The Frame-and-Refrain Sermon Design

In working with this sermon design, the preacher uses a single image in the opening and the closing sections of the sermon and, thus, frames the body of the sermon with an image. Such framing uses an image-based experience to generate interest at the opening of the sermon and to create a sense of closure at the end. Hearers will remember the image, and the image can then serve as a mnemonic device for remembering and contemplating the sermon.

For example, after hearing the sample sermon included in this issue, some persons referred to it as “the one where you talked about your mother’s ornament.” Obviously, in such a situation, the association of the image with the main intention of the sermon is central to the mnemonic function.

As with sermon illustrations, the preacher desires for the hearers to do more than remember the image; he desires for them to remember the Gospel proclamation and the theological confession as well. To accomplish this, he uses a refrain, a short statement associated with the image that captures the focus of the sermon.

1. Frame: establish the image and associate it with the refrain

The refrain is heard first in the introduction and then at transitional points later in the sermon. In the introduction, the preacher not only describes the image but also offers the hearers a thematic statement associated with that image. This thematic statement should be short, memorable, and central to the Gospel proclamation of the sermon.

For example, after hearing the sample sermon included in this issue, some persons referred to it as “the one where you talked about your mother’s ornament.” Obviously, in such a situation, the association of the image with the main intention of the sermon is central to the mnemonic function.

As with sermon illustrations, the preacher desires for the hearers to do more than remember the image; he desires for them to remember the Gospel proclamation and the theological confession as well. To accomplish this, he uses a refrain, a short statement associated with the image that captures the focus of the sermon.

2. Body: use the refrain to interpret both the text and the hearers

A. Textual Exposition or A. First Portion of Refrain

As the preacher works through the body of the sermon, the thematic statement becomes a refrain. It is repeated several times to lend coherence to the flow of the sermon and to form a theme in the minds of the hearers. Such repetition could be used to signal a logical structure in the body of the sermon or to signal a movement from the text to the hearers.

For example, the sample sermon uses the theme “in a fragile world, God’s grace comes shining through.” This refrain organizes the body of the sermon as the sermon moves in interpretation from the text to the hearers. The first part of the sermon uses this theme to interpret the text (e.g., in Matthew’s Gospel, the reader is invited into a fragile world where God’s grace comes shining through).

B. Hearer Interpretation B. Second Portion of Refrain, etc.

The second part then uses it to interpret the hearers (e.g., today, we gather in a fragile world where God’s grace comes shining through). The sermon, however, could have been organized around a twofold logical division of that theme: people live in a fragile world (seen in the text and among the hearers); God’s grace comes shining through (seen in the text and among the hearers).

Either way, the thematic statement is used at transitional points within the sermon to signal movement and to create a memorable refrain. This refrain captures the evangelical proclamation and works together with the image. It forms a powerful rhetorical technique that reinforces Gospel proclamation. In this way, the image-based experience of the hearers serves the proclamation of the Gospel.

3. Frame: return to the image and offer a final use of the refrain