About the Artwork #1:
Heavenly Host
Jason Jasperson
c. 2016
Pencil, ink, and digital processes

About the Artist #1:
Jason Jaspersen has been producing a diverse portfolio of art for the past twenty-five years.  His creative work includes public monuments, painted murals, woodblock prints, Japanese ink paintings, sand animations, illustrations, motion graphics, and stacks of sketchbooks. Despite utilizing varied materials and methods, his portfolio has a consistent strain towards internalized Christian themes. He wrestles invisible qualities of the Christian faith into stimulating visuals for renewed contemplation. Jasperson's paintings, sculptures, and prints can be found around the United States in private and public settings. Jasperson has been an art educator since 2001, bringing an experiential and relational approach to high school and college students. Jasperson regularly advocates for the intersection of creativity and Christianity at conferences, podcasts, presentations, and blog posts. He currently splits his time working as a studio artist and a studio art professor at Bethany Lutheran College in Mankato, Minnesota. 
http://www.jjjaspersen.com/

About the Artwork #2:
A Great Multitude from the Here and Not Yet Series
Katherine Sherlock
2017
Acrylic on board
10 x 10 in.

We can only imagine the glorious sight of a host of angels in the heavens proclaiming the birth of the Saviour of the world to the lowly shepherds in their fields. Both of these illustrations attempt to convey the awesome sight of a heavenly army of angels singing “Glory to God in the Highest!” The shepherds that were “keeping watch over their flock by night” in the biblical account were not men revered or esteemed by society. These were men marginalized by society and the religious leaders of the day. Our Messiah was born into the midst of social, religious, and class prejudice. But God subverted these cultural prejudices by picking these lowly, unpretentious shepherds to be the first to hear the joyous news of Christ's birth.

About the Artist #2:
Katherine Sherlock, a recent graduate of the Biola University art department, is a painter based in Denver, Colorado, and Amman, Jordan. While exploring a variety of subjects and media, her artwork offers a message of joy and hope in the midst of darkness.
https://www.katherinesherlock.com/

About the Music #1:
“Gloria in D Major, RV 589: I. Gloria in Excelsis Deo” from the album Baroque Concerto Antonio Vivaldi: Magnificat Gloria

Lyrics #1 (Latin):
Gloria in excelsis Deo.

English Translation:
Glory to God in the highest.

About the Performers #1:
New Philharmonia Orchestra and Riccardo Muti

The New Philharmonic Orchestra was founded in 1977, when the College of DuPage, located in Glen Ellyn, Illinois, boldly embarked on sponsoring resident professional arts organizations. Since its first concert in 1977, when an orchestra of twenty-four carefully auditioned musicians performed for a capacity audience of three hundred thirty on the campus, the New Philharmonic has expanded and thrived. Now under the direction of Artistic Director and Conductor Kirk Muspratt, the orchestra numbers approximately sixty players, depending on the repertoire, and performs for audiences of 1,500 people per engagement in the beautiful McAninch Arts Center on the campus. Under Muspratt’s direction, the orchestra performs innovative renditions of classic and modern works.
https://www.atthemac.org/new-philharmonic/about-new-philharmonic/

Riccardo Muti (b. 1941) is an Italian conductor of both opera and symphonic repertory. He became one of the most respected and charismatic conductors of his generation. Following a successful debut with the Italian Radio Symphony Orchestra in 1968, he appeared as a conductor with leading orchestras in Europe and the United States. He served as principal conductor of the Florence Maggio Musicale from 1969 to 1980, and he succeeded Otto Klemperer as principal conductor of the New Philharmonia of London in 1973. He remained principal conductor until 1979 and was music director from 1979 to 1982. In 1977 he became the principal guest conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra, and he served as its music director from 1980 to 1992. Muti became music director of La Scala in Milan in 1986 but left the position in 2005 following widely reported disputes between the administration and the theatre’s artistic unions. After leaving La Scala, Muti maintained a steady guest-conducting schedule with several of the world’s leading orchestras, and in 2010 he took the baton as permanent music director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO). He was a recipient (2011) of the million-dollar prize established by Swedish soprano Birgit Nilsson.
Riccardomutimusic.com
https://cso.org/about/performers/music-director/
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Riccardo-Muti

About the Composer #1:
Antonio Lucio Vivaldi (1678–1741) was an Italian composer, teacher, Roman Catholic priest, and violinist who left an indelible mark on the concerto and the style of late Baroque instrumental music. Vivaldi is regarded as one of the greatest Baroque composers, and his influence during his lifetime was widespread across Europe, being paramount in the development of Johann Sebastian Bach's instrumental music. He composed many instrumental concertos for the violin and a variety of other musical instruments, as well as sacred choral works and more than fifty operas. His best-known work is a series of violin concertos known as The Four Seasons. Many of his compositions were written for the all-female music ensemble of the Ospedale della Pietà. After meeting Emperor Charles VI, Vivaldi moved to Vienna, hoping for royal support. However, the emperor died soon after Vivaldi's arrival, and Vivaldi himself died in poverty less than a year later. After almost two centuries of decline, Vivaldi's musical reputation underwent a revival in the early twentieth century. Many of Vivaldi's compositions, once thought lost, have been rediscovered. His music remains widely popular in the present day and is regularly played all over the world.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonio_Vivaldi
https://www.biography.com/musician/antonio-vivaldi

About the Lyrics #1:
"Gloria in Excelsis Deo" (Latin for "Glory to God in the Highest") is a hymn known also as the Greater Doxology (as distinguished from the "Minor Doxology" or Gloria Patri) and the “Angelic Hymn/Hymn of the Angels.” The name is often abbreviated to “Gloria in Excelsis.” The hymn begins with the words that the angels sang when announcing the birth of Christ to shepherds in Luke 2:14.

About the Music #2:
“Gloria: III. [Vivace e ritmico]” from the album Gloria: The Sacred Music of John Rutter

Lyrics #2 (Latin): 
Quóniam tu solus Sanctus,
tu solus Dóminus,
tu solus Altíssimus,
Jesu Christe, cum Sancto Spíritu:
in glória Dei Patris. Amen.

Gloria in excelsis Deo.
Amen.

English Translation:
For You alone are the Holy One,
you alone are the Lord,
you alone are the Most High,
Jesus Christ, with the Holy Spirit,
in the glory of God the Father. Amen.

Glory to God in the highest. Amen.

About the Performers #2:
The Cambridge Singers, Philip Jones Brass Ensemble, City of London Sinfonia, and John Rutter

The Cambridge Singers are a mixed-voice chamber choir formed in 1981 by their director John Rutter for the express purpose of making recordings. The nucleus of the group was originally provided by former members of the chapel choir of Clare College, Cambridge, where John Rutter was director of music from 1975 to 1979, supplemented by former members of other collegiate choirs. The Cambridge Singers have been involved in the last four Fresh Aire albums of the Mannheim Steamroller band, by composer Chip Davis, but they are primarily a classical choral group.They have recorded several highly acclaimed Christmas albums, including Christmas Day in the Morning, Christmas Night: Carols of the Nativity, Christmas Star, Christmas with the Cambridge Singers, and The Cambridge Singers Christmas Album.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambridge_Singers
https://www.singers.com/group/Cambridge-Singers/

Philip Jones Brass Ensemble (PJBE), founded in 1951 by trumpeter Philip Jones (1928–2000), was one of the first modern classical brass ensembles to be formed. Decades later, the Philip Jones Brass Ensemble, with its large and varied repertoire and over fifty gramophone records to its credit, has traveled around the world, playing at major international festivals, performing at grand occasions, and giving masterclasses on brass ensemble playing. In 1986 Philip Jones retired from playing the trumpet and from the PJBE, which had remained preeminent in the world of brass chamber music for thirty-five years. Some of the members of the Ensemble continued to play together under the name of London Brass. In a tribute following Philip Jones’s death in 2000, British conductor Elgar Howarth said, “Philip’s contribution to brass playing is evident. From an initial idea he managed to fulfil his ambition to provide brass players with a platform which had not previously existed.” The PJBE Library and the programs are now housed in the Philip Jones Brass Centre at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester.
https://pjbe.org/about/

City of London Sinfonia (CLS) is rooted in the belief that music and creativity are for anyone and everyone. CLS puts responsive, in-the-moment music-making with individuals and groups and musician development at the forefront of all their activities, engaging audiences as co-creators in shared music experiences. In 2020, the Royal Philharmonic Society (RPS) Awards awarded the Impact Award to CLS for their Sound Young Minds Project, which provides opportunities to young people in psychiatric hospitals to work with each other and to express themselves. Other of their core projects include Room to Room Music with residents in care homes, Music for Children in London hospitals, and social prescribing with the new Tessa Jowell Health Centre. Their Comfortable Classical Series of relaxed concerts invites everyone to interact with CLS musicians and experience orchestral music. Their innovative artistic programs curated by Alexandra Wood and guest artists are designed to spark adventure, intrigue, and enjoyment with concepts often relating to science, nature, history, or philosophy. Over the last decade, they have established a “seriously informal” performance style, reaching new and diverse audiences by presenting live music in modern, exciting, and thought-provoking ways, often in open-spaced venues such as East London clubs, university halls, and cathedrals. The orchestra gives over seventy-five performances each year, performing regularly at the Albany (Deptford), Canada Water Theatre, Southbank Centre’s Queen Elizabeth Hall, Southwark Cathedral, and St Paul’s Cathedral. They have been the resident orchestra at Opera Holland Park since 2004.
https://cityoflondonsinfonia.co.uk/about-us/

About the Composer/Lyricist:
John Rutter (b. 1945) is an English composer, conductor, editor, arranger, and record producer, mainly of choral music. He studied music at Clare College, Cambridge. He first came to notice as a composer during his student years, with much of his early work consisting of church music and other choral pieces, including Christmas carols. In 1981, Rutter founded his own choir, the Cambridge Singers, which he conducts and with which he has made many recordings of sacred choral repertoire, particularly under his own label Collegium Records. From 1975 to 1979, he was the director of music at his alma mater, Clare College, and has directed the college chapel choir in various recordings and broadcasts. Since 1979 he has divided his time between composition and conducting. Today his compositions, including such concert-length works as Requiem, Magnificat, Mass of the Children, The Gift of Life, and Visions, are performed around the world. His music has been featured in a number of British royal occasions, including the two most recent royal weddings. Rutter's music is very popular, particularly in the US. In the UK, many hold him in high regard, as illustrated by the following quotation from a review in the London Evening Standard (2005): "For the infectiousness of his melodic invention and consummate craftsmanship, Rutter has few peers.” British broadcaster Sue Lawley referred to Rutter as "the most celebrated and successful composer of carols alive today" and Irish broadcaster Sean Rafferty heralded Rutter as "a creator of not just carols, but wonderfully great things for the human voice.”
https://johnrutter.com/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Rutter
https://johnrutter.com/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Rutter

About the Poet:
Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844–1889) is regarded as one of the Victorian era’s greatest poets. He was raised in a prosperous and artistic family. He attended Balliol College, Oxford, where he studied the classics. In 1867 he entered a Jesuit monastery near London. At that time, he vowed to “write no more...unless it were by the wish of my superiors.” Hopkins burned all of the poetry he had written and would not write poems again until 1875. He spent nine years in training at various Jesuit houses throughout England. He was ordained in 1877, and for the next seven years carried out his duties of teaching and preaching in London, Oxford, Liverpool, Glasgow, and Stonyhurst. In 1875, Hopkins, deeply moved by a newspaper account of a German ship, the Deutschland, wrecked during a storm at the mouth of the Thames River, began to write again. Although his poems were never published during his lifetime, his friend, poet Robert Bridges, edited a volume of Hopkins’s works entitled Poems that first appeared in 1918.
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/gerard-manley-hopkins

About the Devotion Author:
Kari Dunham
Adjunct Professor of Art
Biola University

Kari Dunham is an adjunct art professor at Biola University, Concordia University in Irvine, and Irvine Valley College. Dunham earned her M.F.A. in painting from Laguna College of Art + Design. Through her practice of painting ordinary inanimate objects, she gives voice to the quiet corners and objects of the home, describing the “thingness” that is these objects and how they embody human presence and absence. Kari has also written for SEEN, the semi-annual publication of CIVA (Christians in the Visual Arts).