To make the present what God intends it to be.
The prophets care about everything average people like you and I care about. Indeed, with all their hearts and at the price of all their security, the prophets care about clericalism and condemn it.  And so must we.

They care about static secularism and set out to reinvigorate the soul of the temple itself. And so must we.
They care about poverty and decry it, about violence and condemn it, about religion and set out to purify it of its arrogance, its false faith, and the emptiness of its rules and rituals. And so must we.

They are more committed to the Word of God than they are to acceptance by those who claim to be the guardians of the Word of God but betray its meaning. And so must we.

They are more given to faith in God than they are to fidelity to the system. And so must we.

They are more full of hope in the future than they are afraid of pain in the present. And so must we.

They are more committed to the Word of God than they are to fear of those who speak for the institution but claim to speak for God.  And so must we.

They are more committed to new questions than they are to old answers.  And so must we.
The prophet will persist as long as it takes to make the present what God intends it to be.  And so must we.

They believe beyond institutional theology in the God who created us all, led us all, lives in all of us, not just some of us, not just our kind, not just us.  And so must we.

They live very much in the present for the sake of a future they know may never be their own.  And they call us to do the same.
We are here to seed the present with godliness so that others may someday reap the best of what we sowed.
—from The Time Is Now: A Call to Uncommon Courage by Joan Chittister