Prayer for Corporate Repentance

[Salvatore Anthony Luiso]

Prayer for Corporate Repentance

 

 

     As I write this article, once again we Christians who follow the Western liturgical calendar are almost at the beginning of the liturgical season of Lent, which begins on Ash Wednesday. (According to the Gregorian calendar, this year—2025—that day is March 5th.)

 

     One of the main themes of Lent is that of repentance. Both Lent and Advent are seasons in which Christians examine themselves and repent of their sins.

 

     Ideally, everyone—especially Christians—would examine themselves and repent of their sins every day of every season. It can be helpful, though,l to do so especially at certain times every year, such as Advent and Lent.

 

     In the last five years, I have written and published here at The Reimagine Forum these two articles which pertain to repentance:

 

A Rare Prayer for the Church

The Penitential Psalms, Advent, and Lent

 

     The Penitential Psalms contain prayers of individual repentance: that is, the repentance of an individual person. The Bible also contains prayers of corporate, or communal, repentance: that is, the repentance of a body of people.

 

     Furthermore, the Bible contains prayers for corporate repentance: that is to say, prayers which ask God to bestow the blessing of repentance on a body of people. Apart from God and His enabling, there is no repentance. These prayers ask God to turn His people to Him. In certain English translations the following passages are translated as such prayers:

 

Turn us again, O God, and cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved.

Turn us again, O God of hosts, and cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved.

Turn us again, O LORD God of hosts, cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved.

—Psalm 80:3, 7, 19 (AV/KJV)

 

Turn us, O God of our salvation, and cause thine anger toward us to cease.

—Psalm 85:4 (AV/KJV)

 

I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself thus; Thou hast chastised me, and I was chastised, as a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke: turn thou me, and I shall be turned; for thou art the LORD my God.

—Jeremiah 31:18 (AV/KJV)

Note: Ephraim was one of the tribes of Israel. Because it was so prominent, in certain passages of the Scriptures it is used as a metonym and synecdoche for all the Israelites of the Northern Kingdom.

 

Turn thou us unto thee, O LORD, and we shall be turned; renew our days as of old.

—Lamentations 5:21 (AV/KJV)

 

     In Elijah's prayer on mount Carmel, he implies a desire for the LORD to turn back the hearts of the Israelites toward Him:

 

Hear me, O LORD, hear me, that this people may know that thou art the LORD God, and that thou hast turned their heart back again.

—I Kings 18:37 (AV/KJV)

     One can see in these two passages of the Book of Acts that corporate repentance is a divine blessing:

 

Him [the Lord Jesus Christ] hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins.

—Acts 5:31 (AV/KJV)

 

When they heard these things, they held their peace, and glorified God, saying, Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life.

—Acts 11:18 (AV/KJV)

 

     I heartily recommend praying biblical prayers for corporate repentance, and ones like them, for bodies of people who have turned away from God, whether they be bodies as small as a single small church congregation or as large as the entire church of Christ on earth. It would be suitable to do this at any time, but especially so during Advent and Lent, since these are ecclesiastical seasons of repentance.

 

     I also heartily recommend incorporating these prayers, and ones like them, into a routine of prayer, such as one of daily or weekly prayer.

 

     One way one could do this in a daily routine is by praying such prayers in a series, such as the following:

 

Day 1: "Turn us again, O God, and cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved." (Psalm 80:3)

Day 2: "Turn us, O God of our salvation, and cause thine anger toward us to cease" (Psalm 85:4)

Day 3: "Turn thou us, and we shall be turned; for thou art the LORD our God" (a slight re-phrasing of part of Jeremiah 31:18)

Day 4: "Turn thou us unto thee, O LORD, and we shall be turned; renew our days as of old." (Lamentations 5:21)

Day 5: "Hear me, O LORD, cause thy people to know that thou art the LORD God, and that thou hast turned their heart back again." (a slight re-phrasing of I Kings 18:37)

Day 6: a prayer for corporate repentance which is in a prayer book (possibly one of the old prayer books of church history)

Day 7: a prayer for corporate repentance which is new (possibly one which you thought of yourself)

 

     Note that prayers for corporate repentance can be both a part of individual prayer and corporate, or communal, prayer: that is, they can be prayed both by a single person alone and by two or more people together.

 

     Also note that a prayer for corporate repentance may or may not explicitly mention a specific sin from which one wants repentance. If one knows that there is a certain sin so common that it calls for corporate repentance, then I recommend mentioning it explicitly.

 

     This prayer based on John 17:3 is an example of such a prayer:

 

"Convict us of our idolatry, O God, and turn us from our idols unto thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent."

 

     May our heavenly Father, in His unfathomable mercy, hear our prayers for corporate repentance, and answer them through the calling, convicting, and turning of the Holy Spirit, to the blessing of His sacrificial Son, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who preached repentance, and in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace (Ephesians 1:7). By them, may the whole church on earth be perfectly penitential. Amen.

 

 

Questions for consideration

1. Do you consider repentance toward God to be a divine blessing? If so, why? If not, why not?

2. Do you know of a body of people who have turned away from God? If so, whom?

3. Would you like to pray for corporate repentance for a body of people who have turned away from God? If so, why? If not, why not?

4. Would you like to incorporate prayers for corporate repentance in a routine of prayer? If so, why? If not, why not?

5. Would you like to observe Advent and/or Lent by praying for corporate repentance? If so, why? If not, why not?

[Reimagine Curator]

David Bryant -

Salvatore:  Here is the crux of New Testament repentance which is in a very different "context" from OT repentance.  Thanks for ending your essay with these words:

 

   

 Also note that a prayer for corporate repentance may or may not explicitly mention a specific sin from which one wants repentance. If one knows that there is a certain sin so common that it calls for corporate repentance, then I recommend mentioning it explicitly.

 

     This prayer based on John 17:3 is an example of such a prayer:

 

"Convict us of our idolatry, O God, and turn us from our idols unto thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent."

 

     May our heavenly Father, in His unfathomable mercy, hear our prayers for corporate repentance, and answer them through the calling, convicting, and turning of the Holy Spirit, to the blessing of His sacrificial Son, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who preached repentance, and in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace (Ephesians 1:7). By them, may the whole church on earth be perfectly penitential. Amen.