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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 alt

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
Ebook
  • Length: 272 pages
  • Published: November 10, 2026
  • Imprint: IVP
  • ISBN: 9781514014431
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!"
Jessica Hooten Wilson, Fletcher Jones Chair of Great Books at Pepperdine University and author of Reading for the Love of God, from the foreword
"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."
Jennifer L. Holberg, director of the Calvin Center for Faith & Writing and author of Nourishing Narratives
"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."
Lisa DeBoer, professor of the history of art at Westmont College and author of The Visual Arts in the Worshiping Church
"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."
Courtney Ellis, pastor and author of Weathering Change
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CONTENTS

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. 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


Acknowledgments
Contributors
Permissions

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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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