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A Radiant Resurrection: Lent and Easter Readings from Ash Wednesday to Pentecost, Edited by Paul J. Willis and Leslie Leyland Fields

A Radiant Resurrection

Lent and Easter Readings from Ash Wednesday to Pentecost

With Jill Peláez Baumgaertner, Matthew Dickerson, John Leax, Ben Myers, Tania Runyan, Daniel Taylor, Jeanne Murray Walker, Walter Wangerin, Jr., Madeleine L'Engle, Scott Cairns, John Chrysostom, Winn Collier, Deborah Dickerson, Diane Glancy, Robert Hudson, Paula Huston, Liz McFadzean, Amanda DeVos Newell, Gina Ochsner, Robert Siegel, Richard J. Foster, Marilyn McEntyre, Eugene H Peterson, Luci Shaw, Lauren F. Winner, and Sarah Arthur
Foreword by Jessica Hooten Wilson
Edited by Paul J. Willis and Leslie Leyland Fields

A Radiant Resurrection
Paperback
$21.99
  • Length: 272 pages
  • Dimensions: 5.5 × 8.5 in
  • Published: November 10, 2026
  • Imprint: IVP
  • ISBN: 9781514014424
Other Formats:

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.

REVIEWS

"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."
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CONTENTS

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. Foster
Awake, O Sleeper
Tania Runyan

Week Six: Ascending
Our Way to God and God's Way to Us
Eugene Peterson
If God Can
Leslie Leyland Fields
The Difference a Day Makes
Gina Ochsner
Buried with Him in His Death
Tania Runyan
Sustainability
Paul Willis

Week Seven: Pentecost
High Priest's Maid
John Leax
Pentecost
Madeleine L'Engle
I See a People
Richard J. Foster
Put on the New Self
Tania Runyan
Writing Equations
Jeanne Murray Walker
The Greatest of These
Tania Runyan
Catechumen
Madeleine L'Engle

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ABOUT Paul J. Willis

Paul J. Willis

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.

ABOUT Leslie Leyland Fields

Leslie Leyland Fields

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.

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