Beach Hut 5

Tonight was the unveiling of the Choccywoccydoodah cake which formed the centre of their hut display and is also the prize for the person who attends most huts. Their theme was the Madonna and Child and the cake took pride of place within a beautifully simple hut so that the focus was entirely on the sculpture although it faced strong competition from the table laden with cake and chocolate that was manned by Choccywoccydoodah staff.


Chief amongst these was Davide who really got into the spirit of the event with a modern interpretation of an angel in a very smart white suit and glittery wings ably assisted by another member of staff as a workaday shepherd.

They did sterling work circulating around the crowd dispensing cake and showering people with glitter.

All of this was accompanied by carols from the Rainbow choir and a TV crew who are making a documentary series about the Brighton chocolatier which will be screened sometime in March on the Good Food channel which is part of the UKTV group.

Hundreds of people turned up to join in with the fun, sharing cake, chocolate, carols and an appreciation of the true meaning of Advent as we look forward to the birth of Christ on Christmas Day (not to mention the countdown towards winning that cake on Christmas Eve!)

Next hut is also by Hove Lawns, number 84 where the theme will move from Jesus mother to his father.

Beach Hut 4

As if by magic the snow and freezing cold of yesterday disappeared overnight to be replaced with pouring rain and howling winds and we all agreed we preferred the cold to the wet! The weather meant that coming out tonight was quite a trial and this was reflected in the hut which featured an enormous cross as the centrepiece. Fortunately the cross we had to bear was slightly lifted by the large gazebo set up outside the hut which not only contained the display and the light but also protected us from the rain.

The theme tonight was Jesus and the Cook family chose to show the full extent of Jesus life from the cradle to the grave, or in this case the manger to the cross. Alongside these images of life and death were some reminders of Jesus' own heritage in the form of a menorah and chocolate Hanukkah Geld as today is the fourth day of Hanukkah. The children that came were given a Dreidel sheet showing them how to make a spinning top and play the game, something which Jesus must have done as a boy himself.

The whole evening was presided over by a glittering neon star which guided the Advent pilgrims to the hut through the stormy weather.

The next hut should be very special as Choccywoccydoodah have taken over hut decorating duties and have promised a chocolate Madonna and child, free cake and lots of fun. See you at hut 79a.

Beach Hut 3

Tonight you really needed to be at the hut to get the full effect because Ian & Christine had chosen Frankincense as their theme. Their hut looked sumptuous as it was dressed in gold drapery reminding us of another of the gifts brought by the wise men, but the overwhelming sense was the smell as various forms of incense wafted their smoke along the seafront.

Central to the display was a Thurible lent by St. Margaret's church in Rottingdean but there were also incense sticks burning to add to the effect.

The weather was crisp and cold with hardly any wind which helped the smells to stay around and kept people close to the hut.

Already we're beginning to establish a sense of community amongst those who have come every night and there was a great atmosphere on the seafront tonight.

We discovered that today is Follow Friday and consequently we seem to have picked up a lot of Twitter followers as we post a picture every night live from the hut. If you want to join in you can find us on #BeachHutAdvent.

The next hut is also close to the lagoon as it's number 399.

Beach Hut 2

The whole of Brighton & Hove might have shut down because of the snow but that didn't stop us opening hut 449 tonight despite all sorts of obstacles and difficulties. The first problem was that Jane, Andre and their daughter Florrie couldn't get to the seafront as they were snowed in on the other side of Brighton.



The second difficulty was that Florrie was diagnosed with chickenpox this morning so really shouldn't be going out in such extreme weather. We wish her a swift recovery and not too much discomfort.

Fortunately the family had already done a lot of the background work in the hut yesterday so we arranged a liaison half way up Dyke road and Andre hiked up with the remaining items for the display and Martin and Sally set to work trying to recreate the family vision.

The theme tonight was the wise men who traveled through trial and tribulation to see the newborn king and many people braved the elements tonight to see the hut. They were rewarded with a beautiful evening of crisp, cold snow and a beautiful, colourful hut which somehow captured the essence of the Christmas spirit.

Tomorrow it's hut number 425 when we'll be thinking about one of the gifts that the wise men brought.

Beach Hut 1

The 2010 Beach Hut Advent Calendar launched in style last night thanks to St. Christopher's school, Hove who put in an incredible amount of work to recreate Bethlehem for us.

The lower school have spent the last few weeks creating lots of little Bethlehem buildings which were all put together in the hut by Ros Lomax, Jude Richards and Sally Poole to create a whole city which spilled out beyond the hut onto the sandy floor that they had imported for the occasion.

The Junior choir led by Richard Coppack came to entertain the crowds with a selection of carols and Christmas songs. Many of the children had been in the school nativity earlier in the day and stayed in costume for our evening event.

The snow earlier in the day gave the whole event a very Christmassy feel and the mulled wine, mince pies and chocolate were very welcome as over 150 people turned up to celebrate the start of our third annual Beach Hut Advent Calendar.

The heavy snow overnight will make opening hut 449 tonight quite a challenge but we plan to do all that we can to make sure the event goes ahead so get your sledges out and we hope to see you at Hove Lagoon at 5.30pm tonight.

Soul Celebration

All Hallows Eve saw us down at Hove Lagoon for our Soul Celebration, a chance to think about our mortality, our souls and our heavenly home. We had two bases at the lagoon - the Lagoon Watersports club who opened the bar for us, and one of the storage buildings at one corner of the lagoon. These two venues represented our earthbound selves and our heavenly home.

The bar was dark and foreboding (and crowded!) with a video loop of rotting fruit and vegetables playing. In here we asked people to reflect on how much they possessed by writing out a Beyond cheque with an estimate of their financial worth. We also had a chance to consider what we would write for our obituary. We then took the cheques and burnt them - we come into the world with nothing and we leave the world with nothing, and used the ashes to bless each person as they left to journey to heaven with the Ash Wednesday blessing "Remember that you are dust, and to dust you will return".

Following a string of lights along the edge of the lagoon brought everyone to our second location where they found a place of light, beauty, triumphant music and a party going on. We projected images of flowers bursting into bloom onto the building in direct contrast to the rotting plants in the bar and people discovered traditional halloween pumpkins not carved with ghoulish faces but happy and smiling and with these words carved into them:
God's home is now with his people. He will live with them, and they will be his own. Yes, God will make his home among his people. He will wipe all tears from their eyes, and there will be no more death, suffering, crying, or pain. These things of the past are gone forever.

Everyone was given a glass of champagne and encouraged to write up things that gave them a taste of heaven. Here's a taste:

• Seeing things as they truly are
• Affection from a child
• Seeing a beautifully formed wave up close
• Snow sparkling in the sun
• Being truthful with everybody

Then we took the pumpkins to the waters edge and the words that were carved into them were read out as each pumpkin was launched into the lagoon to float away to heaven along with this blessing:

Go gently on your voyage, beloved.
Slip away with the ebb tide,
rejoice in a new sunrise.

May the moon make a path across the sea for you,
the Son provide a welcome.
May the earth receive you and the fire cleanse you
as you go from our love
into the presence of Love's completeness

Natural Fingermaze

This year we used the Fingermaze in Hove Park to help us reflect on the seasons of the year and how those relate to the personal and spiritual seasons we all go through in our lives. We divided sections of the Fingermaze into the four seasons and dressed those sections to create a flavour of the time of year.

Winter was all dead and barren with dry leaves and dead wood, spring was new buds, young flowers and leaves, summer was full flowers and a burst of colour while autumn celebrated the harvest and the fruitfulness of the season.

Within each section was some form of heart as we began the meditation with a reminder that we are formed of the dust of the earth ourselves:

God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
As we are made from the earth, we could be said to be people of clay.
The four seasons are reflected within our hearts of clay.

Each of the seasons had some words to help us meditate on how this relates to our own spiritual and personal development and the walk finished at the centre of the Fingermaze with the gift of a piece of map printed with some words about the journey of our lives.

Everyone received a card with the following blessing to accompany them on their journey through life:

May God guide you.
May God bless your walk with the secret love and warmth of your heart.
May you see in your walk the beauty of your own soul.
May the sacredness of your walk bring healing light and renewal to you and to those who walk with you.
May your walk never weary you.
May it release in you wellsprings of refreshment, inspiration and excitement.
May you be present in what you do.
May you never become lost in bland absences.
May the walking never burden you.
May your beginning find you awake and alert, approaching your walk with dreams, possibilities and promises.
May you find grace and fulfilment as you walk.
May you finish, blessed, sheltered and protected.
May God calm, console and renew you.

Beach Hut Spirituality

On the hottest day of the year so far, while most of the country were inside watching England get thrashed by Germany, we were out at the beach with a summer art installation.

During the beach hut advent calendar in December many people asked us if we could do something in the summer and so 6 months later we thought we'd give it a try. The idea was not to re-create huts from last year but to re-imagine some of the themes for a summer setting.

We took Isaiah 9 as our inspiration - The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; On those living in the shadow of death a light has dawned. The art that was showcased in the cold and dark of midwinter was now exposed to the glorious sunlight of midsummer.

A number of huts were open by Hove Lagoon including one which had been open on the coldest night of the year last December.
We also arranged other pieces of art around the area to create an open air exhibition/installation. We were also able to use some of the things that were already there and turned an old rusted shelter which had been fenced off into a piece of art with origami butterflies created by one of our team.

Scattered around the area were various aids to meditation which we also gave to passers-by in a leaflet explaining who we were and what we were trying to do.


This included some words from the Anam Cara:

I arise today
through the strength of heaven
Light of sun,
Radiance of moon,
Splendour of fire,
Speed of lightning,
Swiftness of wind.
Depth of sea,
Stability of earth,
Firmness of rock.

It was definitely nicer to be out at the huts in the summer and we've already started to think about how we can create some kind of summer beach hut event for the future. In the meantime our next two events are also outside as we're doing a Blessing of the Surf at Paddle Round the Pier next Sunday 4th July at 9am and will be on the Hove Park Fingermaze on 25th July.

Pete Rollins Insurrection Lite

The Royal Sovereign, a new venue for us at Beyond was the setting for our Fringe Festival Event: Pete Rollins Insurrection Lite talk.

The event was scheduled for 7.30pm, however, we were completely unaware of how many people would turn up. The core group from Beyond attended, along with members from The Garden. Due to the fact that the talk was an official Fringe event and we were advertising with our ice block we met many new faces at the pub.

The talk ended up starting around 8.00pm with standing room only. Martin introduced Pete, who structured his talk into three different sections with various readings and poems in between. The main sections being: Chapter 1 - Deus Ex Machina, Chapter 2 - To Believe is Human, To Doubt Divine, Chapter 3 - I Believe in the Insurrection.

During the talk, the room was absolutely intent on listening and interacting with Pete's words. Although there was noise filtering into the room from the adjacent pub, it seemed to die away within the first few minutes. The crowd had a sense of unity, all engaging with Pete's talk as a whole.

After, Pete stayed around to answer questions and discuss his views. Many people stayed for hours, discussing and socialising. The group that I engaged with personally, did not cease to talk about ideas which arose from Pete's talk and how they fit into our lives, both practically and spiritually.

You can listen to the introduction and first section via the links below. The last two sections have been added.

Introduction

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3


Pete with Beyond's Ice Meditation

Ice Meditation

Saturday, May 15th was a very busy day for Beyond. The morning began with an installation of an ice sculpture on the Hove seafront. It was a place for people to take a moment while walking along the promenade to reflect. As people approached the ice, they were greeted by a subtle cross shape which formed the entire sculpture. Various items were embedded inside the ice which caught attention. Facing the seafront was an image of Jesus surrounded by angel wings and seashells. Around the edges were dark red roses with additional shells and Beyond postcards which advertised our Fringe Event: Pete Rollins' Insurrection Lite talk that evening.

Reflections accompanied the icework. One read:
"God's voice thunders in marvellous ways; He does great things beyond our understanding. He says to the snow, 'Fall on the earth,' and to the rain shower, 'Be a mighty downpour.' At his command the tempest comes out from its chamber, and driving winds bring the cold. The breath of God produces ice, and the broad waters become frozen." Book of Job Chapter 37.

Another:"This is a place to contemplate the passing of time as this giant block of ice melts to reveal the secrets that are hidden within it. Visit and revisit to see how it changes as people interact with it and the weather affects. Take time to refelct on the forces of nature that have shaped our world through the ages and how this relate to the idea of an eternal God. Be still in the presence of the Lord, and wait patiently for Him." Psalm 37

People were encouraged to revisit the sculputre and see what changes took place. We met many peole who came by again and again to witness this. Most people were surprised to see how quickly the ice melted, revealing the secrets within. Visitors, young and old engaged with the work, touching it and removing shells and postcards only to replace them. We were surprised by the respect people had for the artwork and the careful way it was treated during the day. However, when we went to remove the sculpture in the evening it looked as though someone had knocked it over on it's face as it lay crushed on the ground. A testiment to the different ways we as people engage with our surroundings and the earth daily.

Click the link below to see a Photosynth of the ice block by David Peck:
Photosynth

Marathon Spirit

Many people think that marathons are not personally relevant. Sporty people engage in marathons; not for me. However, when taken into the realm of spirituality, the marathon theme can become very accessible.

The evening began in a familiar spot - the upstairs room at The Alibi pub in Hove. Inside, the projector screen displayed a loop of runners from the recent Brighton Marathon. Various bible passages were shown, beginning with 1 Corinthians 9 verse 24: "Don't you realize that in a race everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize? So run to win!" This message led us into a brief interview with two Brighton Marathon runners, Adam, and Catherine, concerning the question of "Why?" Why do people run marathons? What are the motivations? Various parallels were drawn between running a physical marathon and our spiritual journeys. Not only do we do it for ourselves and our own good, but sometimes we do it for others and their good, such as being sponsored by a charity.

The next question was "How?" 1 Corinthians 9 verses 25-27 addresses this: "Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore, I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my boday and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize." Research into physical training suggests that we must 1. Set a goal, 2. Stay motivated, 3. Vary our training, 4. Have proper nutrition, 5. Practice, and 6. Rest. Similarly, these points can be applied to our spiritual lives, and a worksheet that considered this information was passed out to everyone as a personal reflection on his or her own "spiritual training".

A clip from the movie, "Run Fat Boy Run" was shown which addressed "the wall". Everyone will hit a wall at some point in their spiritual lives, and we briefly considered how to deal with this. A recap of Beyond's events from the beginning of the year was done including Vistas, Drought , Refreshment, and Easter Saturday. All events describing parts of our journey that lead us up to the wall.

We recognized that there is a large community aspect to journeys, physical or spiritual. We need supportive people around us to keep us going. Hebrews 12 verses 1-5: "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our fath, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart." With the support of others, we are kept going, and can make it through the difficult times more easily.

If you would like to donate to the charities of those runners who ran in the Brighton Marathon who are a part of the Beyond community, the information is below:

Adam Webb
Queen Alexandra Hospital
www.justgiving.com/awebb

Claire Bradford
Chestnut Tree House of Childrens' Hospice
www.justgiving.com/ClaireBradford

Amanda Tombs
Guide Dogs for the Blindhttp://www.justgiving.com/amanda-tombs0


Our next event is part of the Brighton Fringe Festival. We are hosting speaker Peter Rollins, the author of How Not to Speak of God and The Orthodox Heretic at The Royal Sovereign (66 Preston Street, Brighton, BN1 2WB) on May 15th from 7:30pm.