About the Artwork:
The Good Samaritan
Ferdinand Hodler
1885
Oil on canvas 
71 x 112 cm
Kunsthaus Zurich, Switzerland

“Who is my neighbor?” Jesus was asked. His answer, the parable of the good Samaritan, found in Luke 10:30–37, asks us to consider just how far past the limits of custom, convenience, and comfort we are called to go in showing mercy toward others. In the parable, passersby refused to help a wounded man who had been stripped of clothing, beaten, and left for dead in the road—until a Samaritan traveler happened upon the man. Although Samaritans and Jews despised each other, the Samaritan helped the injured stranger. Artist Ferdinand Hodler isolates the figures on a neutral background and paints the episode from a low vantage point, thereby inviting the viewer into a greater sense of immediacy and intimacy in the encounter between the two men. Hodler's work reminds us that Christ calls us not only to love those who are similar to us or with whom we are comfortable, but all whom God places in our path.
https://www.gotquestions.org/who-is-my-neighbor.html

About the Artist:
Ferdinand Hodler (1853–1918) was one of the best-known Swiss symbolist painters of the nineteenth century and a forerunner of Expressionism. He did not receive a traditional academic training in art but instead he was apprenticed to a local decorative painter. His early works were portraits, landscapes, and genre paintings in a realistic style. Later, he adopted a personal form of symbolism which he called "parallelism.” Merging the realism of French artist Gustave Courbet and the post-impressionist brushstrokes of artist Paul Gauguin with his own form of symbolism, Hodler created hallmark works. In 1871, he traveled to Geneva to establish himself as an artist, often copying the works of other artists, including Hans Holbein, Titian, and Nicolas Poussin, as means of teaching himself their techniques. Throughout the latter part of his career, Hodler’s depictions of Swiss patriotism and historic scenes became increasingly popular with his countrymen. Today, his works can be found in the collections of the Art Institute of Chicago in Chicago, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Musee d’Orsay in Paris, the Kunstmuseum Basel, and the Neue Pinakothek in Munich, among many others. 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdinand_Hodler
http://www.artnet.com/artists/ferdinand-hodler/

About the Music: 
“O For a Thousand Tongues to Sing” from the album Alleluia, Sing!

Lyrics:
O for a thousand tongues to sing
My great Redeemer's praise (2x)

The glories of my God and King,
The triumphs of His grace! (4x)     

Jesus! the name that charms our fears
That bids our sorrows cease (2x)

'Tis music in the sinner's ears
'Tis life, and health, and peace (4x)

See all your sins on Jesus laid
The Lamb of God was slain (2x)

His soul was once an offering made
For every soul of man (4x)

He breaks the power of cancelled sin
He sets the prisoner free (2x)

His blood can make the foulest clean
His blood availed for me (4x)

He speaks, and, listening to His voice
New life the dead receive (2x)

The mournful, broken hearts rejoice
The humble poor believe (4x)

Hear Him, ye deaf; His praise, ye dumb
Your loosened tongues employ (2X)

Ye blind, behold your Savior come
And leap, ye lame, for joy (4x)

My gracious Master and my God
Assist me to proclaim (2x)

To spread through all the earth abroad
The honors of Thy name (4x)

About the Performers: 
Saint Michael’s Singers with Conductor Paul Leddington Wright

Coventry Cathedral Chorus was formed in 1963 shortly after the consecration of the new Coventry Cathedral in Coventry, England, and is regarded as one of the UK’s leading choral ensembles. From its formation until September 2017, the choir was known as Saint Michael’s Singers, taking its name from the saint to whom the cathedral is dedicated. The choir has a membership of around ninety auditioned singers from all ages and walks of life, and promotes its own season of concerts in Coventry Cathedral and at other venues in the English Midlands area. Over the years the choir has performed with numerous professional soloists, conductors, and orchestras in many of the famous concert halls, cathedrals, and great churches of the UK, as well as in Europe. Coventry Cathedral Chorus has made many recordings over the years, and is featured in the Hymnmakers Series for Kingsway Records. Most recently it released a new recording of its own––Carols from Coventry––which includes arrangements of Christmas carols in tribute to the late British choral conductor Sir David Willcocks. Tracks from the choir’s recordings are played on radio stations around the world. The choir broadcasts on both radio and television and form part of the stage choir for BBC television’s annual Songs of Praise Big Sing, recorded in the Royal Albert Hall, London, and conducted by Paul Leddington Wright.
https://www.coventrycathedralchorus.com/about

Paul Leddington Wright has been associated with the Coventry Cathedral Chorus (formerly the Saint Michael's Singers) since 1984, having made numerous recordings with them. Wright has been conducting orchestras and choirs since he was fifteen, at which age he held his first position as organist and choirmaster of the Maidenhead Methodist Church. In 1984, he was appointed organist and director of music at Coventry Cathedral, a post he held until 1995. In order to pursue a busy freelance career and working for the BBC, since 1995 he has held the part-time position of associate director of music at Coventry Cathedral, where he currently is the regular organist. As conductor of the Coventry Cathedral Chorus, he has conducted many concerts, most notably the annual Messiah concert. Wright has worked for BBC television and radio since 1986 as a conductor and arranger. He has conducted the BBC’s Big Sing at London’s Royal Albert Hall every September since the fortieth anniversary program in 2001.
paulleddingtonwright.co.uk

About the Composer:
Charles Wesley (1707–1788) was an English leader of the Methodist movement and is most widely known for writing the words for over 6,500 hymns. His most famous works include "And Can It Be,” "Christ the Lord Is Risen Today," "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing,” and "Lo! He Comes with Clouds Descending.” He was a younger brother of Methodist founder John Wesley and Anglican cleric Samuel Wesley the Younger. Educated at Oxford University, where his brothers had also studied, Charles followed his father into the church in 1735. Following their evangelical conversions in 1738, the Wesley brothers traveled throughout Britain, converting followers to the Methodist revival through preaching and hymn-singing. It has been said that Charles Wesley usually celebrated each anniversary of his birthday by writing a hymn of praise to God. On his spiritual birthday––the first anniversary of his conversion—he celebrated by writing one of the most beloved hymns still in use today among Methodists––“O For a Thousand Tongues to Sing.” The hymn was placed first in John Wesley's A Collection of Hymns for the People Called Methodists published in 1780. It was the first hymn in every (Wesleyan) Methodist hymnal from that time until the publication of Hymns and Psalms in 1983.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Wesley

About the Poet: 
Edward Estlin "E. E." Cummings (1894–1962) was an American poet, painter, essayist, author, and playwright. He wrote two autobiographical novels, four plays, several essays, and approximately 2,900 poems. He received his B.A. in 1915 and his M.A. in 1916, both from Harvard University. His studies there introduced him to the poetry of avant-garde writers such as Gertrude Stein and Ezra Pound. In his work, Cummings experimented radically with form, punctuation, spelling, and syntax; he abandoned traditional techniques and structures to create a new, highly idiosyncratic poetic style. He attained great popularity, especially among young readers, for the simplicity of his language and his playful experimentation. During his lifetime, Cummings received a number of honors, including an Academy of American Poets Fellowship, two Guggenheim Fellowships, the Charles Eliot Norton Professorship at Harvard, the Bollingen Prize in Poetry, and a Ford Foundation Grant.
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/e-e-cummings
https://poets.org/poet/e-e-cummings

About the Devotion Author:
Chase Andre. M.A.
Instructor in Communication Core and Digital Learning
Department of Communication Studies
Biola University

Chase Andre holds a master's degree from Fuller Theological Seminary in intercultural studies with an emphasis in just peacemaking, and graduated with a bachelor's degree from Biola. Teaching in Biola’s Department of Communication Studies since 2014, Chase's approach to education helps students practically follow Jesus's teachings in how they live, speak, work, and act — particularly as peacemakers and reconcilers at the sites of intercultural conflict. He has researched and engaged in fair housing advocacy, communication in the global, networked society, and Martin Luther King, Jr.’s communicative action. Outside the classroom, Chase serves business and nonprofit leaders as a communication consultant. He speaks at national conferences, and leads workshops and retreats. Chase, his wife Alicia Miller Andre, and their two kids—Silas and Nariah—live in Los Angeles, where overpriced coffee and underpriced tacos are a regular part of their diet.