Rhetoric is the art and study of the use of language with persuasive effect. I had to study the subject as a young college student and later as a graduate in theology.
If I may confess, there was a time when I was much too bedazzled by the spoken word. As I page through many of my old sermon notes from younger days, they seem like the rants and ruminations of a sophomore- the fool who thinks himself wise.
Some of us tend to enjoy hearing our thoughts articulated audibly in fine-sounding ways- even when some of these are half-baked, untried, untrue, plagiarized, premature, or… for God alone.
As I get older, I’m placing less confidence in spoken words and much more confidence in lived words. Another admission: I am better at speaking than living. It comes easier for me. Yet, without adding skin and bone to words, words are empty water pitchers.
Paul said, “Without love, I am a clanging cymbal.” I think he meant to say something like this: “Love-less, content-less speech is nothing but rhetoric.”
Today I will try to live what’s real to me and speak only if I must. Today, I will remember: “The Word became incarnate.” Yes, even God’s words in the Bible would be nothing but empty promises had God not put skin and bone on those words.
