Understanding Love (?)

Last Sunday's gathering at The Brunswick gave visitors a comfortable space to discuss issues regarding love. Not airy-fairy hippy lurve, but real, gritty, soul-wrenching, impenetrable love - with all of its complications. Various quotes left on the tables were provocative instigators for conversation, yet some people had tangents and controversy of their own for us to really grapple with. Below are a number of quotes that proved highly engaging.

“Feelings come to us, passively; agape comes from us, actively, by our free choice. We are not responsible for our feelings-we can't help how we feel-but we are responsible for our agape or lack of it… Only a fool would command someone to feel a certain way. God commands us to love, and God is no fool.”

“Those we love are the ones who birth and sustain our very ability to desire.”

“Love itself is all in our imagination.”

“We always love ourselves: we always seek our own good."

“God cannot fall in love for the same reason water cannot get wet: it is wet.”

“Love of humanity is easy because humanity does not surprise you with inconvenient demands. You never find humanity on your doorstep, stinking and begging.”

“One misunderstanding about love is the confusion between "God is love" and "love is God."”

“You cannot be in love with love, any more than you can have faith in faith, or hope in hope, or see sight.”

“If God is not a Trinity, God is not love. For love requires three things: a lover, a beloved, and a relationship between them."

"Not all men are worthy of love."

“Love does not belong to the beholder of love, but, to the subject to which it loves.”

“Love does not want our hymns of praise or prayers of adoration. She does not want our sacrifices or seek our time. One cannot and should not even try to love love. For love always points away from herself. To honour love is to be in love, to swim in the world illuminated by her.”

To conclude our Love series, visitors also had the opportunity to fill out 'promise cheques' from our Unlucky in Love event, or to pin a tick / cross onto the figures from Unconditional in Love, with what they find desirable / undesirable in a person. It was really valuable having a slightly less-structured format on Sunday, as people were able to express openly what they had been questioning or discovering over the past few weeks.

Next up is Lent Through The Lanes, our audio visual meditative tour around 5 different locations in the lanes of Brighton. More news on this soon, the launch date is Sunday 13th of March and it'll be open for six weeks.

Unlucky in Love

The second event in our current series on Love took place last Sunday on Brighton Pier. Gathering in the Victoria Bar, nestled among the slot machines and games of the arcades, visitors were invited to consider the nature of our titled event, Unlucky in Love.

Upon arrival, individuals engaged with the concept of chance and the role that it might play within love as they threw darts at polystyrene figures, aiming for a bullseye within the heart targets. Around the room, various stations were assembled according to The 5 Love Languages identified and described by author Gary Chapman.

The first station focussed on Words of Affirmation, presenting people with a series of upturned cards. Some cards had written on them a word deeply rooted in what we understand to be an example of love, others had words of the direct opposite. The challenge was to find a pair by picking two cards up on each turn, the process of which proved increasingly more thought provoking than the words in question.

Elsewhere, Quality Time was well and truly experienced as visitors were invited to take two minutes for themselves, by fitting some headphones with calm, ambient music and an eye mask as they settled into a big comfy sofa. Some resurfaced considerably later than others, given the novelty it clearly was for them.

Whilst reflecting on Receiving Gifts, people at this station had the opportunity to make a present for someone else by icing and decorating a biscuit. Rather than focussing entirely on how we prefer to receive love ourselves, the gift-making encouraged us to think about those who need us to show them what love is.

The act of showing love usually involves giving something of ourselves. Often it is a gamble, sometimes even a risk. We thought about this at the Acts Of Service station,

where there was a chance to fill out a 'promise cheque,' for someone known to us; a sort of I.O.U, whether that be the resolution to make someone a cup of tea every day for

a week, or something a little more challenging.

For some, Physical Touch is a necessity not just a luxury. Two of our team were offering hand-massages to those exploring this. If nothing else, they went away smelling sweetly of coconuts and almonds.

To finish with, everyone was able to complete the love language quiz in

order to discern their own personal and preferred way of receiving love. Developing a heightened awareness of different peoples' unique acknowledgments of love challenged us as to how we might respond accordingly. Each person left with a valentines card and in it, a poignant excerpt from 1 John. This message about the source of our love served as a powerful reminder, enabling us to place into valuable context what we had considered that evening;

Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.

This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world.

This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us.

God is love.

Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.

We love because he first loved us.

On 27th February, join us at The Brunswick for the next event in our series, an open discussion on love.

Unconditional Love

Our love season began this Sunday with a look at Unconditional Love in an unconventional way.

The theme came about because one of our team spotted a graffiti wall in north central Brighton with those exact words (see it being created here). We used it for our promotional postcard image this time and it sparked a whole series of ideas which we're going to explore in our next three events.

Unconditional Love was our first attempt at a guerilla style evening and we asked people to come to the graffiti ready for an urban journey. Behind this meeting place is a concrete multistorey car park and we set up a number of installations in the space which itself was covered in graffiti. Everyone who turned up was invited to explore the space while asking themselves the question "is this unconditional love".


In one corner there was a Rob Bell video loop all about the different kinds of love in the Old Testament, across from this was some love neon with a haunting audio loop of the song "Jesus blood never failed me yet".

In the middle of the whole space were two perfect human figurines which surprised us by dancing around wildly in the wind despite our best efforts to anchor them. This installation invited people to think about the qualities that they like in a person and those that we dislike and write these on ticks or crosses which were then pinned to the figures. On various surfaces and expanses of concrete were long ribbons of poetry or quotes from the Bible about love.


Beyond team members showed their commitment to our cause by acting the balcony scene from Romeo & Juliet or playing the part of rough sleepers who find solace in each other and the poetry of the Song of Songs. After half an hour of this we headed away, under the kissing sculpture which is situated in this area to the Circus Circus pub to warm up, have a drink and discuss what we'd all seen and experienced.

Our next exploration of love is only 2 weeks away on St. Valentine's Eve. Our venue is amongst all the slot machine and games of chance on Brighton Pier in the Victoria Bar and is entitled Unlucky in Love.

Christmas Eve

Our final beach hut of 2010 was an extravanganza of dressing up as we asked everyone to come dressed as a nativity character to help us try and best the world record for the largest nativity. The hut was dressed as the stable complete with empty manger (Jesus wasn't born until Christmas Day) and live chickens (the only camel in Sussex wasn't able to travel because he hasn't got a transport licence!). Loads of people came dressed up and took turns to sit in the hut and have their photo taken in a little nativity scene, you'll find a selection of those posted below.

The mayor of Brighton and his wife came down to act as official witnesses along with Roger French, chief executive of Brighton Buses. We also had the draw for the Choccywoccydoodah Madonna and child cake which went to a family who have been to every hut except one.


Unfortunately we didn't get enough people to break the record as we had around 150 in costume and the record is 250. We reckon there were at least 300 at the event overall but most chose to dress in warm modern clothes rather than attempting Biblical dress.

Our next event is on 30th January entitled Unconditional Love and you can get details of that on our website. Have a great Christmas and may the God of love be present with you and your families at this time.

Beach Hut 23

Tonight we had a guiding light to lead us onwards in our journey towards Christmas.

Carrie had created a beautiful coloured lantern which hung in front of hut 341 to draw people along the seafront to our penultimate hut. The lantern depicted different forms of travel in tissue paper mosaic making it look almost like a stained glass lamp hanging on the promenade.

It was a very cold and windy night but like true travellers we had brought everything we needed to keep the cold out. Not only mulled wine and mince pies but a wood burning brazier helped us to hold back the elements and enjoy the candlelit scene.


Inside the hut there was a silhouette of Bethlehem with a very cute little Joseph and donkey made out of wool.

This is our last regular hut as tomorrow we are trying something a little different. We hope to break the world record for a live nativity and so want as many people as possible to come to hut 395 dressed as their favourite nativity character. We hope to see hundreds of shepherds, wise men, angels and maybe even a few Mary and Josephs. The mayor is coming to help us keep count and we will also be making the draw for the winner of the Choccywoccydoodah cake. So come to hut 395 by Hove Lagoon to celebrate Christmas Eve in Beach Hut Advent style!

Beach Hut 22

The theme tonight was star and the hut was classically designed with a black backdrop and a very interesting cracked mirror star as the centre of attention.

The star came from St. Luke's church Prestonville where it can be seen during any of the Christmas services, hanging at the front of the church. It's made of lots of shards of mirror which reflect any light or image projected into them creating a varied effect which changes as you move around the star.

The display tonight was put together by Martin Poole who heads up the Beyond team as Alison who owned the hut has recently been in hospital and is still convalescing and unable to get out to prepare something herself.

The mirror effect of the star was given additional detail by the addition of half a dozen laserpods and a rotating star ball. As the lights glittered and flashed around the hut we were reminded of the words of John 1 - "The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it".

Next is our penultimate hut - number 341.

Beach Hut 21

One of the comments people have made about the Beach Hut Advent Calendar is that for them it is a kind of Christmas pilgrimage. The walk along the seafront to find the hut each night in a different location alongside the journey through the month as we get closer to Christmas all form part of a path to Christmas.

Beach hut 21 put some of this thinking into practice and invited people to consider their own personal journey up to the present in the same way that Mary and Joseph had to travel on that first Christmas. There was an interesting juxtaposition tonight with the fact that so many people currently are unable to travel because of the weather situation but that didn't stop lots of people coming down to the beach from as far away as Bournemouth.

There was not only lots to look at but also lots to do at this hut. There were travel themed items in the hut and alongside it a huge map of the UK and the world and a chance to plot your journey from birth to today using pins and lengths of wool. In addition people could also write the name of a person who had been important to them in this journey on a star and add this to the overall display. By the end of the evening the map was a mass of wool and stars acting as a testament to the pilgrimage of our lives and those around us.

As we continue our pilgrimage towards Christmas we want to make everyone aware of a goal we have set for Christmas Eve. We want everyone who comes to hut 395 to dress as a nativity character as we're hoping to break the world record for the largest live nativity. So if you're close to Brighton and don't mind coming out in a dressing gown and tea towel, come and help us make history.

Next hut is not far away at number 357a.

Beach Hut 20

Tonight was the worst weather so far with constant rain and a cold wind which made putting everything together extremely difficult (and uncomfortable!).

This is the kind of weather that hardy shepherds would have been used to as they stayed out all year round looking after their flock. Tonight Janina had recruited just such a hardy soul to sit in hut number 324 as part of her theme, although he had the advantage of a modern umbrella as some protection against the elements.

The backdrop featured a glass beaded star and despite the wind and rain a few candles managed to flicker in the darkness, adding some warmth to the darkness in the hut.

Nights like this make you wish we were doing this calendar in Australia in the nice summer sun but at least it gives us some insight into the kinds of hardships that some of the characters of the first nativity could have endured.

Next hut is almost right in the middle of the Hove seafront at number 268.

Beach Hut 19

The hut this Sunday night looked as though it had been abandoned, and not just because lots of people were at carol services this evening. The theme was Nazareth and the hut was set up as though it was Joseph's home and he and Mary had left in some haste to get to Bethlehem for the census.


To make sure they would manage the journey OK our team imagined the holy family had a meal before they left and the remains of the bread, fish and wine were still on the table waiting to be cleared up on their return.


We knew this was Joseph's hut because the tools and materials of his trade were stacked outside. It's interesting to think about the ordinary daily life that Jesus was being born into on that first Christmas and the effort that Mary and Joseph must have gone to in travelling from their home to Bethlehem so close to the birth of their son.

Next up is hut 324.