Reformation Skit, October 24, 2018 PM

Well, we want to welcome you this evening to Reformation Celebration 2018.

I hope that you got a chance to sample all the wonderful German food in the fellowship hall.

And some of you look very full, please don't fall asleep. We've got a great play for you tonight.

And I know that I look like Duke Frederick, but I'm actually pastor of Sunnyside Baptist Church, my name is

Michael, and it's good to have you here. After our play, at the very end of our play, we're going to invite you to participate.

There's a handout there at the very back with a little paragraph, and we're going to invite you to read that with us, kind of the culmination of the message that we have for you here tonight.

And then after we have the play, we're going to invite you to join us back in the fellowship hall, where we have various stations where you can go and experience something related to the

Protestant Reformation, so a lot of interesting things to do back there. I think we're going to have some dessert and coffee as well.

And there will be two roaming reformers, I'll be one of them, and Brother Ken will be the other one.

And we'll stay in costume and kind of roam around. And your job is to ask us questions to find out who we are, and you're supposed to guess which reformer we are, and then just try to quiz us and learn a few things about the history that we are now benefiting from.

Am I forgetting anything? Okay. All right, well, let me go ahead and start us off with a word of prayer, and then we'll get started.

Father, I thank you so much for gathering us here tonight. What a blessing it is. Lord, I know there are a lot of people who have been working so very hard to put this together.

Thank you for so many volunteers and so much time and effort put into this.

I pray that it would be a blessing to those who are here. I pray that you would fill our hearts with thanksgiving, that you have given us your holy word in our language so that we can hold it and read it for ourselves, that we can sing songs together in praise and honor to you, that we know that we can pray to you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of our sins, and that we would know you as our

Heavenly Father in a real and close way. We thank you for all the clarity and the blessings that we've received from the

Protestant Reformation, and I pray tonight as we celebrate through skit and through activities and just fellowship,

I pray, Lord, that you'd be honored, and I pray that this would make a lasting impression in our minds for the whole coming year.

We pray these things for the sake of Jesus Christ, the one with whom you are well -pleased. Amen. Amen.

Good evening. They say it's darkest just before the dawn.

Before dawn, in the year of our Lord, 1517, medieval

Europe was shrouded in darkness, financially, technologically, medically, politically, but worst of all, spiritually.

In Rome, the Catholic Church was in trouble, big trouble. Pope Julius died without finishing his pet project,

St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. And Pope Leo X was broke.

But light begins to dawn. With the appointment of Albert of Mainz, a special indulgence is issued.

The poor will be fleeced, and the Church will be eternally rich.

Make way! Make way for Friar Tetzel! He comes from Rome with good news.

Make way! Make way for Friar Tetzel! He comes from Rome with good news.

Listen, you all, listen. Come, you poor sinners, come.

You in the audience, God and St. Peter call you. I have a special message from our

Holy Father in Rome. Consider the salvation of your souls.

Consider your loved ones, dearly departed. Consider their souls and listen to their voices as they cry,

Pity us! Pity us! Why, with a mere coin, you can release them from their torment.

And just remember, as soon as a coin in the coffer rings, a soul from purgatory springs.

How can we refuse our loved ones? Here's one for my dear mother. Wait, wait, wait. Here, here we have special indulgences issued by our

Holy Father that are guaranteed to forgive you of any sin.

Any sin? Any sin. One for my brother and one for me. Yes. Come, come, come, come.

My sister. One for my dad. One for my baby sister. One for my brother.

Oh, there's plenty. Yes. One for me. Good, good, good, good. Anyone else?

In this madness, the Pope is taking leave of his senses. Dr. Luther must hear of this.

Here, here. Money? Money? Thank you.

Not a doctor, a soldier, a prince, or a merchant.

He was a common monk, a mere priest, an obscure doctor of theology, but was soon to be known as the monk who shook the world.

Tzetzel was not permitted in Wittenberg. Duke Frederick sought of that, for he had his own plans, indulgences for everyone.

Everyone would pay to see his holy relics at the castle church on All Saints' Day.

No one knew, as they gathered, the events of that night would become legendary, and Christendom would mark that date,

October 31st, 1517, as Reformation Day.

It's Dr. Luther. There, that will put a hole in his drum.

What is it? It's in Latin. Latin? What is this?

Get out of my way. Indulgences?

Wrong. This is blasphemy. This is blasphemy!

Blasphemy! But what does it say? Go! Go to your homes!

Our Holy Father shall hear of this. Calling all scholars to a debate regarding indulgences,

Dr. Martin Luther posted his objections on the church door. Ninety -five objections to the sale of indulgences, now known as the

Ninety -Five Theses. Never intending that these theses be made public,

Luther was shocked to discover that it had been translated, printed, and distributed in German, the language of the people, and the truth of his words resonated with the people.

But the Pope and the clergy did not agree. Four years, countless debates, and books later,

Martin Luther was summoned before Emperor Charles V to stand trial for heresy at the

Diet, the Diet of the Worms, also known as the

Diet of the Worms. Dr.

Luther, are these books yours? Yes, they are mine.

Are you prepared to renounce them all? Unless I am convicted of my error, by Scripture and plain reason,

I cannot recant. My conscience is subject to the word of God, and to go against conscience is neither right nor safe.

Here I stand. I can do no other. God help me.

Amen. Defiance go unpublished.

Everyone in the room knew that the days of Martin Luther were all but over. Would he even live long enough to make the journey home?

What good were his books, his lectures, his debates now?

Martin Luther was a marked man, and the penalty was death.

But God's plans are not thwarted by mere men. Through a simple monk, he opened the pathway to reformation, not only in Germany, but throughout all of Europe, and its rippling effects touches all of us today in what is known as the

Five Solas of the Reformation. Sola gratia.

By grace alone. Sola fide.

Through faith alone. Sola Christo.

In Christ alone. Sola Scriptoria.

On the scriptures alone. Sola Deo Gloria.

To God alone be the glory. Now would you take your hand out and join us as we finish.

By grace alone. Through faith alone. To God alone be the glory.

In Christ alone. On his word alone. To God alone be the glory.

For by grace are you saved through faith. Not on earth lest any man should boast.

By grace alone. Through faith alone. To God alone be the glory.

In Christ alone. On his word alone. To God alone be the glory.

Amen. Thank you so much for coming and watching the play, and we have the opportunity tonight, and we are reminded of the

Five Solas of the Protestant Reformation, what a blessing those are. So remember, after we close in a word of prayer, we invite you to come back to the

Fellowship Hall and see all the different activities that we have planned back there. And again, you're supposed to come talk to Ken and I about what kind of reformers we are and guess through your questions who we just might be.

So great opportunity for that. Let me go ahead and close this with a word of prayer. Father, we thank you for gathering us together tonight and pray that it would be a blessing for the rest of this evening as we fellowship.

I pray that, again, I ask that you would fill our hearts with thanksgiving for giving us the clarity that we need to understand the gospel of Jesus Christ and to be given the scriptures in our own language so that we may come to know who you are and worship you as you have called us to worship you.