Love is all around us, says the popular song. Actually, it is.

This year's winner of the auction to name a sermon topic has asked for a sermon on the Hebrew Scripture's story of Ruth. Is it an uplifting story of empowerment, or is it another tale of patriarchal oppression? It's both. And that tells us some things about the conditions we all face in our (somewhat) free and responsible searches for truth and meaning.

Whether it's by genes or training, some brains have more than other brains of a certain bundle of traits that seem to correlate together: proneness to self-forgetfulness, to feeling united with the world around us, to creativity, and to "mystical" experiences. There are some advantages to having these traits--and also some disadvantages.

Nature built us with some powerful impulses toward morality--and some powerful impulses toward immorality. Understanding these forces can help us make our peace with both our angels and our demons.

Our Declaration of Independence identifies "pursuit of happiness" as an inalienable right, along with life and liberty. But maybe we'd actually be happier if we gave the whole thing up. And maybe our pursuit of it is inhibiting our realization of world community of peace, liberty, and justice. Can we move on past pursuits of happiness and make peace with the perfection of the way things actually are, including ourselves?

Sometimes it seems that those humanist teachings about reason and science leave us suspicious of "Spirituality." There are some good reasons for that suspicion. Yet "the S word" can be understood so that it can be reclaimed -- and there are good reasons for doing so.

A popular game show assumes that everyone who isn't already a millionaire wants to be one. My questions is: Who wants to *stop* wanting to be a millionaire? Who's ready for a simpler, less consumptive way of living?

There are creative theological options for thinking about ways "God" can be a meaningful and helpful concept for us. The 20th-century saw the emergence of "Process Theology" which characterized the divine as a dynamic, unfolding process.

There are creative theological options for thinking about ways "God" can be a meaningful and helpful concept for us. The 20th-century saw the emergence of "Process Theology" which characterized the divine as a dynamic, unfolding process.

Is happiness really necessary? Granted, we can't be very kind or productive if we're miserable, but won't "just OK" suffice? Who needs more than a middling level of happiness? Oh, and, um, just in case, how do we get those higher levels of joy anyway?