The giants of the faith all had one thing in common: neither victory nor success, but passion.

Prayer is - keeping company with God.

I have come to know a God who has a soft spot for rebels, who recruits people like the adulterer David, the whiner Jeremiah, the traitor Peter, and the human-rights abuser Saul of Tarsus. I have come to know a God whose Son made prodigals the heroes of his stories and the trophies of his ministry.

I have found that living with faith in an unseen world requires constant effort.

Christians have an important role to play in contending that no human life is "devoid of value." We can do so through courageous protest, as happened in Germany, as well, as in compassionate care for the most vulnerable members of society, as Mother Teresa did. In both approaches theology - what one believes about God and human life - matters. The world desperately needs that good news.

In the stories of extravagant grace given to us by Jesus, there are no loopholes disqualifying us from God's love.

Grace means there is nothing we can do to make God love us more . . . And grace means there is nothing we can do to make God love us less