Gilbert Sermons and Lectures

Professorial Lecture: Decolonizing the Homiletical Mind

The central questions addressed in this lecture are:

How might African American clergy leaders, specifically, and preachers in general, think more critically about preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ in a world that has imagined Jesus as a White, male, imperialist?

How might African American clergy free themselves from pedagogical practices of methodological imperialism and reclaim for themselves a culturally indigenous homiletical witness?

How might a clearer theological understanding of eschatalogy and the “kingdom of God” or “reigndom of God” depose imperialistic readings of the Bible, bring social critique to the White evangelical movement, and refocus the preacher’s homiletical imagination?


Sermon: How Shall We Live?

Luke 11:1-13

“God’s gift of real presence in a world bereft of compassion, empathy, and regard for neighbor, is the site of God’s kingdom at hand. By praying as Jesus instructed his disciples, we find a God who answers meeting our needs.”

Sermon preached at Duke University Chapel, Durham, NC


Sermon: The Buoyancy of Hope

Genesis 15: 1-6

“God’s promise to guide us into a promised future is reliable in the face of difficulty and anxieties about life.”

Sermon preached at Harvard Memorial Church, Cambridge, Massachusetts
 

 

Sermon: What Makes a People?

Lamentations 1:1-6

“Because our stories and God’s concern for creation matter in the face of suffering and collective grief, we can trust, personally, that a covenant-keeping God will abundantly supply hope and love in exilic situations.”

Sermon preached at Duke University Chapel, Durham, NC

 

Sermon: Competing Kingdoms

Matthew 5:1-12

“To serve God in our present age of conflict and evil means that our work as Christians must be guided by the moral and ethical teachings of Jesus and founded upon God’s promise of kingdom blessing. When we participate in Jesus’ redemptive work of justice and compassion we will defeat the kingdom of darkness and inherit God’s.”

Sermon preached at Bethany Theological Seminary, Richmond, IN

Sermon: Daughters Too?

Joel 2:23-32

“The authority God gives has nothing to do with human proprietorship. Neither brothers nor sisters get to set the terms that authorize preachers to minister the Word and exercise authority in spirit-animated work. The only rightful authority is the one who sends and the one who calls.”

Sermon preached at Howard University School of Divinity, Washington, D.C.

Sermon: Checking the Boxes 

Joel 2:23-32 

Sermon preached at The People’s Community Baptist Church, Sliver Spring, Maryland