'Saving faith' comprises believing, praying, following

My wife and I were privileged this morning to worship with our friends at North Scituate (R.I.) Baptist Church (YouTube), which is led by Pastor Kim Nelson and his wife Nancy.  

I spoke on Mark 11:23, on the subject, "A Higher Faith." I talked about what the verse does not mean—it's neither literal nor a paean to selfishness—and more importantly about what it does mean, a statement about faith in God. The verse instructs that faith comprises believing, praying, and following God's lead.

 

I am grateful to journalist Elizabeth Bruenig, whose Atlantic essay, The Evidence That God Exists (Mar. 26, 2026), inspired my thinking on Mark 11:23, and whom I quoted in the message. And I am grateful, as always, to my friend Eric D'Agostino, who helped me work through the teaching.

I post below the visual elements that accompanied the message: (1) a snippet of C.W.M. van de Velde's 1858 map of the Holy Land, (2) the contemporary Mount of Olives, in a photograph I took in 2011, and (3) Mount Everest, Nepal, in a photograph I took in March, 2026. (My photos CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.)

 

In memoriam: Cassandra M. Langtry, JD class of '23

I'm saddened to share news of the passing of Cassie Langtry, a law student in my fall 2019 Torts I class, on January 15.   

An obituary recounting a full and generous life is posted at the Luzerne, Pennsylvania, funeral home, along with tributes and memories from friends and loved ones, including her law school classmates.  I knew of Cassie's affection for dogs, and the obituary remembers her love for her Comet and Scout.  She also liked reading and kayaking, so our hobbies overlapped quite a bit.  I did not know of her devotion to faith, but I am not surprised to learn that she served with World Challenge in Ecuador and instructed youth at her church in West Harwich, Massachusetts.  

In lieu of flowers or gifts to honor and remember Cassie, donations are sought for the Best Friends Animal Society, an organization dedicated to the protection and rescue of animals.

Cassie passed on the same day as a death in my family, of Gloria Buzi.  Gloria was a generous soul who relished retirement on Maryland's eastern shore.  A great many years of age separated Gloria from 24-year-old Cassie.  The difference might tempt one to a bitterness over lost potential, but I think it rather an occasion to recognize the distinctive gift and ultimately unknowable reverberations of every life.