This Sunday Zion Lutheran Church in Weyburn will have a very special guest come to visit, the one and only Martin Luther.

Now obviously this won't be the real Martin Luther, as he passed away in 1546.

However, Reverend David Kaiser will be there playing the role of Martin Luther to celebrate this year being the 500th anniversary of Protestant Reformation.

"I am going to do a monologue where I put on a costume and try to tell most of Luther's story," said Reverend David Kaiser. "Not from a theological perspective, more from the human perspective of who he was as a person. I'll talk a little bit about his family, and his education and things like that."

Martin Luther was a German monk who began the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century, becoming one of the most influential and controversial figures in
Christian history. Luther called into question some of the basic tenets of Roman Catholicism, and his followers soon split from the Roman Catholic Church to begin the Protestant tradition. His actions set in motion reform within the church.

A prominent theologian, Luther’s desire for people to feel closer to God led him to translate the Bible into the language of the people, radically changing the relationship between church leaders and their followers.

On October 31, 1517, Martin Luther, angry with Pope Leo X’s new round of indulgences to help build St. Peter’s Basilica, nailed a sheet of paper with his 95 Theses on the University of Wittenberg’s chapel door. Though Luther intended these to be discussion points, the 95 Theses laid out a devastating critique of the indulgences (good works that sometimes involved monetary donations, that popes could grant to the people to cancel out penance for sins) as corrupting people’s faith.

Luther also sent a copy to Archbishop Albert Albrecht of Mainz, calling on him to end the sale of indulgences. Aided by the printing press, copies of the 95 Theses spread throughout Germany within two weeks and throughout Europe within two months.

The Church eventually moved to stop the act of defiance. In October of 1518, at a meeting with Cardinal Thomas Cajetan in Augsburg, Martin Luther was ordered to recant his 95 Theses by the authority of the pope. Luther said he would not recant unless scripture proved him wrong. He went further, stating he didn’t consider that the papacy (the office or authority of the Pope) had the authority to interpret scripture. The meeting ended in a shouting match and initiated his ultimate excommunication from the Church.

Martin Luther is one of the most influential figures in Western history. His writings were responsible for fractionalizing the Catholic Church and sparking the Protestant Reformation.

"Martin Luther will be visiting Weyburn, of course in a dramatic way. But you are all invited. There is a good time to meet the man, hear something about his history, have a few stories told and a few chuckles as well. Because I try to keep it reasonably light and yet tell the story as much as I can," told Kaiser.

"Rev. David Kaiser will be working together with Rev. Doug Shepherd, who is coming to do the services that day," told Marjorie McLeod, Congregational Lay Associate for Zion Lutheran Church in Weyburn. "And then we're gonna have a potluck lunch afterwards and some special music and whatnot to celebrate the 500 years of the Reformation."

If you would like to come hear the epic story of Martin Luther's life, come on down to Zion Lutheran Church in Weyburn this Sunday at 10 am.