A Companion for Your Journey from Ash Wednesday to Pentecost

"Let no one fear death, for the death of our Savior has set us free."—St. John Chrysostom

Lent is a pilgrimage of the soul when Christians have always commemorated the death and resurrection of Jesus with a season of reflection. Through poems, essays, and devotional readings, A Radiant Resurrection invites you into the time of reflection from Ash Wednesday through Eastertide. Writtenby members of the Chrysostom Society, this spiritual companion is designed to offer new light and depth to your Lenten journey.

This volume includes five weeks of Lenten readings, a week of daily readings for Holy Week, and selections for seven more weeks from Easter to Pentecost. These writings illuminate the agonies and wonders of the Savior's pivotal weeks, revealing how his radiant rising becomes our own.

What you'll find in A Radiant Resurrection:



- A vast collection of literary readings, devotions, essays, and poems compiled into thirteen weeks of readings

- A companion for preparing and celebrating the death and resurrection of Jesus

- A helpful resource for those following the liturgical year, whether as individuals or as groups

In these pages, experience a three-part journey of preparation, celebration, and action—penitent preparation for Jesus' sacrificial death, joyous celebration of his return to life and ascent to glory, and active response through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.

Whether used in personal devotions or by a church congregation or small group, A Radiant Resurrection invites you into reflection, celebration, and renewal. Come encounter the One who dies that our death may die, and rises again to raise us anew.

About the Contributors

This volume includes writings from an array of contributors, including Deborah Dickerson, Jill Peláez Baumgaertner, Paul Willis, Winn Collier, Liz McFadzean, Luci Shaw, Benjamin Myers, Richard J. Foster, Tania Runyan, Robert Siegel, Daniel Taylor, Marilyn McEntyre, Paula Huston, Lauren Winner, Amanda DeVos Newell, Eugene Peterson, John Leax, Matthew Dickerson, Leslie Leyland Fields, Robert Hudson, Sarah Arthur, Scott Cairns, St. John Chrysostom, Walter Wangerin Jr., Diane Glancy, Jeanne Murray Walker, and Gina Ochsner.



Luci Shaw (1928-2025) was a poet, an editor, a retreat leader, a lecturer, and the author of forty books, including Thumbprint in the Clay, The Adventure of Ascent, and The Genesis of It All. Luci and her husband lived in Bellingham, Washington, where she enjoyed sailing, tent camping, knitting, gardening, and wilderness photography.



Paul J. Willis is emeritus professor of English at Westmont College and a former poet laureate of Santa Barbara, California. He is the author of collections of poetry and essays, including Losing Streak and To Build a Trail. He is the coeditor of the Chrysostom Society's Advent anthology, A Radiant Birth.



Taylor, Ph.D., is a professor of English at Bethel College in St. Paul, Minnesota. He has written several books.



Eugene H. Peterson (1932–2018) was a pastor, scholar, author, and poet. He wrote more than thirty books, including his widely acclaimed paraphrase of the Bible, The Message; his memoir, The Pastor; and numerous works of biblicalspiritual formation, including Run with the Horses and Traveling Light.



Leslie Leyland Fields is the award-winning author of fourteen books, including Nearing a Far God and Your Story Matters. She is the coeditor of the Chrysostom Society's Advent anthology, A Radiant Birth, and teaches writing workshops around the world and online in her Memoir Masterclass.



Richard J. Foster is the founder of Renovaré. He is the author of several books, including Streams of Living Water, Prayer, Freedom of Simplicity, Sanctuary of the Soul, and Celebration of Discipline, which has sold over two million copies worldwide; he is coauthor (with Gayle Beebe) of Longing for God. He and his wife, Carolynn, make their home near Denver, Colorado.



Foreword by Jessica Hooten Wilson



Introduction by Paul Willis

Part I: Lenten Season

Ash Wednesday





Ash Wednesday

Deborah Dickerson

Ashes to Ashes

Jill Peláez Baumgaertner

A Meditation on Decay

Paul Willis

Week One: Pilgrimage

A Pilgrimage Toward Joy

Winn Collier

For Lent, 1966



Madeleine L'Engle

Lenten Longings: Humility and Empathy

Liz McFadzean

Anchored

Luci Shaw

Flying in After the Ice Storm

Benjamin Myers

Fasting in the Spirit

Richard J. Foster

Week Two: Joy in Our Sorrows





Grief Group

Deborah Dickerson





The Orphans

Benjamin Myers

The Cat in the Cistern

Benjamin Myers

Count It All as Loss

Tania Runyan

Blackbird in the Chimney

Robert Siegel

Dying and Rising

Jill Peláez Baumgaertner

Week Three: Mystery

Sensing

Luci Shaw

The Texas Fundamentalist Boy Learns to Love High(er) Liturgy

Daniel Taylor

Jonah and Pinocchio

Benjamin Myers

Week Four: Watch and Pray



Sin

Deborah Dickerson

Watch and Pray

Marilyn McEntyre

Prayer

Deborah Dickerson

Bright Wings

Paula Huston

A Sweet Smell

Lauren F. Winner





Week Five: Bitterly Sweet

A Recipe for _____

Amanda DeVos Newell

Pruning the Apple Trees

Deborah Dickerson

Festival

Eugene H. Peterson

Lent

Benjamin Myers

The Snow Falls

Robert Siegel

Broader Than the Measures of the Mind

Marilyn McEntyre





Jesus Tells His Story

Luci Shaw





Part II: Holy Week

Palm Sunday



Villager

John Leax

Gentleness May Be Repaid with Death

Matthew Dickerson

A Colt, the Foal of an Ass

Robert Siegel

Crying Out

Paul Willis

Holy Monday



Royalty

Luci Shaw

No Country for Two Kings

Leslie Leyland Fields

Revival

Luci Shaw

No One Can Boast

Tania Runyan



Walking the Ridge Home: Four

John Leax

Holy Tuesday

A Notable Failure

Robert Siegel

Hollow Again

Paul J. Willis





On Growing Old

Robert Hudson

Lessons from a Toddler

Deborah Dickerson

A Bird in the Church

Luci Shaw

Holy Wednesday





Take This Cup

Paula Huston

Passionate Sins

Paul Willis

Judas, Peter

Luci Shaw

The Washing of Feet

Madeleine L'Engle

Judas

Robert Siegel

Maundy Thursday

Power in the Blood

Sarah Arthur

Barabbas

Paul J. Willis

Not with Words of Eloquent Wisdom

Tania Runyan

A Palace Guard

John Leax

Good Friday



The More Earnest Prayer of Christ

Scott Cairns

Stations of the Cross

Marilyn McEntyre

Magdalene at the Crucifixion

Tania Runyan





Beyond Pain

Jill Peláez Baumgaertner

Son and Mother

Luci Shaw

Good Friday

Tania Runyan

Good Friday

Deborah Dickerson

Holy Saturday

Great and Holy Saturday

Madeleine L'Engle

Mary at Calvary

Tania Runyan

Another Crucifixion

Scott Cairns

Taking the Middle Seat

Leslie Leyland Fields

Bystander

John Leax

My God, My God

Jill Peláez Baumgaertner

Good Friday at the Alamo

Benjamin Myers

Part III: Easter Season

Resurrection Sunday

Don't Take Him Down Yet from the Cross

Leslie Leyland Fields

Easter Sermon

St. John Chrysostom

Rosing from the Dead

Paul Willis

Resurrection Song: Our Gardener Christ

John Leax

The Empty Tomb

Tania Runyan

In Season and Out

John Leax

Easter Uproot

Leslie Leyland Fields

Easter Morning

John Leax

Week One: Clothed and Fed

Ragman

Walter Wangerin Jr.

Easter Is a Dress

Diane Glancy

Jesus Writes a Poem

Luci Shaw

Feed My Sheep

Leslie Leyland Fields

Week Two: Consolation

Stigmata

Luci Shaw

Thomas

Robert Siegel

Open

Luci Shaw

Resurrection Country

Eugene Peterson

Staying Power

Jeanne Murray Walker

To Know Him, Risen

Luci Shaw

Mourning Dove

Paul Willis

Week Three: Emmaus

Resurrection Song: On the Road

John Leax

Inviting a Friend to Supper

Paul Willis

Present

Luci Shaw

A Life More Abundant

Richard J. Foster

Ignatius' Letter to the Romans

Benjamin Myers

The Leper's Return

Scott Cairns

Week Four: Forgiven

Before All Things

Tania Runyan

Ask

Amanda DeVos Newell

Feeding My Mother

Leslie Leyland Fields

The Foolishness of God

Luci Shaw

Week Five: Go into the World

They Also Serve Who Only Sit and Weep

Leslie Leyland Fields

The Partaking

Luci Shaw

The Thirteenth Apostle

Paul Willis

Apprenticed to Christ

Richard J.



"The Chrysostom Society writers here have faithfully sought that good news language, desiring that together with the reader, we may enter again the enchanting truths: Christ is risen from the dead! He lives still in the world! He lives in us! . . . As we enter together the agonies and wonders of the Lenten season, may we be brought into the fiery presence of the Holy. May these words and pages remind us that though we are but dust, the radiant rising of our Savior Jesus is ours as well. Come enter the light and the promise!"



"Once again, Paul J. Willis and Leslie Leyland Fields have assembled a gorgeous literary guidebook to help us pilgrim our way. In this rich collection, these wise and beautiful words from a talented range of writers will lead readers through the rich complexity of the Lenten and Easter seasons."



"The liturgical year offers a recurring framework in which to re-encounter the constancy of God's story in the ever-changing circumstances of our own stories. What a gift to have the aid and company of so many faithful poets and essayists in this Lenten collection, as we once again mark ourselves with ashes, follow Jesus to Jerusalem and then Calvary, heed the witnesses to his resurrection, and await the coming of the Spirit."



"What a treasure this book is! A guide from Ash Wednesday through Eastertide inviting us to partake fully in the depths and heights of the most important season of the church year. I'll be recommending it far and wide."