Guess who’s here today! One of my favorite Canadians…Rachel McMillan. She is great, people. Some reasons why:

She likes Dr. MacNeill and has, in fact, waxed eloquent on him before right here on this blog.

She introduced me to this music video which might be one of the greatest things I’ve ever seen.

And she loves Sherlock. The BBC version, yes, but she’s also well-versed in all things Sherlock Holmes. And she’s written a fantastic post about Sherlock (and faith!) for the blog today. ENJOY!  

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I’ve been a Sherlock Holmes nut since childhood. I’ve attended seminars and conferences, read the “Canon” (as Sherlockians call Doyle’s collected works) countless times, collected pastiches and criticism and made multiple trips to Baker Street. A few years ago, I even trekked out to the Reichenbach Falls in Switzerland to see where our inimitable detective supposedly met with his demise at the hands of Moriarty. With the excellent BBC modernization of Sherlock, a whole new flock of Holmesian enthusiasts has emerged.

My passion for Holmes is heightened when I look at what he and his stalwart assistant and biographer Dr. Watson can teach me about faith. Yes, readers, Sherlock Holmes despite his coldly rational and logical mind can teach you about Christianity.

1) Don’t fill your mind with garbage, focus on things that are helpful. As Christians, focus on things that are good and holy.

Much like Sherlock’s Mind Palace in the BBC adaptation, the original Holmes took great effort to prepare and focus his mind on that which is useful and helpful to his profession.

In the first Sherlock Holmes’ story, A Study in Scarlet, he tells Watson: “I consider that a man’s brain is originally like a little empty attic, and you have to stock it with such furniture as you choose. A fool takes in all the lumber of every sort that he comes across, so that the knowledge that might be useful to him gets crowded out, or at best, is jumbled up with a lot of other things so that he has difficulty in laying his hands upon it. Now the skillful workman is very careful indeed as to what he takes into his brain-attack.”

This passage always makes me think of an old Jars of Clay song that speaks of allowing Christ to take our worlds apart – eliminate that which is of the world, muddled and messy and to replace it with ruminations on Him, how we can serve Him and how we can please Him.  Clear out your mind attic, Christians.

2) Stand up for Justice.

Sherlock and Watson are often put in circumstances that force them to contemplate justice: the inherent injustice they feel on behalf of their clients and sometimes their form of justice at odds with Lestrade and Gregson, their two most prevalent Scotland Yarders. In The Adventure of the Three Gables, Holmes says: “I am not the law; but I represent justice so far as my feeble powers go.”

Stand up for justice.  Proverbs tells us that “When justice is done, it is a joy to the righteous; but terror to evil-doers.”

3) Speak for those who cannot speak for themselves.

Another proverbs verse that tells us to take the part of those who need extra assistance.  Holmes and Watson often get a chance to act on behalf of those who cannot stand for themselves.  In a poignant and tragic case, The Veiled Lodger, Holmes senses that a young woman with a tragic history might attempt to take her life. He tells her: “Your life is not your own. Keep your hands off of it.”

4) Act as someone else’s moral compass and be an accountable and ardent friend.

Holmes, in the Canon, is a cocaine addict—he is often caught meddling with a 7% solution of cocaine and morphine. Of course (and we see this visited in the most recent episode His Last Vow) Watson is outraged by this and how it may affect his mental faculties and powers of deduction. Be there for someone else and hold them accountable to your standards. In the same way, Sherlock is known to hide Watson’s chequebook under lock and key as Watson as a penchant for gambling!

5) Let your actions be dictated by your conscience. 

In The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle Holmes makes a decision to let a criminal go. When Watson expresses surprise, Holmes speaks to his own informed brand of justice and his belief that they are both (at Christmas) in the “season of forgiveness: “’After all, Watson,’ said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his clay pipe, ‘I am not retained by the police to supply their deficiencies[…] This fellow will not go wrong again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and you make him a gaol-bird for life.”

6)  Be a conductor of light: bring out the best in others. 

In The Hound of the Baskervilles Holmes famously tells Watson: “It may be that you are not yourself luminous; but you’re a conductor of light.”  As Christians we are called to be the salt of the earth and, yes, a conductor of His light. We can reflect His glory and act as a portal in which others can see the glory of Christ reflected.

7) Never stop being fascinated by a Higher Power. 

Holmes is a mortal. He is human. But Watson never stops being fascinated by his extraordinary powers. What’s more, so much does he esteem and love his friend, he rarely acts pettishly or jealously about it. Never stop being enamoured by the work Christ is doing in you. Never stop peering through that dim glass, the shrouding of mystery that will someday be revealed by Him to those who followed.

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Rachel McMillan blogs at A Fair Substitute for Heaven  and is a frequent contributor to Novel Crossing and Breakpoint.You can find her on twitter: @rachkmc.  She is currently at work on a novel about two Edwardian female detectives who desperately attempt to employ Holmes’ methods.

I love this post! Have you seen Sherlock?  

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