What does it mean to take up the cross in a world that rewards safety and silence? Matt Skinner, Karoline Lewis, and Cody Sanders dig into the lectionary texts for the Fourth Sunday after Pentecost (June 22, 2026), exploring the missionary discourse in Matthew 10, the prophet Jeremiah's anguished vocation, the casting out of Hagar and Ishmael in Genesis 21, Psalm 69's theology of complaint, and the "with Christ" language of Romans 6.

The conversation wrestles with fear as a communal emotion, the two historical horizons behind Matthew's hard sayings, what it means that God makes a covenant with Ishmael, and how baptism in Romans 6 plants us together with Christ in a death like his. Along the way: a remarkable story of Danish Christians defying Nazi deportations, a reframing of judgment as being seen rather than punished, and honest reflection on what prophetic courage and prophetic silence have each cost the church.