The Risk We Face at Easter is my article over on The Rebelution. This is what has traditionally been called Holy Week and we're nearing the end of it. But there is a risk inherent to this week - it's the risk of sentimentality. That's what I write about in this piece.
American Girls and Their Social Media Lives is a book review I wrote for The Gospel Coalition. "American Girls" is a new release by journalist Nancy Jo Sales, reporting on the disturbing research Sales collected as she interviewed teenage girls about social media and their sexuality. It was an interesting read. Here's a taste:
"Today teenage girls live online, a recent study revealing that “92 percent were going online from a mobile device daily” (10). But this online world isn’t the screen of innocent fun so many parents believe it to be. It’s a hypersexualized world where validation, acceptance, and worth are inexorably connected to sexual appeal and appetite."
These two posts remind me so much why today, Good Friday, is needed. Sin is very real, terribly and darkly real, and it has infected us all. But the twin hope of today is that sin doesn't have the final say. It doesn't close the curtain. Hope does. Redemption does. Resurrection does. Restoration does.
And that's why this is a truly good Friday.