On what got left out
Divine Service 4 in Lutheran Service Book sports a preface that comes to us as a revision of the Swedish tradition. It is loosely based upon the form Olavus Petri employed in his 1531 revision of the Mass and which became standard in Sweden (after some ups and downs in the 16th century) and lasted till the ecumenical reforms of the mid 20th century. Here is the form as we have in LSB:
It is truly good, right, and salutary that we should at all times and in all places give thanks to You, O Lord, holy Father, almighty and everlasting God, for the countless blessings You so freely bestow on us and all creation. Above all, we give thanks for the boundless love shown to us when You sent Your only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ, into our flesh and laid on Him our sin, giving Him into death that we might not die eternally. Because He is now risen from the dead and lives and reigns to all eternity, all who believe in Him will overcome sin and death and will rise again to new life. (Altar Book, p. 264).
And here is Reed’s translation of the original:
Verily it is meet, right, and blessed that we should in all places give thanks and praise to thee, holy Lord, almighty Father, everlasting God, for all thy benefits, and especially for that one that thou didst unto us, when we all by reason of sins were in so bad a case that naught but damnation and eternal death awaited us, and no creature in heaven or earth could help us, then thou didst send forth thine only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ, who was of the same divine nature as thyself, didst suffer him to become man for our sake, didst lay our sins upon him, and didst suffer him to undergo death instead of our all dying eternally, and as he hath overcome death and risen again into life and now dieth nevermore, so likewise shall all that who put their trust therein overcome sins and death and through him attain to everlasting life. (Lutheran Liturgy, p. 115)
The LSB version lacks that simply unvarnished statement of the human predicament sans Christ; that Christ is of the same nature as the Father; and that all important “and through HIM attain to everlasting life.” I’m glad that the Petri preface lives on in LSB, but I can’t help but wish that it lived on a little fuller than it does.
Statue of Olavus Petri, Stockholm