The book behind the title is a murder mystery set in Victorian London and beyond. But the title itself? That could go in a different direction.

Collaborations bring individuals together, and the combination can move them beyond the sum of their individual abilities. Two perspectives, two approaches, two ways of seeing and being in the world. And every time you add another person, the collaboration expands so much more than the numbers might suggest. Watson, Crick, and Rosalind Franklin; Fred and Ginger; John, Paul, George, and Ringo.

Collaborations can be dangerous. What one person would not dare to do, two or more just might attempt. There’s a certain weight to a collective, a critical mass that collaboration offers that just might change the world in extraordinary and fundamental ways. For good or ill – that’s what makes them dangerous.

But danger to the status quo, threatening what deadens the mind, body or spirit? That’s hope. That’s love. That’s reconciliation and justice. That just might save the world.

For wherever two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them. Matthew 18:20, NRSV