I have been a baseball fan for most of my life. I was seven when I first visited the SkyDome in Toronto. We were on vacation from our home in New Brunswick and the sheer wonder of stepping out of the back halls of the stadium to see the green turf, and the scale of the space is etched in my mind. That year the Blue Jays won the World Series, and my heart was hooked on the silly game of 27 outs and 162 games every summer.
There are many things to love about baseball: the fact that it is a series of events piled up on each other to make a match; that even the best hitters in the game fail two-thirds of the time; or that because it is such a long season, the significance of any individual up or down is often small. It is a relaxing pastime that allows for leisure, inattentiveness and even the occasional nap.
The 2026 season has just begun, and it has had me reflecting on last season. The Blue Jays made an amazing run and came within an inch of winning the World Series. It was devastating, and yet the journey was so great.
After mourning the tragic extra inning loss, I have been reflecting a bit about the season they had, the consistency with which they played and how they talked about each other. They were constant in their care for one another and in their process.
The messaging throughout the post-season interviews was steady in affirming the stability of their process and the trust they had in their daily routines and rhythms — and that if they kept those routines up, the outcomes would take care of themselves.
Without getting too much into the weeds of baseball strategy, over the last many years, there has been a strong emphasis on “true” outcomes: walks, strikeouts and home runs. Getting on base via walk, not striking out and hitting bombs (home runs) have been the received wisdom for achieving success. The Blue Jays quite intentionally were a team that affirmed the received wisdom, sure, but they also placed intentional value on putting the ball in play, and trusted that good things would happen — and they did. With consistency, they kept getting hits, and they kept winning. So, what of it, and why are we talking about this here? Well, I think there is a lesson in faithfulness for us here.
Roland Gregor Smith, the theologian, affirms that it is the how of faith that ought to be the focus of our energy: “Faith furnishes neither the knowledge of what to do, nor the power for doing it. Neither the ‘what’ nor the ‘whether’ of the works depends on faith, but the ‘how’ of the doing.” Faithfulness is often more concerned with how we do things rather than simply what we do. In the story of the widow (Mark 12:41-44) who gave more with a coin, than the rich did with their large gifts, it is the quality of how they gave that revealed their faith.
Like the Jays, who focused on their process, we should be reminded that our faith is not about the outcomes we achieve but about the way we live; it is the how that sets us apart. We reject the notion that the fruit of faith will be health and wealth, but it will be the love, gentleness, joy and peace that are present in our communities and actions.
We can’t control the outcomes of our lives, but if we are faithful in the mundane and prayerful in our discernment, we can trust that through our participation in the Spirit, the outcomes will take care of themselves. And we can enjoy the ride of faith ever opening new moments and opportunities ahead of us.
Go the Jays!
