A most colorful ministry

Colorful ribbons tied to the fence at Grace Episcopal Church are part of a special ministry. [Submitted photo]

If you have driven past Grace Episcopal Church in downtown Ocala recently, you surely will have noticed all the brightly colored ribbons waving in the summer breezes.

The ribbons tied the iron fence at the historic venue are an artistic ministry of the church’s Daughters of the King group. To learn more, the “Gazette” did a Q&A with Rev. Frans Van Santen.

How did the ribbon ministry get started?

The idea came from Saint Matthew’s Lutheran Church in Charleston, South Carolina.  While visiting the area, one of our Grace families shared pictures of the fence line from St. Matthew’s.  We contacted the church and Tricia and Barbara graciously shared the basics of their ribbon ministry experience, “a hit among the general public and parishioners.” Our Grace chapter of DOK, the Amy Harold Chapter of Daughters of the King, decided this would be a great outreach effort to extend to our Ocala community and the ribbon ministry is now in full swing and sway as new ribbons are being added each day.

How many ribbons have been placed so far?

The number of ribbons so far number in the hundreds; we hope to have thousands over the course of next months for a fence line at full capacity before starting a new campaign.  Wherever, there is a need for prayer there will be a ribbon available.

Recently an observation was made known about a significant increase in the number of white ribbons (representing Yahweh Shalom, the Lord is peace) after news reports were taunting a third world war was on the horizon.  Prior to this, the blue ribbons representing healing, Yahweh Rophe, had been the most used ribbon.

How does this fit with the mission of the church?

The campaign centers around the names of God and his character or ability, such as healing, provisional care, peace, praise and deliverance.  The DOK chapter at Grace are a group of dedicated prayer warriors and each has taken a vow to pray for the kingdom of God, country and community.  The hope and prayers of the DOK for this ribbon ministry is to serve as encouragement to our neighbors and community inside and outside of the walls of Grace Episcopal Church.

To learn more, stop by the church or go to graceocala.org

Members of the public are invited to visit Grace Episcopal Church and participate in the ribbon ministry. [Submitted photo]