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Glory Hoops! Quiet messages from God.

While volunteering at a Joni and Friends (JAF) Family Retreat a few weeks ago, a vacation setting for families with one or more members with disabilities, God used many circumstances to teach me and to help me grow in my faith. One of those circumstances involved the “fanfare” of welcoming the arriving families. All of the volunteers were waiting in the front lobby of the resort's hotel. Just before each family entered the lobby, an announcement was made designating the volume of our greeting—loud, medium, or soft. This was determined by the disabilities represented in each family, for example, if one member was autistic, our greeting would often be “soft”.

What a wonderful way to start the week! Welcoming new friends by assisting them with all of their luggage and equipment, and some families needed to bring a lot, as well as greeting them with the type of welcome their family could both tolerate and enjoy. I tend to be a loud, animated person, so this was truly a learning experience for me. God's lessons aren't always what we expect, but they are always good, as well as helpful. So at the end of this wonderful week of experiences and circumstances, I mentioned “glory hoops” during a volunteer talk-back type meeting, as a possible addition to the welcoming process and for other opportunities throughout the week.

If you know what tambourines are and how they look and sound, then you might think glory hoops are like colorful, quiet tambourines. In case you do not know what glory hoops are, here is a description. They are made with a plastic tube circle, like an oxygen hose or a fish tank filter hose, and colored ribbons tied onto it. Sometimes they are made with rainbow colors or, like the one I am describing, in salvation colors: black, red, white, blue, green, and yellow. These are the same colors that you might see in a salvation bracelet or necklace. In addition to the salvation message via their colors, Glory Hoops are also very useful as rhythm instruments, because they are quiet.

This is the quiet and glorious salvation message that the ribbons on the Glory Hoop tell:

  • The BLACKribbon reminds us of our sin trouble and how it separates us from God. In Ephesians 2:14-18 Paul writes about this separation, especially in verses 14 and 18.

    Ephesians 2:14-18
    "Christ…has united us by breaking down the wall of hatred that separated us….And because of Christ, all of us can come to the Father by the same Spirit."
  • The RED ribbon reminds us of Jesus' blood and His death on the cross. In Romans 5:8-9 the Bible tells us about Jesus dying for our sins.

    Romans 5:8-9
    "But God showed how much he loved us by having Christ die for us, even though we were sinful. But there is more! Now that God has accepted us because Christ sacrificed his life's blood, we will also be kept safe from God's anger."

  • The WHITE ribbon reminds us of forgiveness, and how we are made white as snow. This message of forgiveness is found in Isaiah 1:18,

    Isaiah 1:18
    "'Come now, let us reason together,' says the LORD. 'Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.'"
  • The BLUE ribbon reminds us of The Holy Spirit, and His presence in our lives. This is what the Bible says about receiving God's Holy Spirit in Baptism in Matthew 3:11 and 16,

    Matthew 3:11 & 16
    "'I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me will come one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire'….As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him."
  • The GREEN ribbon reminds us of Christian growth—growing in our relationship with God. In 2 Peter 3:18 the Bible talks about growing in our faith.

    2 Peter 3:18
    "But grow in grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ."

  • The YELLOW ribbon reminds us of the streets of gold in Heaven and of living with Jesus forever. In Revelation 21:1-3,

    Revelation 21:1-3
    "Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, 'Now the dwelling of God himself will be with them and be their God.'"

Even in the quietness of raising a glory hoop and waving it, the message is clear. Each colored ribbon is a sign of another promise from God, of what God has done for us, because he loves us more than we can imagine! We are His children, and He is our Heavenly Father. Jesus is our Savior from all of our sin. And God's Holy Spirit is within us to help us here on earth until we enter heaven.

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