On “Question Box Sunday,” instead of giving a sermon, I answer questions that congregants have submitted during the service. This is the second year I’ve done it, and both times it’s been fun for me, and congregants seem to enjoy it too.

Questions range from the fully existential–why do we exist?–to the incredibly concrete–where did I buy that delicious pizza I brought to last summer’s Habit for Humanity project?

My favorite response (if I may be so bold) was to the question “What are your suggestions about how to respond to people who say Unitarian Universalism is a pagan cult?” To which I commented, “What’s wrong with that?” And because UUs like being nonconformist, that got a big laugh. (I went on to say that we don’t meet definitions of a cult. There’s a good checklist of cult characteristics here. Unitarian Universalism has none of these characteristics.)

The question that most needs a sermon-length answer was “How do I get closer to God (the God in me)?” Another question asked about opportunities for spiritual development.

The question I will keep pondering: “Of all the unknowns in the universe, which question would you most like answered?” As I shared with the congregation in the moment, I don’t yearn to know for sure if God exists or what happens when we die. I am comfortable with those mysteries.

Probably what I really want to know is why is it that most of the things that are so delicious to eat turn out to be not very good for us?

So let me ask you, of all the unknowns in the universe, which question would you most like answered?