The Church of the Holy Spirit in Lake Forest invited the community to begin their journey through Holy Week on Sunday morning, with a celebration of the Sunday of the Passion, or Palm Sunday.
Congregants gathered at the neighborhood Starbucks on Western Avenue at 8:30 a.m., before congregating in Market Square, for a brief outdoor service and singing, and to take part in a Palm Sunday procession from Market Square to the Church of the Holy Spirit, at 400 East Westminster in Lake Forest.
“The procession starts on a high note, marking the triumphant entry of Jesus into Jerusalem, which then moves from triumph to tragedy during Easter week,” Rev. Luke Back, rector of the Church of the Holy Spirit in Lake Forest said.
According to Reverend Back, the Market Square celebration is characterized by music, performed by the Cherub choir (children under 5-years-old) and the Children’s Choir, with participation also from the Adult Choir.
“We use the procession as a stepping off point, both literally and figuratively, that when it comes to faith, beyond the ideas — it is the experiences, stories, and encounters, that actually bring people together,” Back said.
Back says through our faith, people remember together, and in the retelling of those events that they read in scripture, they are reminded of who they are.
“Today we welcome Christ into our City of Lake Forest, which is when the then and there, becomes the here and now,” Back said.
The Market Square parade was followed by services held at the church, which included the Blessing of the Palms and Holy Eucharist service.
Heather and Andy Wright of Lake Forest recall their first meeting as kids, during a confirmation class at Church of the Holy Spirit, when they were about 10 years old.
“These palm branches are a symbol of new birth and everlasting life, and Palm Sunday has become an important tradition for our family to spend together, as well as an opportunity for fellowship in our community,” Andy Wright said.
Reverend Back says Easter is the oldest of Christian celebrations, Jesus’s tradition of Passover, according to Hebrews — from bondage into freedom and for Christians — from death into life.
Patty Hughes of Libertyville also attended on Sunday.
“While it is so easy to get caught up in everything else going on in our world, I come to the church to find peace and hope,” Hughes said.
Reverend Back says April 19, 2025, also marks the 30th anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing.
St. Paul’s Cathedral in Oklahoma City, was where Back began his ordained ministry as a Canon, and where he would later work alongside his father, Reverend George Back, to rebuild the church.
“Seeing resurrection with one’s eyes, feeling it with one’s heart, is a gift,” Back said.
“Moving from fear to faith, today I wear a replica of an old cross that stood atop the Cathedral for a century before the blast shattered it, now a symbol of our dying and rising in a new way,” Back added.
For a schedule of Holy Week services at the Church of the Holy Spirit in Lake Forest, go to chslf.org.
Gina Grillo is a freelancer for Pioneer Press.
