The human brain is so complex that scientific brains have a hard time making sense of it. A piece of neural tissue the size of a grain of sand might be packed with hundreds of thousands of cells linked together by miles of wiring. In 1979, Francis Crick, the Nobel-prize-winning scientist, concluded that the anatomy and activity in just a cubic millimeter of brain matter would forever exceed our understanding.

“It is no use asking for the impossible,” Dr. Crick wrote.

Forty-six years later, a team of more than 100 scientists has achieved that impossible, by recording the cellular activity and mapping the structure in a cubic millimeter of a mouse’s brain — less than one percent of its full volume. In accomplishing this feat, they amassed 1.6 petabytes of data — the equivalent of 22 years of nonstop high-definition video.

“This is a milestone,” said Davi Bock, a neuroscientist at the University of Vermont who was not involved in the study, which was published Wednesday in the journal Nature. Dr. Bock said that the advances that made it possible to chart a cubic millimeter of brain boded well for a new goal: mapping the wiring of the entire brain of a mouse.

Read it all.

An Advance in Brain Research That Was Once Considered Impossible https://t.co/peoDcslro2

Scientists achieved “a milestone” by charting the activity and structure of 200,000 cells in a mouse brain and their 523 million connections.

— Paul Higgins (@futuristpaul) April 9, 2025

Eternal God, the whole cosmos sings of thy glory, from the dividing of a single cell to the vast expanse of interstellar space: We offer thanks for thy theologian and scientist Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, who didst perceive the divine in the evolving creation. Enable us to become faithful stewards of thy divine works and heirs of thy everlasting kingdom; through Jesus Christ, the firstborn of all creation, who with thee and the Holy Spirit livest and reignest, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

«Ce n’est pas d’un tête à tête ni d’un corps à corps,c’est d’un coeur à coeur que nous avons besoin.»(Pierre Teilhard de Chardin) pic.twitter.com/d9flsQvl1W

— Serge Doucet (@SergeDoucet3) April 10, 2025

Almighty and most merciful God, who hast given thy Son to die for our sins and to obtain eternal redemption for us through his own blood: Let the merit of his spotless sacrifice, we beseech thee, purge our consciences from dead works to serve thee, the living God, that we may receive the promise of eternal inheritance in Christ Jesus our Lord; to whom with thee and the Holy Ghost be honour and glory, world without end.

Kleur in de lucht. Fijne donderdag #zonsopkomst #kleur pic.twitter.com/kxM6ak2VWo

— Tjark Dieterman (@DietermanTjark) April 10, 2025

In the beginning of the reign of Jehoi′akim the son of Josi′ah, king of Judah, this word came from the Lord, “Thus says the Lord: Stand in the court of the Lord’s house, and speak to all the cities of Judah which come to worship in the house of the Lord all the words that I command you to speak to them; do not hold back a word. It may be they will listen, and every one turn from his evil way, that I may repent of the evil which I intend to do to them because of their evil doings. You shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord: If you will not listen to me, to walk in my law which I have set before you, and to heed the words of my servants the prophets whom I send to you urgently, though you have not heeded, then I will make this house like Shiloh, and I will make this city a curse for all the nations of the earth.’”

The priests and the prophets and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the house of the Lord. And when Jeremiah had finished speaking all that the Lord had commanded him to speak to all the people, then the priests and the prophets and all the people laid hold of him, saying, “You shall die! Why have you prophesied in the name of the Lord, saying, ‘This house shall be like Shiloh, and this city shall be desolate, without inhabitant’?” And all the people gathered about Jeremiah in the house of the Lord.

When the princes of Judah heard these things, they came up from the king’s house to the house of the Lord and took their seat in the entry of the New Gate of the house of the Lord. Then the priests and the prophets said to the princes and to all the people, “This man deserves the sentence of death, because he has prophesied against this city, as you have heard with your own ears.”

Then Jeremiah spoke to all the princes and all the people, saying, “The Lord sent me to prophesy against this house and this city all the words you have heard. Now therefore amend your ways and your doings, and obey the voice of the Lord your God, and the Lord will repent of the evil which he has pronounced against you. But as for me, behold, I am in your hands. Do with me as seems good and right to you. Only know for certain that if you put me to death, you will bring innocent blood upon yourselves and upon this city and its inhabitants, for in truth the Lord sent me to you to speak all these words in your ears.”

Then the princes and all the people said to the priests and the prophets, “This man does not deserve the sentence of death, for he has spoken to us in the name of the Lord our God.”

–Jeremiah 26:1-16

Nothing says #spring quite like
the beautiful cherry blossoms! #Cherryblossoms #BlossomWatch #April2025 #Blossoms pic.twitter.com/krrpUlAe84

— Margaret O'Connell (@MargaretOC6) April 10, 2025

German Protestants have commemorated one of their foremost theologians on the 80th anniversary of his execution during the final days of the Second World War.

“Dietrich Bonhoeffer lived to be only 39 — yet hardly any 20th-century Protestant had such a profound impact on Church and society,” the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD) said on its website.

“His passionate protest against the National Socialists, his active role in the resistance against Hitler, his books and his death have resonated far beyond Germany’s borders.”

The statement was published as young Christians gathered last weekend at the Flossenbürg Concentration Camp memorial, in the Fichtel Mountains of Bavaria, near the Czech border, to debate the legacy of Bonhoeffer. His death was also commemorated in a service on Wednesday, as well as in an exhibition and reading of his works.

Read it all.

German Protestants have commemorated one of their foremost theologians on the 80th anniversary of his execution during the final days of the Second World War#Bonhoeffer #DietrichBonhoefferhttps://t.co/xGc7JpsBJU

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) April 9, 2025

The severe storm system that has inundated the central and southeastern United States with heavy rain and high winds for days fits into a broader pattern in recent decades of increasing rainfall across the eastern half of the United States.

Data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration for 1991 through 2020 show that the Eastern part of the country received more rain, on average, over those years than it did during the 20th century. At the same time, precipitation decreased across the West.

The sharp east-west divide is consistent with predictions from climate scientists, who expect wet places to get wetter, and dry areas to get drier, as the world warms.

While no individual storm can be tied to climate change without further analysis, warming air can result in heavier rainfall. That’s because warm air has the ability to hold more moisture than cooler air, fueling conditions for more average precipitation overall, and the potential for storms that come through to be more intense.

Read it all.

'Getting Heavier': Climate Change Primes Storms to Drop More Rain – The New York Times – … , an associate professor of climate meteorology and atmospheric sciences at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Hourly Precip. – https://t.co/kV1MLQcDjZ

— The Postdoctoral (@thepostdoctoral) April 9, 2025

The Quiet Revival shows that the most dramatic church growth is among young adults, particularly young men. In 2018, just 4 per cent of 18–24-year-olds said that they attended church at least monthly. Today, says The Quiet Revival, this has risen to 16 per cent, with young men increasing from 4 per cent to 21 per cent, and young women from 3 to 12 per cent.  

Key findings from The Quiet Revival 

Co-author of The Quiet Revival Dr Rhiannon McAleer says the report shows that what people believe about Church decline is no longer true. ‘These are striking findings that completely reverse the widely held assumption that the Church in England and Wales is in terminal decline,’ she said. 

‘While some traditional denominations continue to face challenges, we’ve seen significant, broad-based growth among most expressions of Church – particularly in Roman Catholicism and Pentecostalism. There are now over 2 million more people attending church than there were six years ago.’ 

Read it all.

Incredible & hugely encouraging new research out from the @biblesociety today. The Lord is moving powerfully throughout the UK. The ‘Quiet Revival’ research includes some remarkable results as shown below & is available to download in full here https://t.co/7G4ltg91H3 pic.twitter.com/O4RbVAQVdo

— Gavin Calver (@GavCalver) April 8, 2025

Certainly you two, of all people, have every reason to look back with special thankfulness on your lives up to now. The beautiful things and joys of life have been showered on you, you have succeeded in everything, and you have been surrounded by love and friendship. Your ways have, for the most part, been smoothed before you took them, and you have always been able to count on the support of your families and friends. Everyone has wished you well, and now it has been given to you to find each other and to reach the goal of your desires. You yourselves know that no one can create and assume such a life from his own strength, but that what is given to one is withheld from another; and that is what we call God’s guidance. So today, however much you rejoice that you have reached your goal, you will be just as thankful that God’s will and God’s way have brought you here; and however confidently you accept responsibility for your action today, you may and will put it today with equal confidence into God’s hands.

As God today adds His ‘Yes’ to your ‘Yes’, as He confirms your will with His will, and as He allows you, and approves of, your triumph and rejoicing and pride, He makes you at the same time instruments of His will and purpose both for yourselves and for others. In His unfathomable condescension God does add His ‘Yes’ to yours; but by doing so, He creates out of your love something quite new – the holy estate of matrimony.

God is guiding your marriage. Marriage is more than your love for each other. It has a higher dignity and power, for it is God’s holy ordinance, through which He wills to perpetuate the human race till the end of time. In your love you see only your two selves in the world, but in marriage you are a link in the chain of the generations, which God causes to come and to pass away to His glory, and calls into His kingdom. In your love you see only the heaven of your own happiness, but in marriage you are placed at a post of responsibility towards the world and mankind. Your love is your own private possession, but marriage is more that something personal – it is a status, an office. Just as it is the crown, and not merely the will to rule, that makes the king, so it is marriage, and not merely your love for each other, that joins you together in the sight of God and man. As you first gave the ring to one another and have now received it a second time from the hand of the pastor, so love comes from you, but marriage from above, from God. As high as God is above man, so high are the sanctity the rights, and the promise of marriage above the sanctity, the rights, and the promise of love. It is not your love that sustains the marriage, but from now on, the marriage that sustains your love.

Read it all.

9 April 1945: Dietrich Bonhoeffer, German pastor, spy, and anti-Nazi, is hanged, accused of being part of the Operation Valkyrie conspiracy to kill Hitler. He is executed with #Admiral Wilhelm Canaris and others a month before the end of #WWII. #OTD #ad https://t.co/VTQ683Bc46 pic.twitter.com/R39hPNoMe8

— Today In History (@URDailyHistory) April 9, 2025

Gracious God, the Beyond in the midst of our life, who gavest grace to thy servant Dietrich Bonhoeffer to know and teach the truth as it is in Jesus Christ, and to bear the cost of following him: Grant that we, strengthened by his teaching and example, may receive thy word and embrace its call with an undivided heart; through Jesus Christ our Savior, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

„Jeder neue Morgen ist ein neuer Anfang unseres Lebens. Jeder Tag ist ein abgeschlossenes Ganzes."
Guten Morgen mit Dietrich Bonhoeffer, geb am 4. Februar 1907, Mitbegründer der bekennenden Kirche, Widerstandskämpfer, der am 9. April 1945 im Konzentrationslager erhängt wurde pic.twitter.com/EHp051Lnsg

— H.P. (@Peine01) April 9, 2025

O God, whose blessed Son did overcome death for our salvation: Mercifully grant that we, who have his glorious passion in remembrance, may take up our cross daily and follow him; through the same thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord.

Bonjour Mister Sunshine
#WednesdayMotivation #sunrise #lambing2025#spring #weather #GoodVibesOnly #StormHour #jefinuist #croft #farming #outerhebrides #Scotland pic.twitter.com/o6cLcnFWDt

— DaliMach (@frenchscotjeff) April 9, 2025

But how are men to call upon him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without a preacher? And how can men preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach good news!” But they have not all obeyed the gospel; for Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?” So faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes by the preaching of Christ. But I ask, have they not heard? Indeed they have; for “Their voice has gone out to all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world.” Again I ask, did Israel not understand? First Moses says, “I will make you jealous of those who are not a nation; with a foolish nation I will make you angry.” Then Isaiah is so bold as to say, “I have been found by those who did not seek me; I have shown myself to those who did not ask for me.” But of Israel he says, “All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and contrary people.”

–Romans 10:14-21

Zebra plains.
Pic taken at Masai Mara.#indiaves #BBCWildlifePOTD #ThePhotoHour #SonyAlpha pic.twitter.com/x5xMrrMI6i

— ayyappan hariharan (@passivelyactive) April 9, 2025

During the WATCH conference, the Area Bishop of Croydon, Dr Rosemarie Mallett, a member of the steering committee that drafted the 2014 legislation (News, 26 July 2013), said: “I think in honesty we also thought that as society changed and as views became more open-minded among growing numbers of younger men and women, the culture of the Church would change like the culture of the wider society.”

Responding to this point, Mr Middleton suggested that, “Given that we are only just over a decade on from the settlement being put in place, and mutual flourishing is in its infancy, such attitudes do not bode well for any settlement emerging for evangelicals from their opposition to the Prayers of Love and Faith (PLF).

“What are they, and others, to make of the promises made to Anglo-Catholics, which some appear so keen to renege on so soon after those commitments were made?”

He also asked about the “well-being” of young clergy in the Society (which is supported and financed by Forward in Faith) who put themselves forward for ordination under the settlement, should this be revoked “after such a short elapse of time”.

Read it all.

Promises to traditionalists should be kept, Forward in Faith sayshttps://t.co/gRz5Njpgzp

— Madeleine Davies (@MadsDavies) April 8, 2025

Instead, a thoroughly biblical understanding of epistemic humility means rejoicing in a relationship with the eternal God and trusting that his vast and timeless knowledge far exceeds our own. I may not be certain about many things, but I have decided to follow Jesus, the only begotten Son of God, because he has given me good cause to trust him. In fact, I would do well to trust him more than I trust myself.

Jesus himself presents a remarkable example of this kind of humility. He alone had every right to approach life with absolute unmitigated certainty in the fullness of his knowledge, and yet he sought the will of his Father and submitted to the uncertainties of life in human form. Luke tells us that he “grew in wisdom,” listening to the priests and asking questions as a boy (2:52). He taught with divine authority but openly confessed that there were things he did not know which he left in the capable hands of the Father (Matt. 24:36).

If our Lord Jesus possessed and expressed this kind of humility, what excuse do we have?

In light of all this, I feel I can answer my student’s question with a bit more confidence. Yes, a Christian should have an open mind, if the term is rightly understood.

Read it all.

“What if there is no contradiction between unshakeable faith and intellectual humility?” asks Benjamin Vincent. https://t.co/DQi1yAUUwa

— Christianity Today (@CTmagazine) March 24, 2025

If Trump succeeds in extracting rate cuts from the Fed and tax cuts from Congress, the same problem is going to arise. So my assumption is that he will blame the symptoms and will resort to price controls.

The elephantine difference is that US federal debt was 34pc of GDP in 1971. Today it is 122pc on the Fed measure, and galloping upwards. The fiscal deficit is over 6pc as far as the eye can see.

If you think the stock market gyrations of the last few days are terrifying, just wait until Trump destroys the credibility of the Fed and of US treasury debt, the anchor of the global system.

He could order a captive Fed to relaunch quantitative easing and buy the bonds, but to do that when inflation is running hot would be seen by the whole world as naked fiscal dominance. It would set off a price spiral and a collapse of the currency – the sort of outcome seen over the decades in Latin America, or Erdoğan’s Turkey.

Read it all.

'The White House’s push for for expanded presidential power threatens US economic stability' | Writes Ambrose Evans-Pritchard

Read the column https://t.co/4JMVQeEbMG pic.twitter.com/gmU3CJAZpB

— The Telegraph (@Telegraph) April 8, 2025

Trump has repeatedly promised to make the United States a “manufacturing powerhouse” to avoid being permanently overtaken by its Asian competitors. (In the 1980s it was Japan; now it’s China.) According to the president, friends even more than foes have been “taking our jobs, taking our wealth.” His solution is to impose tariffs on all U.S. trading partners.

There is certainly a constituency for the view that Americans were better off in the past than they are now, and that nineteenth-century policies are the way to go. Christian Whiton, for example, has argued that “reasonable tariffs, Jacksonian defense policy, and immigration control [will] set [the] stage for peace and prosperity after turbulence.”

In reality, however, applying policies that were appropriate more than a century ago, when the U.S. enjoyed all kinds of advantages as a location for manufacturing, will cause something worse than turbulence.

With his assault on “globalism,” Trump stands as much chance of success as a British prime minister who proposed to reassemble the empire, or a German chancellor who attempted to restore the Hohenzollerns to the throne. Time’s arrow does not fly backward.

Read it all.

“Trump’s Tariffs and the End of American Empire” https://t.co/Qby7iZ0RnC

— Niall Ferguson (@nfergus) April 6, 2025

God of justice and truth, let not thy Church close its eyes to the plight of the poor and neglected, the homeless and destitute, the old and the sick, the lonely and those who have none to care for them. Give us that vision and compassion with which thou didst so richly endow William Augustus Muhlenberg and Anne Ayers, that we may labor tirelessly to heal those who are broken in body or spirit, and to turn their sorrow into joy; through Jesus Christ, who livest and reignest with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Today the Episcopal Church commemorates William Augustus Muhlenberg, Priest, 1877 https://t.co/NDYR3rMKMI
The great-grandson of Henry Melchior Muhlenberg (known as the father of Lutheranism in America), William Augustus Muhlenberg is considered the father of US church schools pic.twitter.com/tJjUFkw9Xo

— The Anglican Church in St Petersburg (@anglicanspb) April 8, 2019

O God, who by the example of thy Son our Saviour Jesus Christ hast taught us the greatness of true humility, and dost call us to watch with him in his passion: Give us grace to serve one another in all lowliness, and to enter into the fellowship of his sufferings; who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, world without end.

I lift up my eyes to the hills.
From whence does my help come?
My help comes from the Lord,
    who made heaven and earth.

He will not let your foot be moved,
    he who keeps you will not slumber.
Behold, he who keeps Israel
    will neither slumber nor sleep.

The Lord is your keeper;
    the Lord is your shade
    on your right hand.
The sun shall not smite you by day,
    nor the moon by night.

The Lord will keep you from all evil;
    he will keep your life.
The Lord will keep
    your going out and your coming in
    from this time forth and for evermore.

–Psalm 121

The letter, published on the website of the think tank Theos on Sunday, is signed by 112 women, who include the Bishops of London, Gloucester, Stepney, Dover, Lancaster, Bristol, Croydon, and Aston. Among the other signatories are the director of Theos, Chine McDonald; the Assistant Secretary General, Muslim Council of Britain, Dr Naomi Green; the President of the Catholic Union of Great Britain, Baroness Hollins; and the chief executive of Jewish Women’s Aid, Sam Clifford.

The letter says that the Bill “has insufficient safeguards to protect some of the most marginalised in society, particularly women subjected to gender-based violence, and abuse by a partner, who also experience intersecting barriers to a full and safe life”.

It continues: “We are concerned that the proposed legislation could create a new tool to harm vulnerable women, particularly those being subjected to domestic abuse and coercive control, by helping them to end their lives.”

Read it all.

Eight bishops have joined more than 100 women of different faiths in signing an open letter that says that the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill “could create a new tool to harm vulnerable women” https://t.co/lClQBm12qF pic.twitter.com/5HhlO4ZBlK

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) April 7, 2025

The Buckinghamshire-born 64-year-old was was ordained in Blackburn Cathedral 40 years ago, and says he is a parish priest at heart.

He has served in parishes in Blackburn, Lancaster and Accrington, before he moved to Lichfield Diocese as Diocesan Missioner and then a vicar in Telford.

He is co-author of a number of books on mission, spirituality and evangelism including, most recently, a booklet on the opportunities and risks of living in a digital world: ‘Surveillance Capitalism and the Loving Gaze of God’ as well as being an active member of General Synod, and previously servinged as an elected member of Archbishops’ Council.

Archdeacon Mark said, when his retirement was announced, : “It has been a tremendous privilege to serve God in Blackburn Diocese over the past 40 years and to have worked with five Diocesan bishops during that time.

Read it all.

Church leaders say farewell to Archdeacon of Blackburn https://t.co/fOCwTlmAsj

— Lancashire Telegraph (@lancstelegraph) April 5, 2025

Found there.

SIR – The Church of England is in a bad way, and the succession to Justin Welby is a case in point. Notwithstanding the increasing numbers of plausible candidates distancing themselves from consideration, in discussing the situation with colleagues, we are all hard-pressed to think of anybody suitable. How the Church and the Anglican Communion resolve this is not clear, but the task for the next Archbishop of Canterbury must be to return to basics. We must become a pastoral and spiritual organisation again, and put the inherited faith of the nation at the centre of what we do. It will require someone of stern mettle to achieve this, as the rot has gone deep. [The] Rev Simon Douglas Lane Hampton, Middlesex

Holy God, holy and mighty, who hast called us together into one communion and fellowship: Open our eyes, we pray thee, as you opened the eyes of thy servant Tikhon, that we may see the faithfulness of others as we strive to be steadfast in the faith delivered unto us, that the world may see and know Thee; through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom, with thee and the Holy Spirit, be glory and praise unto ages of ages. Amen.

Today we commemorate Saint Tikhon, Patriarch of Moscow, Enlightener of North America

Read the account: https://t.co/DlyJyMMjXy

More saints commemorated today: https://t.co/e5vkf73i0d

Music downloads & other resources: https://t.co/Kr2umoteTU #saints #feastsandsaints pic.twitter.com/OzhdnT21tS

— Orthodox Church OCA (@ocaorg) April 7, 2025

Most merciful God,
who by the death and resurrection of your Son Jesus Christ
delivered and saved the world:
grant that by faith in him who suffered on the cross
we may triumph in the power of his victory;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Amen.

Over The Gate. 9°C after a slight frost. A Charm Of Finches. pic.twitter.com/uLWzzff7aj

— Yorkshire Wolds Weather (@WeatherWolds) April 7, 2025

‘But I trust in thee, O Lord,
I say, “Thou art my God.”
My times are in thy hand’

–Psalm 31:14-15a

Good morning
A new day, new week and a beautiful sunrise.
Ely, Cambridgeshire #sunrise pic.twitter.com/xA2MlmvjY1

— Veronica in the Fens My Heart in Nature (@VeronicaJoPo) April 7, 2025

Almighty God, you alone can bring into order the unruly wills and affections of sinners: Grant your people grace to love what you command and desire what you promise; that, among the swift and varied changes of this world, our hearts may surely there be fixed where true joys are to be found; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Puente de Alcántara, río Tajo (Toledo) #FelizDomingo #BuenosDias pic.twitter.com/Y1x8MgGanC

— ArteViajero (@arteviajero_com) April 6, 2025

Thus says the Lord of hosts: “Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you, filling you with vain hopes; they speak visions of their own minds, not from the mouth of the Lord. They say continually to those who despise the word of the Lord, ‘It shall be well with you’; and to every one who stubbornly follows his own heart, they say, ‘No evil shall come upon you.’”

For who among them has stood in the council of the Lord
    to perceive and to hear his word,
    or who has given heed to his word and listened?
Behold, the storm of the Lord!
    Wrath has gone forth,
a whirling tempest;
    it will burst upon the head of the wicked.
The anger of the Lord will not turn back
    until he has executed and accomplished
    the intents of his mind.
In the latter days you will understand it clearly.

“I did not send the prophets,
    yet they ran;
I did not speak to them,
    yet they prophesied.
But if they had stood in my council,
    then they would have proclaimed my words to my people,
and they would have turned them from their evil way,
    and from the evil of their doings.

“Am I a God at hand, says the Lord, and not a God afar off? Can a man hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him? says the Lord. Do I not fill heaven and earth? says the Lord. I have heard what the prophets have said who prophesy lies in my name, saying, ‘I have dreamed, I have dreamed!’ How long shall there be lies in the heart of the prophets who prophesy lies, and who prophesy the deceit of their own heart, who think to make my people forget my name by their dreams which they tell one another, even as their fathers forgot my name for Ba′al? Let the prophet who has a dream tell the dream, but let him who has my word speak my word faithfully. What has straw in common with wheat? says the Lord. Is not my word like fire, says the Lord, and like a hammer which breaks the rock in pieces? Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, says the Lord, who steal my words from one another. Behold, I am against the prophets, says the Lord, who use their tongues and say, ‘Says the Lord.’ Behold, I am against those who prophesy lying dreams, says the Lord, and who tell them and lead my people astray by their lies and their recklessness, when I did not send them or charge them; so they do not profit this people at all, says the Lord.

–Jeremiah 23:16-32

Good morning sunshine! pic.twitter.com/0QGf60boeM

— Scot Down South (@LesleyAM13) April 6, 2025

Harriet Starr Cannon was born in Charleston, South Carolina, on May 7, 1823. Both of Harriet’s parents died of yellow fever when she was 17 months old; she was left with her elder sister and closest friend Catherine Ann, then three years old. An aunt welcomed the two orphaned sisters into her home in Bridgeport, Connecticut — making for seven children in one house in this then-bustling mercantile center on Long Island Sound. As a young girl Harriet lost her sight in one eye in an accident, but all accounts point to a happy childhood despite many significant early setbacks. One relative described her as fond of dancing, “a great society girl and not at all religious.”

The decision to consecrate her life completely to God came in the wake of a personal tragedy. Catherine Ann Cannon married in 1851 and moved to California, intending for Harriet to join her when she had established a home on the West Coast with her husband. A telegram brought the news in 1855, just as Harriet was preparing to leave for the West, that Catherine had died. The event changed the direction of her life completely; later, she wrote: “You know, she was my all — neither father, mother, or brother. We were two, but were one — but if God had left her with me, I should not have been here.”

In New York City in 1856, the 32-year-old Harriet was received into the Sisterhood of the Holy Communion, a parochial association of “evangelical sisters” who worked under the direction of William Augustus Muhlenberg (1796-1877) as nurses at his newly built St. Luke’s Hospital. Harriet thrived in her earliest medical and religious work among the poor. By 1863, however, conflicts with Muhlenberg’s collaborator and friend Anne Ayres, who was in immediate charge of the sisterhood’s activities, led to the withdrawal of four sisters and the essential dissolution of the order. (The last Sister of the Holy Communion died in 1940.)

Harriet was one of the four who left.

Read it all.

Gracious God, who didst call Harriet Starr Cannon and her companions to revive the monastic vocation in the Episcopal Church and to dedicate their lives to thee: Grant that we, after their example, may ever surrender ourselves to the revelation of thy holy will; through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, one God, world without end. Amen.

Also died #OTD in 1896 – Harriet Starr Cannon, Monastic

Founder of the Sisterhood of St Mary, the Episcopal Church's 1st stable & sustainable women’s religious community, which continues today as the Community of St Mary with 3 US provinces & branch houses in Malawi/Philippines pic.twitter.com/QuwcUfBiWm

— The Anglican Church in St Petersburg (@anglicanspb) April 5, 2024

Eternal God, who tarriest oft beyond the time we hope for, but not beyond the time appointed by thee; from whom cometh in due season the truth that cannot lie, the counsel that cannot fail: Make us faithful to stand upon our watchtower, and to wait for what thou wilt say to us; that by our faith we may live, and at the last behold thy righteousness prevail; to the glory of thy Name.

–Daily Prayer, Eric Milner-White and G. W. Briggs, eds. (London: Penguin Books 1959 edition of the 1941 original)