Rhetoric...Every Sunday Morning

Defining and understanding rhetoric is a fairly new subject to me. So as I began to apply its definition to the world around me, I noticed that the connections I made were very vague. I pondered over rhetoric in the media, online, within different sources of entertainment, and political debates. What I found was that while rhetoric was present amongst many things, I held no personal feeling or response to much of it. When picturing rhetoric, automatically I consider persuasiveness in speech, writing, and maybe even body language. So when it comes down to it, I wanted to consider personal moments in my life that I was persuaded by speech that challenged the way I thought, felt, and even approached the world.

Many times in my life I have spoken to people that have added to my perspectives on life, and such persons has ranged from a parent, sibling, friend, mentor, and more. Yet, one of the most powerful forms of rhetoric to me has come from the hour or two I get from church sunday mornings. It wasn't until I began to read into "rhetoric and civic life" that I realized how much pastors and preachers apply the use of rhetoric to uplift people through religion. Many members of a church, enter and listen to sermons with prior belief and knowledge in their religion. So preachers have the advantage of knowing their audience through means of shared religion, as well as sharing a common ground on the importance religion has on their daily lives. Often times, I have realized that when I get the most out of church attendance is when the pastor uses persuasive speech, to get a clear message across through a sermon or speech that challenges and magnifies my thoughts and beliefs. If I had to take notes on how a preacher uses rhetoric in church, it would be endless. From the very start of the sermon, preachers often start by welcoming the congregation which allows them to feel more comfortable. He or she goes on to provide the audience with underlying messages by drawing on stories from the bible as well our everyday lives, which at most times are quite relatable. A lot of people have been stressful if not more than one time in their lives, and so immediately if we were to hear a sermon on what stress is and how to get through it, it basically speaks and guides each person individually. It seems that their ability to 'get through to' a whole group of people, especially continuously every sunday would be helpless without rhetoric. Many pastors have a loud and strong voice, that many times grabs the attention of their audience. Within the way they carry themselves upright and by their facial expression, shows their seriousness in beliefs as well as helps them to appear knowledgeable in each sermon they give. I know for myself that when a pastor stops to take their timeout to talk to me or even look me in the eye as they preach, it feels the utmost sincere. So while the use of rhetoric is helpful in the media to get people to buy or believe a certain view, I quite enjoy the rhetoric of speech through the sermons I get sunday mornings that enhance my beliefs as well as uplift me throughout the days to follow.