St. Anthony churches unite for interfaith Palm Sunday celebration
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ST. ANTHONY — An interfaith group of churches in St. Anthony is coming together this weekend for a community-wide Palm Sunday celebration aimed at uniting residents through worship, music, and the shared story of Holy Week.
The event, scheduled for Sunday, March 29, at 4 p.m., will feature choirs, narrators, and musicians from multiple congregations, including The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, St. Anthony Foursquare Church, Mary Immaculate Catholic Church, and Community Presbyterian Church. The program will highlight the biblical account of Christ’s entry into Jerusalem and the events leading to the Resurrection. It will be held at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at 247 East 4th North in St. Anthony.
The St. Anthony Community Handbell Choir will perform starting at 3:30 p.m. while the congregation gathers, and the Yellowstone Brass Quintet will provide exit music after the program.
The Palm Sunday celebration was organized by St. Anthony resident Sheree Hastings, a Latter-day Saint who was inspired by a similar event in Salt Lake City. The service is designed to be a participatory, nondenominational experience focused on scripture, with community members invited to sing, reflect, and celebrate together. Hastings says they have ordered 600 palm leaves to distribute to attendees.
“We will be handing those out, and we will be waving the palms as we sing (Rob Gardner’s) ‘Hosanna,’” she says. While a few of the numbers have been rehearsed and will be performed by groups from the various churches, Hastings says she wouldn’t call it a concert.
“It’s a participatory event for the whole congregation,” she says.
Pastor Steve Young of St. Anthony Foursquare Church says the event is for the whole community, and he’s appreciative of Hastings for making it happen.
“We just really want to thank her for putting it together,” Young says. “She came to us, and we felt like it was a great idea because we are part of the St. Anthony community.”
Young, who has been a pastor in Rexburg or St. Anthony since the 1980s, says Hastings reached out to all the churches in St. Anthony, inviting each to be a part of the celebration, in an effort to make the event a truly interfaith experience.
“(Hastings) has been very, very careful to focus on the Bible and the Palm Sunday events that come out of the four gospels, and not to bring any other kind of religious tradition into it, but simply to look at the importance, from the biblical point of view, of King Jesus coming into Jerusalem,” Young says.
“The Lord just put it on my heart to do it,” Hastings says.
Starting in January, Hastings knocked on the doors of churches in St. Anthony, hoping their leaders would join the effort to make the Palm Sunday celebration happen.
“The best part is the leaders are coming,” Hastings says. “The leaders are making it happen and that’s what’s beautiful. We had a luncheon together, and that was a beautiful experience. I feel like I have new friends, and I have enjoyed going to their churches.”
Hastings says Sunday’s program will be representative of all the faith traditions participating, and will be translated into Spanish via headphones for those who need it.
Young says he hopes the event will become an annual tradition that continues to bring the St. Anthony community together across the spectrum of religious beliefs.
“We’re going to have to experience it to know if it’s going to be successful, but it certainly has all the makings to be successful,” he says.