I truly enjoyed “Christmas Magic,” Rev. Raymond L. Hartwig’s article in the December Lutheran Witness. It brought back memories of my wonderful grade-school days in the 1950s at St. Paul’s Lutheran School.
We had a devout Christian man named Edison F. Onken who taught all four of the lower grades. I remember those beautiful days between Thanksgiving and Christmas when Mr. Onken would have us young students sing all 15 verses of his favorite hymn, number 85 (in The Lutheran Hymnal), “From Heaven Above to Earth I Come.” Often we would even sing all 15 stanzas for our Christmas Eve program in church.
Our remarkable teacher knew, as Rev. Hartwig explained so well, the importance of Luther’s entire hymn. I am keeping this Lutheran Witness article to read again and again. I believe a beautiful children’s Christmas program could be written from Rev. Hartwig’s article and Martin Luther’s hymn.
Dee Dee Kull Batson
St. Paul’s Lutheran Church
Strasburg, Ill.
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