Caution: Words Ahead

A few summers ago, my husband and I visited the First Unitarian Church of Portland. I was nervous about visiting, but it somewhat allayed my fears to be greeted by the summer minister, Jennifer Ryu, AT THE FRONT DOOR to the church. This has never happened to me before or since upon visiting a church, and it set the stage for the worship experience that came next.

Ryu preached an incredible sermon titled “The Tongues of Angels.” This sermon is one that has stuck with me deeply in the time since. One part that particularly touched me is where Ryu addresses the danger of slick language. She said, “Highly articulate speech can be another level of small talk. It’s smooth talk: glib, facile, and intelligent. It can be about control, rather than freedom. It can be used to communicate less, rather than more.” This passage sounded out a warning to me. I am a person who loves to write and to use words. Ryu shook me up a little by reminding me that “highly articulate speech” can often lead us away from saying the things that need to be said.

Ryu argued that we should be more concerned with communicating a message of substance, and ultimately a message of “love,” than with “eloquence.”

Reading over the sermon again this evening, I realize that perhaps I differ with Ryu on some points. I think that beautiful language takes on a meaning that is larger than just its explicit message. There is poetry in our words–what we say, what we don’t say, the pauses, the tone, the rhythm. People can speak poetically whether they have a grade-school command of English, or a college-level command. Children often speak using simple words, but in a way that is graceful and hard-hitting. The struggle to be poetic in our speech can be the struggle to truly express ourselves. When our speech becomes beautiful and poetic, it is powerful for us and for the listener.

But perhaps that just reinforces Ryu’s point. The words we say are powerful–we must choose them carefully. We must consider where they come from in us, and what impact they have on those who hear.