God means something to us,
to our worship or our doubt,
to our trust or our fear,
as lover or as tyrant,
as ultimate reality or grand illusion,
We are here to face up to what we do and don't believe about God.
Let us worship God.