I don't know what to make of the Muslim mystics, especially those who have come to be known as the Sufis. What do they experience in their mystic experiences? Could they have encountered the same God we do in our Christian mysticism?

Sadly, we do a much better job of making people feel guilty than we do of delivering them from the guilt we create. We need to confess this and change our ways.

Relegating women to second-class citizenship was abolished when Jesus died on the cross.

Most of us are tiptoeing through life so we can reach death safely. We should be praying, "If I should wake before I die. . . ." Life can get away from you.

Of the 22 industrialized nations of the world, we're dead last in per capita giving to poor people.

Beyond these models of reconciliation, a theology of mysticism provides some hope for common ground between Christianity and Islam. Both religions have within their histories examples of ecstatic union with God, which seem at odds with their own spiritual traditions but have much in common with each other.

Certain things happened in the early church. Women who had never had any freedom suddenly have the ability to stand up and speak and be treated as equals within the life of the church.