The Vessels of Light Team
Alexis Leigh Ragan
Founder and Editor-In-Chief
Alexis Leigh Ragan is a deep-image poet fascinated by epiphanic shifts, or as she delights to think of it, a literary vessel for Christ’s light to dwell, convinced that the creative arts serve as a powerful window of worship that leads humanity back to the beauty of God’s heart. She created the literary journal,Vessels of Light, to live as a virtual lighthouse holding literary vessels that shine. She was chosen as a Harriet Williams Emerging Writer for 2026 and received the Mary Purcell Beach Scholarship for the best written essay in 17th-18th century studies. Alexis has been published in places such as Rip-Rap, Ekstasis ( now Inkwell), Calla Press, Alabaster Co, Heart of Flesh,The Way Back To Ourselves, and Christianity Today. She holds an MFA in poetry at California State University Long Beach.
Courtney Moody
Lead Assistant Editor
Courtney Moody is a Tampa-based writer and poet. Her work has appeared across various publications, including MANTIS, Red Flag Press, Inkwell (formerly Ekstasis Magazine), and Brain Mill Press’ British Science Fiction Association Award-nominated anthology, Ab Terra 2024. In 2022, her poem “Florida Anatomy” was awarded 2nd place for the Florida State Poet’s Association Award, and in 2024, she was invited to contribute to Christianity Today’s Advent devotional, A Time for Wonder. She is passionate about cultivating the light of Christ in the literary landscape and is thrilled to be part of the vision of Vessels of Light.
Emma McCoy
Assistant Editor
Emma McCoy (M.A) has two poetry books: This Voice Has an Echo (2024) and In Case I Live Forever (2022). She has been published in places like Across the Margin, Stirring Literary, and Thimble Mag. She reads for Chestnut Review and Whale Road Review. She’s probably working on her novel right now. Catch her on Substack: https://poetrybyemma.substack.com/
Gabrielle Johnson
Lead Image Visionary
Gabrielle Johnson, owner of Chasing Horizons Photography, specializes in branding and creative lifestyle portraits. With a rich blend of educational and artistic experience, she brings depth and vision to her work with Vessels of Light, and as a mission and faith-driven artist herself, she finds perfect harmony in working alongside this literary journal. Her photographs are foundational in visually portraying the messages present in the Lit-House and beyond. She is delighted to be a part of the team and the vision moving forward!
Stephanie Hanno
Assistant Image Visionary
Lead Spanish Poetry Editor & Translator
Rosa Lía Gilbert is the author of the forthcoming poetry collection, Under the Samán Tree: Poems on Home, Longing, and Belonging, releasing with the Way Back Books in early fall 2025. Her work has been published in Fare Forward, Ekstasis, America Magazine, and Prosetrics Literary Magazine, among others. She is a born and raised Dominican now living in the Pacific Northwest alongside her husband and three-year-old. Whenever she’s not loving on her family, she is writing bilingual poems on whatever piece of paper she can find. Rosa was formerly part of the Calla Press Publishing team as their publishing assistant. She is now looking forward to serving the literary needs of Vessels of Light as a Spanish poetry translator and assistant editor. She has also been selected as a fellow for Christianity Today’s Young Storytellers Fellowship.
Grace Cultivar
Assistant Spanish Poetry Editor & Translator
Stephanie Hanno is a wedding and fine art photographer with a natural, storytelling approach. She loves capturing real, unposed moments that feel honest and timeless. Rooted in her Syriac Orthodox Christian faith, Stephanie is inspired by tradition, family, and the beauty found in everyday life. Her work is all about preserving genuine emotions with both artistry and heart.
Rosa Lía Gilbert
Chiara Aleman
Grace Cultivar is a writer and mixed-media artist based in Florida. She has created visual media about Puerto Rican history for the forthcoming documentary Bajari and about the diasporic experience for the forthcoming stage play Jayuya Forever. Her writing similarly centers on cultural belonging, generational family history, and the quest for heaven. When she’s not cooking for her husband and children, she is working on her novel and a series of paintings that highlight the traditions of her heritage. You can find Grace's bilingual poetry at Vessels of Light, where she serves as Spanish translator and assistant editor.
Chiara Aleman
Guest Letter Reader & Lead Essay Editor
Chiara Aleman is a MA scholar whose emphasis is in early modern literature, particularly grief and absence. Other than her academic pursuits, Chiara loves writing essays, reading poetry, and collecting old letters to feel the heartbeat behind them. She is delighted to see what letters come across her desk this summer.
The Story of How Vessels of Light Began:
While studying English Creative Writing at California State Long Beach, a seed was planted in my heart to create a space where the light of the Lord could be illuminated within Scripture-inspired creative literature, namely within the art of poetry. This all started when I began to walking through the Gospel of John for the first time, ( a profound book in the Bible drenched with significant text of light and darkness ) while I was studying the contemporary poets of America.
In class, I was continuously fascinated by how often the symbol of light was portrayed in poems grappling with the darkness of humanity. Every day, I sat there stunned as I listened to the internal groans and seeking of poets who coped with a broken world in need of Jesus, realized or not, often evident in the lack of light that trickled between the lines — and then in other poems, in various ways, it became so clear that God’s character was revealed through the presence of light, whether it be explicitly or metaphorically represented; simply put, an epiphany struck me.
I have always been amazed with the powerful essence of light in the Bible. How Jesus Christ is both the true “light of the world” ( John 8:12) and then describes us as diligent lights who shine in reflection of Him ( Matthew 5:16). This relationship, as we see, is intimately two-fold, for to become a “vessel of light” we are first filled with the flame of the Holy Spirit, a miracle igniting at belief and forever burning in faith. Hence, the inspiration of this literary lighthouse derives itself from the Biblical significance of a clay crafted vessel, which represents our earthly bodies intricately molded from dust, and the eternal fire burning inside of us, which represents the glorious gleam of Christ’s salvation burning within to then radiate out, into this world.
The more I read both creative literature alongside the veracity of Scripture and wrote poetry of my own, the more I started to see poems as “little vessels of light” of their own, with the ability to carry, within the literary community and beyond, the flame of hope into a shadowed world. As an artist and poet, I longed to share the scintillating connection made between the everlasting Word and literary works that point to the true Light, and desired to create a platform where this mission could be pursued deeply and celebrated creatively by all people.
May we all burn brightly for Christ,
Alexis Leigh