God's dance

From pg. 62 chapter 8 of A New Kind Of Christian by Brian McLaren

"Is that what you mean-let your good deeds preach?"

"Sure, that's part of it. An important part of it. Demonstration must accompany proclomation, I guess you could say. But there's more. Instead of saying, 'Hey, they're wrong and we're right, so follow us,' I think we say, 'Here's what I've found. Here's what I've experienced. Here's what makes sense to me. I'll be glad to share it with you, if you're interested.'

"Instead of conquest, instead of a coercive rational argument or an emotionally intimidating sales pitch or an imposing crusade or an aggressive debating contest where we hope to 'win' them to Christ, I think of it like a dance. You know, in a dance, nobody wins and nobody loses. Both parties listen to the music and try to move with it. In this case, I hear the music of the gospel, and my friend doesn't, so I try to help him hear it and move with it. And like a dance, I have to ask if the other person wants to participate. There's a term for pulling someone who doesn't want to dance into a dance: assault. But if you pull someone in who wants to learn, and if you're good with the music yourself, it can be a lot of fun!"

With that, Neo turned his cap backward and pretended to be waltzing along the path with an imaginary partner, looking about as much like a ten-year-old boy as a middle-aged Jamaican guy in a perfectly white T-shirt can look. He pulled his blue dress shirt off his shoulder, took the cuff of one sleeve in his left hand and flung the other sleeve over his right shoulder, giving substance to his invisible partner. at one point he pretended to trip and catch himself by grabbing onto a tree, and then he made a great show of pretending to help his fallen partner up off the ground, dusting off the shirt with great courtesy and concern. he said, "Of course, sometimes the best of us get tripped up, and in so doing, we trip others up too."