Salvation Stations:  A Journey of Faith

St. John Lutheran Church

Storytelling Station

Story: Martin Luther

Station Summary

The students will hear the story of the Reformation from Martin Luther and "nail" various stickers representing parts of the story to their "doors".

Preparation

1. Review Bible Background notes.
2. Pray for the children and for your teaching of the lesson.
3. Materials List:
   •  Legal (or larger) pieces of brown paper--one per student
   • "God Works Through Martin Luther" worksheets--one per student (see attachment)
   • Tape
   • Costume for Martin Luther (black robe, white shirt, floppy beret)
   • Picture of Luther's childhood home
   • Pictures from the 16th C. of the European concept of purgatory (keep in mind the age of your class because some of these paintings are fairly gruesome!)
   • Big, old Bible
   • A door of some sort on which to nail theses.  (Consider taping the theses to the classroom door or using thumbtacks to "nail" them to a corkboard hung on the classroom door).
   • Thumbtacks or tape.
   • Piece of "parchment" (yellowed, wrinkly paper) with 95 Theses written on it
   • Picture of Wartburg
   • Picture of Luther & Katie & children
   • Copy of Catechism
   • Stickers for each child (heart, cross, Jesus, Bible, musical)
   • Crayons
   • Slips of paper (optional)
   • Pencils (optional)
4.  Advance Preparation:
   • Refer to schedule and decide how you will make adjustments for the different ages.
   • Find someone to play the role of Luther.
   • Make copies of worksheet.
   • Use a search engine to find (and print) images of:  Luther's childhood home, purgatory, Wartburg castle, Luther & Katie & children.
   • Prepare the 95 Theses parchment.
   • Draw black lines and knotholes on the brown paper to make it look like an old wooden door.  Cut the worksheets so there is hardly any border and tape them to the paper "door".

Lesson Introduction

1. Introduce yourself to the students.
2. Briefly explain what you will be doing today and what you want them to learn. 
3. Open with a prayer.

Presentation

Introduction & Bible Story: 

The story will be told by Martin Luther--see below.

 Storytelling Activity:

Say: One of the things that Martin Luther is famous for is nailing the 95 Theses to the door of the church at Wittenburg. [Hand out the door/worksheets and read over the categories quickly]. Martin Luther will be coming to talk to us shortly.  During his talk, you will have a chance to "nail" some stickers to your "door".

 Introduce Martin Luther.

 Guten Morgan, my name is Martin Luther.  I was born in 1483 in Eisleben, Germany to Hans and Margarethe [show picture of house]. That was over 500 years ago--back in the times of knights and castles.  And back in the time of 1492 when Christopher Columbus sailed the ocean blue and found America. We were fairly well-to-do as my father was a successful copper miner.

 I went to school and then to University. I was studying to be a lawyer, which made my parents very happy. One day I was caught in a terrible thunderstorm--I was nearly hit by a bolt of lightning! I made a promise that if I survived the storm, I would become a monk in the Catholic church. Obviously I survived and kept my promise. This change in careers made my father VERY unhappy.

 The Catholic church taught that after you died you went to a place called purgatory, that was between heaven and hell. This was a place where people suffered. The Catholic church taught that you had to stay in purgatory until you were good enough to go to heaven. [show/describe the picture of purgatory] By the way, we Lutherans do not believe in purgatory because it is not mentioned in the Bible.

 I tried to be good enough, but I always sinned.  Which is nothing unusual because we are ALL sinners.  I thought God was mad at me and wanted to punish me. In fact, most people believed that.  I was afraid of God--can you believe that!

 One day, I was sent to Wittenberg University to become a professor. I spent a lot of time studying my Bible. [hold up the old Bible and open to Romans]  And I discovered something remarkable as I was reading the book of Romans! The Bible tells us that we receive salvation because of God's grace, because of God's love--NOT because we do good things. [Direct the children to their worksheets--read #1--have them "nail" a heart sticker here]

 God wasn't mad at me because of my sins!  He still loved me.  Do you know what God did so that I could be in heaven with Him someday?      Yes, He sent His Son Jesus to earth to be my Savior--our Savior. [Read #2 on the worksheet--have them "nail" a cross sticker here]

God loves us. God forgives us. Forgiveness and heaven are free gifts of God--they don't have to be earned by good works. But that is NOT what the church said at the time. They said that you could buy your way out of purgatory. [show the picture of purgatory again] The church sold "indulgences".  Indulgences were a piece of paper that said you could escape so many years of punishment in purgatory. That is NOT what it says in the Bible. [Read #3 on the worksheet--have them draw a picture of themselves with a heavenly crown]

 I wanted everyone to know this good news about forgiveness and salvation. I wanted to talk about this with the leaders of the Catholic church, so I wrote down my ideas.  I ended up writing down 95 ideas--they were called the 95 Theses. [hold up the parchment and "nail" it to the door]  I nailed them to the door of the church in Wittenberg on October 31, 1517--that is 500 years ago this year. Herr Guttenberg had recently invented the printing press. Copies of my 95 Theses were printed and sent all over Germany.  Many of the people agreed with me and what the Bible said.

 But not everyone agreed with me. Important church leaders said that I was a heretic--that I was not teaching the truth about God's Word. The Pope even excommunicated me--he kicked me out of the Catholic church. Finally, I appeared before Charles the fifth, the emperor over much of Europe, at the Diet of Worms. No, we didn't eat worms!  In those days, a meeting was called a diet.  And this particular meeting--or diet--took place in a town called Worms. They asked me to take back what I had said and written--to say that it wasn't true. But everything I wrote and said was based on the Bible.  So I said:  "I cannot recant anything, for to go against conscience is neither right nor safe.  Here I stand.  I cannot do otherwise.  God help me. Amen!" 

The emperor put me under the Ban, which meant anyone could kill me if I didn't leave the empire. As I left the trial, I was kidnapped by a group of horsemen. Was I about to be killed? No--they had been sent to protect me.  They took me to Wartburg Castle, where I stayed in hiding. [show picture of Wartburg Castle]  I lived here for several years. This is where I translated the New Testament into German.  Now, everyone could read the gospel in his or her own language.  [Read #4 on the worksheet--"nail" a Bible sticker here] 

 My life was not all work. I met a former nun and we got married. Katie and I ended up having 6 children. [show picture of family]  I wanted my children--actually ALL children--to know how much God loved them. So I wrote a book called a catechism. [show the catechism]  It has all sorts of questions and answers about Jesus. [Read #5 on the worksheet--"nail" a Jesus sticker here]

 I also wanted people to learn about Jesus and to praise Jesus with songs in church.  So I wrote many hymns that the people--not just the monks and priests--could sing in church. My most famous hymn is "A Mighty Fortress is our God". [Read #6 on the worksheet--"nail" a musical note sticker here]

 God worked through me--and through others like John Calvin--to reform the incorrect teachings of the Catholic church. That is why it is called the Reformation. We are called Protestants because we protested against these incorrect teachings of the Catholic church.

Reflect/Closure:

Go through the worksheet and have the students tell you what the stickers mean.

Closing Prayer

Additional Suggestions

If there is time, you may wish to sing “A Mighty Fortress is Our God.”

Age Adaptations

Older students:  As an optional activity, hand out slips of paper and pencils. Have them write/draw one thing that they would like people to know about Jesus.  They can then "nail" them to the door and talk about what they had written.

Guide Information

How the guide might help (this might be changed by the teacher):  Assist with handing out the stickers during the story. Hand out slips of paper and pencils if the students will be writing their own theses.