In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen! Remember how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee.

• Luke 24:5-6

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.

• 1 Peter 1:3-5

For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve.

• 1 Corinthians 15:3-5

And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.

• Romans 8:11

SPOILER ALERT WARNING

If you intend to read this book, the following may give away the mystery

But not much of one this time.

“So that is the outline of the official story- the tale of the time when God was the under-dog and got beaten, when He submitted to the conditions He had laid down and became a man like the men He had made, and the men He had made broke Him and killed Him. This is the dogma we find so dull – this terrifying drama of which God is the victim and hero. …
“If this is dull, then what, in Heaven’s name, is worthy to be called exciting? The people who hanged Christ never, to do them justice, accused Him of being a bore – on the contrary; they thought Him too dynamic to be safe. It has been left for later generations to muffle up that shattering personality and surround Him with an atmosphere of tedium. We have very efficiently pared the claws of the Lion of Judah, certified Him ‘meek and mild,’ and recommended Him as a fitting household pet for pale curates and pious old ladies.
“’And the third day He rose again’; what are we to make of that? One thing is certain: if He was God and nothing else, His immortality means nothing to us; if He was man and no more, His death is no more important than yours or mine. But if He really was both God and man, then when the man Jesus died, God died too, and when the God Jesus rose from the dead, man rose too, because they were one and the same person. The Church binds us to no theory about the exact composition of Christ’s Resurrection Body. A body of some kind there had to be, since man cannot perceive the Infinite otherwise than in terms of space and time. It may have been made from the same elements as the body that disappeared so strangely from the guarded tomb, but it was not that old, limited, mortal body, though it was recognisably like it. In any case, those who saw the risen Christ remained persuaded that life was worth living.”

• Dorothy L. Sayers, a magazine article entitled “The Greatest Drama Ever Staged is the Official Creed of Christendom”

Boilerplate

In this mini-series, I will fulfill a promise.  Some time ago, published 14 January 2025, I wrote a brief synopsis of the book, Subversive by Crystal Downing.  The post is called A Subversive Christian.  In that book, I talked about the three books in the photo above.  And I especially wanted to do a mini-series on the book on the right, The Gospel in Dorothey L. Sayers.

Note that the title uses the preposition “in.”  Dorothy L. Sayers did not write a fifth gospel.  She did not write as if inspired directly by God.  The canon of Scripture is complete.

But in stating what this is not, then what is it?  All Christians have the Holy Spirit within them, guiding them.  When being a Christian is something you have inside you and through you, then your life will reflect that.  This book is how you can see various aspects of the Christian life in the works of Dorothy L. Sayers, mystery novels, plays, letters, and essays.

After the Introduction, it starts with Whose Body?  The editor’s attribute of a Christian that she focuses on is “Conscience.” Whose Body? is her first detective fiction novel featuring her main character, Lord Peter Wimsey.  Then in Death Must Advertise, we find Lord Peter has a couple of middle names.  His full name is Lord Peter Death Bredon Wimsey.

But we will stay in the Introduction for more than a week.  There are at least a half dozen quotes just in the introduction that look interesting.  I am not in a hurry to speed through this book.  I was not in a hurry to start it with me being over a year since I promised to make it into a mini-series.

But I would hope people could read my short stories and see the gospel being acted out in the characters in my fictional stories.  Deviled Yeggs grew up in a family of safe crackers, robbing from others.  He set out as a policeman, and then homicide detective, to redeem the family name but learning each person must have Christ redeem them individually.  Deviled’s wife, Trinity Naomi Tesla (TNT) Yeggs, was nicknamed “Nitroglycerin” (Glyce for short) by her parents because she was explosive when shaken.  But she found calm and peace in her husband’s arms, and eventually she found the same comfort and peace in the arms of Jesus as she faced “shaky” experiences.

Even when not writing about Jesus directly, the Good News (Gospel) appears in many ways in what a Christian writes.  Let’s enjoy this journey with possibly my favorite author (outside the Bible with C.S. Lewis in a tie with her), Dorothy L. Sayers.

Discussion

In this chapter, the editor quotes several pages of The Nine Tailors.  Lord Peter is at the funeral of the unknown corpse that was found on Lady Thorpe’s casket, when they were preparing to place Lord Thorpe next to her.  Of course, they found out who the body was, eventually.  But in this portion of the novel that was copied, Lord Peter was reading in the prayer book all the Psalms that were being read during the funeral.  And he was amazed that the story made sense, but he started daydreaming about his own life.  And what will happen when he passes from this life.

In such a way, Ms. Sayers is bringing the concept of a saint’s resurrection into a murder mystery.

What is quoted, is just a small portion of Sayers’ rant.  I guess you could call it that.

She starts with the popular opinion that Christianity is boring.  Then she paints the picture of how Jesus came to live on this earth.  And then, the leaders wanted to kill Him because He was far from boring.  And then He rose from the dead.

That is not boring.  We have made it boring.

I occasionally watch an episode of Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In when I need a writing break or I need some rest.  I think Arte Johnson as the old pastor is primarily in Season 2, but Arte starts preaching in a monotone voice using language that would make a doctorate student confused.  After a sentence or two, the pastor puts himself to sleep.  It was funny in 1969, but not that funny since it looked like a lot of sermons of those days.

We made it boring.

So, then we did the worst thing we could do, we jettisoned half the exciting story about Jesus and made Him meek and mild, as Ms. Sayers mentions.  Then we added fluffy stuff that means nothing to add excitement.

But what was added might be described as a bubble machine behind the pulpit.  Bubbles start floating around the sanctuary, and people get excited popping the bubbles that float near their pew.

But in the end, what do you have?

You have soft soap, empty promises, and a bit of that soap on your finger tips.

The story that is true and useful for salvation does not need fancy words or long sermons.  And the story is the greatest drama ever staged.

So, why mess with it?

Closing Prayer

Father, guide me.  You are not boring.  The story of how You planned our redemption before time began, indeed before we needed redeeming, and then how You accomplished it… That is a story that is far from boring.  Forgive us for making it so.  Forgive us for letting it be made so.  Infuse us with the excitement of the real story.  Give us the strength and wisdom to spread the Gospel to the ends of the earth.
In Thy Name I pray.
Amen

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.