Commit to the Lord whatever you do,
    and he will establish your plans.

• Proverbs 16:3

Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the realm of the dead, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom.

• Ecclesiastes 9:10

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.

• Colossian 3:23-24

“His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’

• Matthew 25:21

SPOILER ALERT WARNING

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

But not much of one this time.

“Harriet visits her old college for a “Gaudy” (reunion) in Gaudy Night, and finds that the staff is upset by a vandal who is playing destructive pranks and sending nasty anonymous letters. She is asked to investigate, but after several fruitless months reluctantly turns to Lord Peter to help her find the culprit. All of the staff have gathered to meet him. He puts several leading questions to the group of women, looking for clues to their personalities.”

• Carole Vanderhoof, The Gospel in Dorothy L Sayers

““How about the artist of genius who has to choose between letting his family starve and painting pot-boilers to keep them?”
“He’s no business to have a wife and family,” said Miss Hillyard.
“Poor devil! Then he has the further interesting choice between repressions and immorality. Mrs. Goodwin, I gather, would object to the repressions and some people might object to the immorality.”
“That doesn’t matter,” said Miss Pyke. “You have hypothesized a wife and family. Well-he could stop painting. That, if he really is a genius, would be a loss to the world. But he mustn’t paint bad pictures – that would be really immoral.”
“Why?” asked Miss Edwards. “What do a few bad pictures matter more or less?”
“Of course they matter,” said Miss Shaw. She knew a good deal about painting. “A bad picture by a good painter is a betrayal of truth – his own truth.”
“That’s only a relative kind of truth,” objected Miss Edwards. …”

• Dorothy L. Sayers, Gaudy Night

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

Finally, the editor moves on from The Nine Tailors.  I enjoyed all the Lord Peter mysteries, but I think the one I enjoyed the most was Gaudy Night.  Gaudy is the name given to a college reunion. It was a satisfying blend of mystery and romance.  I found Have His Carcase tedious, as Harriet rebuffed every romantic gesture, but maybe reading that one before Gaudy Night was what made Gaudy Night so satisfying.

Is it really immoral to paint a bad painting that is easily sold to put food on the table, when you have the skills to paint a classic?  Vincent van Gogh had only one documented sale of a painting in his lifetime.  His “genius” was not discovered until he was passed on.

I put genius in quotes as to someone who simply likes a nice looking painting, I have no idea what the critics are looking for.  And these days there are so many factors that have nothing to do with your skill.  For an example, let’s say that all the critics belong to a guild.  Then, the guild announces that if you do not vote the way they want you to vote, you are blacklisted.  Then, do you vote your conscience or vote as instructed.  Then freedom and liberty erode.  All for a chance at a good review.

I have known jazz musicians that wrote and performed popular jazz music, but the critics hated them for making popular stuff rather than improving their technical skills.

I read a lot of novels that had Margaret Truman as the author just to find out that about half of her novels were written by a ghost writer.  I have read novels by that ghost writer, and his stuff is good too, but I doubt if he would have ever had the chance to be published if it were not known that he was a ghost writer of other books.

I have written about the Catch-22 in publishing.  You cannot be seen by a major publishing company without an agent, but an agent will not sign you up unless you have published something.  The trick is to enter contests.  But then, you may spend your life entering contests before an agent will even answer your phone calls.

So, back to Lord Peter’s question.  A painter has a family, and nothing is selling.  Does he get a job, or does he starve, holding out the chance at greatness?

I was taught to work hard, and it will all work out.  Yeah, I worked hard and my boss got a sizeable bonus each year as a result. And I got persecuted.

The immorality of not showing our greatness is immoral due to our arrogance that we think we are great.  The greatness is for others to discover.

What we are to do is to keep working for God’s glory and if we receive nothing worthy of our merit here on earth, God will welcome us and call us a good and faithful servant.  If we did not work for God’s glory, but for our own, I doubt if God will say much.

Works do not save us, but if we are saved, our desires change.  We will desire to glorify God.

And the more work we can do in that light, the better.

Closing Prayer

Father, guide me.  I am tired.  I take breaks and I feel guilty when I get distracted.  I am keeping up the pace, so I don’t think You mind, but Lord, I would like to do more.  Please give me the strength.
In Thy Name I pray.
Amen

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.