On Sunday October 29th the United Benefice along with friends from Tackley Methodists welcomed Dr Steven Gunn, professor of Early Modern History at Merton College Oxford, as he spoke to us on the 500th anniversary of the start of the Protestant Reformation. The service was marked with words of Martin Luther on prayer and forgiveness, peace and blessing, and we are very grateful to Dr Gunn for allowing us to publish the full text of his sermon here: Five hundred years ago, in a small town in Germany, a largely unknown professor of theology in a recently founded university issued a challenge to academic debate. Such events were not unusual, but this one is being commemorated around the world