Last week’s Pray4Mets post about my Jewish friend Charles and the 2019 NFC Championships skipped over an important conversation between him and me. It links to this week’s celebrations of renewal among Jews and Christians.

As his team, the Los Angeles Rams, was going through their meandering playoff motions on that winter Sunday afternoon, and our conversation on faith was proceeding, I shared with him some insights from my marriage, as a Christian, to a nice Jewish man.

‘Charles,’ I said, ‘you know, Judaism has amazing stories of perseverance, of faith, of overcoming insurmountable odds. Thank goodness, in my marriage, that my husband was thoroughly trained in these fundamentals. He can persevere through anything, including me. We, as any couple, as any family, have been through a lot.  If not for his dogged perseverance in managing the hand of cards we’ve been dealt, or have dealt ourselves, I’m not sure where we’d be.’

Instead of pulling back with a ‘too much information’ response, Charles leaned in, and was listening actively.

‘But, what I bring to the marriage is the notion of resurrection. Do you know the story of the Resurrection?’ Experienced salespeople will identify that I’m building toward a close.

Charles nodded and listened. ‘One doesn’t just overcome. One can rise from the dead, Charles. From the dead.’

‘The Resurrection is Christians’ wild card,’ I continued. ‘You can use it, too.’  I gave him a steady look, and stopped talking.

This week, in Tiger Woods’ return to a Masters’ title at the start of Holy Week and just a few days ahead of Passover, certain friends questioned the brouhaha surrounding other sports lovers’ enthusiasm at the news. For them, focused on the particulars of the sport, only,  Woods’ 5^th Masters win was … okay. Others with a different perspective — say, from a satellite, rather than in a spotlight — see a more compelling positive narrative that includes Woods’ complex perseverance and resurrection, and took greater satisfaction in this all-too-human story.

When Pray4Mets kicked off in 2015, most fans told me the critical success factor for the team was the behavior of the majority owner family. Praying for the fans and the team would do little unless we could get to the Wilpons. Even I believed these doubters, and felt this impediment in my core.

Week after week, month after month, I sent Pray4Mets’ kooky, hopeful missives to each of my contacts out at CitiField. ‘Bless this message, that it may, in some form, reach the Wilpon family.’

In the managerial chain of events from Opening Day 2015 to now, the likely inflection point for a possible Mets resurrection came with the decision to let Daniel Murphy move on in late 2015, instead of offering him an attractive package. Mets’ General Manager at the time, Sandy Alderson, admits this was the worst mistake he’s made in his professional career. Let’s presume Alderson didn’t make that decision unilaterally.

If the Mets were on the old trajectory that frustrated so many fans, 2018 Cy Young Award winner Jacob deGrom would not have been offered his new attractive contract by the Mets’ front office last month. The Wilpons would take the heat. Heads would shake, and the 2019 season would be over before it started.

But that’s not what happened.

In early March, I dropped another pebble in the ocean, and created Pray4TheWilpons.

On March 26, the Mets played their cards – and possibly played new cards – differently.

“Jacob deGrom and NY Mets agree to five-year, $137.5 million deal.”

Are all of these efforts related? We don’t know. As my mother once said to me – only once, when I needed it most — ‘Maureen, that’s what faith is for.’

Perhaps the Wilpons’ consciousness includes resurrection, even redemption. Humanity is messy. The universe is complex. You gotta believe.

Happy Passover and Happy Easter to those who celebrate these holidays. To those who don’t, a beautiful, hopeful, refreshed-after-winter spring season to you.

Maureen Edelson

Montclair, New Jersey USA

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Photo credit: NOAA