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.



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.



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



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.



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.



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.



Foreword by Jessica Hooten Wilson



Introduction by Paul Willis

Part I: Lenten Season



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

Liz McFadzean



Anchored

Luci Shaw



Flying in after theIce 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



TheTexas 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 Winner



Week Five: Bitterly Sweet



A Recipe for _____

Amanda DeVos Newell



Pruning the Apple Trees

Deborah Dickerson



Festival

Eugene 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

PaulWillis



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

JohnLeax



Holy Tuesday



A Notable Failure

Robert Siegel



Hollow Again

Paul 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 Willis



Not with Words of Eloquent Wisdom

Tania Runyan



A Palace Guard

John Leax



Good Friday



The More EarnestPrayer 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



Apprenticedto 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 that is 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."