Rebuilding Our Lives in 52 Days (Short Video from Nehemiah) from Fairfax Church of Christ on Vimeo.

No offense to my homiletics teachers, but they taught me almost nothing about most aspects of rhetoric--that is, how to say what you are going to say. A sermon outline or even an overall approach, as important as these are, will not have the most impact that it can without powerful rhetoric.


To that end, there is something about the number three that has power. In medieval times, the clergy attributed this power to the Trinity--that when things are done or come in threes, they reflect the Trinity, and therefore have power.

I am not sure that I subscribe to the Trinitarian explanation. But I do believe, for whatever reason, are minds are geared to think in terms of threes (and other odd numbers). In photography and video, people are trained to think in sections of three, for instance. Three points--or one or five points--are good, but two and four are awkward.

While most preachers have probably picked up on the rule of three and/or odd numbers for number of points, one rule of three can be missed: that a point can be driven home and raised to a climax by using three similar phrases all in a row.

This can be found in the above clip at around the 00:30 mark, where, in making the point about how the wall of Jerusalem was built in three days, I say this happened because
"everyone was pulling together"
"everyone was working hard,"
"people were bonding together"

but most especially because, "God made this happen."

This has a 3 + 1 pattern--three very similar statements, then a slight connector, and a finally statement.  Notice how I use hand gestures at each of these points to help drive the point home, and that there is a slight rise in my voice and a firmness as well. All of this, makes for this being a good "highlight" section of this sermon.

Just sharing things like this that I had to learn on my own over time, through trial and error. I am hoping that you have other rhetorical ideas to share that will make our preaching more impactful.

What do you think of the rule of three in rhetoric?

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As an oral storyteller (I have been performing stories for years in a variety of venues from festivals to churches and schools, universities to retirement homes) I have noticed how "three" is a common theme and/or technique in most folk tales as well. Jack and his two brothers, Cinderella and her two step sisters, three knights, three curses, three challenges, three wishes, three opportunities--the number three is a prominent element in storytelling throughout the world.

Good observation about "threes". 

There is the added bonus that three is an easy number of items to remember or to work with when preparing material and for your audience to process. I can walk away with three things dancing in my head, not so much with eight or nine things.

I appreciate that you don't limit the discussion to the idea of three points but using three phrases to drive home a climax--I would add repeating the same phrase three times works well too. I do this with a story I perform--by the second time I say it people start chanting the phrase with me--at the third time, everyone is chanting the phrase!

I disagree that two is particularly awkward, though. I think that has more to do with the one presenting--I've never had a problem with just two points or two elements. Now, beyond three--there's the problem. I'd suggest four, five, six, seven are too many elements unless one is writing either a full length novel or full length work of non-fiction (and I wonder even at that).

Excellent points, Darryl! Good examples of the fairy tales. Sounds like you have some good experience storytelling. Would you be willing to write a post on the art of storytelling? I would love to hear your thoughts on this. Besides, posting it here, we could post it over on the new site, www.PreachingtoPostmoderns.com.

Thank you for your thoughts!

Certainly, I'd be happy to. Just email me the details (word count, expectations, etc.) and I'll be glad to send in something.

Thanks, Darryl! You could go in a lot of different directions with this, but here are some things that come to mind:

- What makes for a good story? (e.g. interesting beginning, conflict, resolution, etc.)

- What goes into telling a good story? (e.g., voice changes and dynamics, eye contact, etc.) What makes it memorable?

- How might this apply to preaching? Or, how can we make preaching more storylike?

As to length--enough to cover the subject, but short enough to keep it interesting! :) I'm not good with word counts, but maybe 450-750? Enough to be helpful, but not so long that people have to keep scrolling down and their eyes glaze over. :)

You can post it in this group, and then I will add it to the site. Thank you so much! Looking forward to reading this!

Very good, James. I'll see what I can come up with.

Thanks, Darryl!

I sent you a post on Google Hangouts...

Thanks, Darryl! Which gmail account did you post that to of mine? I rarely use Google+. Also, would you like to go ahead add the post in this group? I will then add it to the www.PreachingtoPostmoderns.com website. Thank you!

Ok, not a problem. You're in my circles but I'm not in yours. It's just listed as "James Nored". I'll post this morning.

When you say post to this group, do you mean to this string of posts or do I use the "+add"  (add a discussion) button on the upper right hand of this page?

James Nored said:

Thanks, Darryl! Which gmail account did you post that to of mine? I rarely use Google+. Also, would you like to go ahead add the post in this group? I will then add it to the www.PreachingtoPostmoderns.com website. Thank you!

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