0:00:02 > 0:00:04Brighton is a place of religious contrasts.
0:00:04 > 0:00:07Its oldest church dates back to the 12th century,
0:00:07 > 0:00:12but in the last census 42% of the population professed no religion.
0:00:12 > 0:00:14I think it's very multicultural here
0:00:14 > 0:00:18and we have a lot of different aspects of religion.
0:00:18 > 0:00:21A friend at work sort of said yes, she believes in God
0:00:21 > 0:00:24and I just found that a bit strange.
0:00:24 > 0:00:27I certainly don't think that Brighton is different to anywhere else.
0:00:27 > 0:00:30It's a fun-loving city and it draws a lot of people from London who
0:00:30 > 0:00:32want to come and have a good time.
0:00:32 > 0:00:35But I think, if you look for the good in most people, it's there.
0:00:35 > 0:00:39Faith may be getting mixed reviews, but today we join Christians
0:00:39 > 0:00:43as they celebrate the birth of the church this Pentecost Sunday.
0:00:45 > 0:00:47Today on Songs of Praise,
0:00:47 > 0:00:50we visit the alfresco art with a spiritual message.
0:00:50 > 0:00:53Meet a prayerful community as they celebrate Pentecost.
0:00:53 > 0:00:56Stuart Townend performs his latest song, Vagabonds.
0:00:56 > 0:00:58And Lou Fellingham with Phatfish
0:00:58 > 0:01:01lead hymns and songs to lift your spirits.
0:01:11 > 0:01:14Pentecost, 50 days after Easter
0:01:14 > 0:01:17and, according to the book of Acts in the Bible,
0:01:17 > 0:01:22the time when the followers of Jesus were filled with the Holy Spirit.
0:01:22 > 0:01:25It came down from heaven like tongues of fire
0:01:25 > 0:01:27and from that point on,
0:01:27 > 0:01:30the Christian message spread across the world.
0:01:32 > 0:01:35Our music comes from the Church of Christ the King, Brighton,
0:01:35 > 0:01:36who start with a song about the day
0:01:36 > 0:01:39that God breathed his spirit into his followers.
0:05:50 > 0:05:54Like most UK towns, Brighton has its fair share of statues
0:05:54 > 0:05:58and sculptures, both sacred and spiritual, which, to be honest,
0:05:58 > 0:06:01most of us never take a second look at.
0:06:01 > 0:06:05But Reverend Martin Poole is turning everyday locations
0:06:05 > 0:06:09in Brighton into an ever-changing alfresco art gallery,
0:06:09 > 0:06:13where the exhibits are designed to enlighten as well as entertain.
0:06:13 > 0:06:17Martin, that is a really familiar image. How did it get here?
0:06:17 > 0:06:18Tell us about it.
0:06:18 > 0:06:20It was put there by a graffiti artist called Orticanoodles
0:06:20 > 0:06:22who was from Italy.
0:06:22 > 0:06:25- It's great, isn't it? - Yeah, fantastic.
0:06:25 > 0:06:28He just saw the potential of the crown.
0:06:28 > 0:06:31Originally it had barbed wire wrapped into it anyway,
0:06:31 > 0:06:34and it just made a natural crown of thorns.
0:06:34 > 0:06:37And he created this beautiful face that went there.
0:06:37 > 0:06:39What do people think about it when they see it?
0:06:39 > 0:06:45I think it reminds them that God is here, in the degradation
0:06:45 > 0:06:48and suffering that you see with this West Pier.
0:06:48 > 0:06:50I love the fact that it's falling apart.
0:06:50 > 0:06:54And there's something that God shares in our brokenness.
0:06:55 > 0:06:57You use this beach all year round, don't you?
0:06:57 > 0:06:59Tell us about what you do here at Christmas.
0:06:59 > 0:07:03We invented an event called the Beach Hut Advent Calendar.
0:07:03 > 0:07:07So every night in December, a different beach hut opens its doors
0:07:07 > 0:07:09like a massive Advent calendar.
0:07:09 > 0:07:13With some sort of art installation or decoration or something inside.
0:07:13 > 0:07:16It's a fantastic community art project.
0:07:18 > 0:07:21The artwork draws on many contemporary styles,
0:07:21 > 0:07:23including audio.
0:07:23 > 0:07:27'As Jesus said this, a crowd approached, led by Judas,
0:07:27 > 0:07:30'one of the 12 disciples.
0:07:30 > 0:07:34'Judas walked over to Jesus to greet him with a kiss.'
0:07:39 > 0:07:41This is a sculpture called The Kiss.
0:07:41 > 0:07:45It was put there to commemorate those who died through HIV and AIDS.
0:07:45 > 0:07:51But we used it to focus on Jesus' betrayal with a kiss.
0:07:51 > 0:07:54It was part of what was called The Silent Meditation,
0:07:54 > 0:07:58which was a trail around central Brighton.
0:07:58 > 0:07:59People collected headphones.
0:07:59 > 0:08:01And as they approached things like this,
0:08:01 > 0:08:03they would get played specific audio.
0:08:03 > 0:08:08Do you see this as an art project, as an evangelistic project?
0:08:08 > 0:08:10How did you perceive it?
0:08:10 > 0:08:16We try hard not to preach, but allow things like this to inspire
0:08:16 > 0:08:20and provoke people to think about God in a way that they hadn't before.
0:08:23 > 0:08:26Some of the most spectacular pieces are best viewed at night.
0:08:26 > 0:08:29Like these illuminated crosses,
0:08:29 > 0:08:31which blend carnival with Christianity.
0:08:34 > 0:08:37Do you think that there's anything too sacred that can't be
0:08:37 > 0:08:38turned into art?
0:08:38 > 0:08:44I personally don't think so. I think that God uses everything.
0:08:44 > 0:08:46I like what Augustine said, which is that
0:08:46 > 0:08:51all things are possible to find some inspiration around God.
0:08:51 > 0:08:53What does Pentecost mean to you?
0:08:53 > 0:08:56Pentecost is about being inspired by the Spirit.
0:08:56 > 0:08:59And of course, those two words are connected.
0:08:59 > 0:09:02Being "inspired" literally means "having the spirit in you."
0:09:02 > 0:09:06And that's where I think artistic inspiration comes from.
0:12:35 > 0:12:38Over 8 million people visit Brighton every year.
0:12:40 > 0:12:43One man who came here as a student and stayed is Stuart Townend.
0:12:43 > 0:12:47He's one of the worship leaders at the Church of Christ the King.
0:12:47 > 0:12:50But he's better known as one of the country's leading writers
0:12:50 > 0:12:53of hymns and worship songs, such as In Christ Alone,
0:12:53 > 0:12:56the most sung hymn in churches in the UK.
0:12:56 > 0:12:58# Come all you vagabonds
0:12:58 > 0:12:59# Come all you don't belongs
0:12:59 > 0:13:01# Winners and losers
0:13:01 > 0:13:03# Come people like me... #
0:13:03 > 0:13:08But his latest song Vagabonds has a very different feel.
0:13:08 > 0:13:09# Wait a while, stay a while
0:13:09 > 0:13:11# Welcome you'll be... #
0:13:11 > 0:13:16I've been writing songs that may mean something to those people who
0:13:16 > 0:13:18aren't regular churchgoers.
0:13:18 > 0:13:22The Gospel is not for a select few people. It's actually for everyone.
0:13:22 > 0:13:26So, in a sense, Vagabonds tries to take the message of the Gospel
0:13:26 > 0:13:30but put it in a way that will have an immediacy for other people.
0:13:30 > 0:13:33So I imagine it being sung in church, but I'd quite like to think, and
0:13:33 > 0:13:36actually I know that in certain places, you know,
0:13:36 > 0:13:37it may get sung in a pub as well.
0:13:37 > 0:13:41Some of the lyrics, like, "from every station and orientation"
0:13:41 > 0:13:44or "accusers, abusers, the hurt and ignored",
0:13:44 > 0:13:47for some people, to say that all of these people are included
0:13:47 > 0:13:50must be quite a challenging thing to sing.
0:13:50 > 0:13:53Were you deliberately writing something that you felt,
0:13:53 > 0:13:55I want to challenge people?
0:13:55 > 0:14:00I think many people will think of the Gospel as being something
0:14:00 > 0:14:03quite conservative, almost reactionary, because that's
0:14:03 > 0:14:06kind of the role that it seems to have in our society at the moment.
0:14:06 > 0:14:09That's the visible part of church that people see.
0:14:09 > 0:14:11They think it's quite conservative.
0:14:11 > 0:14:13In fact, it's exactly the opposite. It is radical.
0:14:13 > 0:14:16The invitation is for those who've been wounded,
0:14:16 > 0:14:19who've been victimised, who've been abused.
0:14:19 > 0:14:23But the invitation is also to the one who's committed the crime.
0:14:23 > 0:14:25It's actually to everyone.
0:14:25 > 0:14:28And that's really radical. That's hard, isn't it?
0:14:28 > 0:14:32It's hard to think that the perpetrator is also welcomed in,
0:14:32 > 0:14:34just like the victim.
0:14:34 > 0:14:37Stuart, what does Pentecost mean to you?
0:14:37 > 0:14:40It's obviously about the coming of the Holy Spirit.
0:14:40 > 0:14:46But what it reminds me of is that God is not far away, God is close.
0:14:46 > 0:14:49And God has given the Holy Spirit,
0:14:49 > 0:14:52just as Jesus was among his disciples and close
0:14:52 > 0:14:56to his disciples, the Holy Spirit has been given to be close to us.
0:14:56 > 0:15:00He's closer than a brother. He's closer than a lover.
0:15:00 > 0:15:03He is intimately involved in our lives.
0:15:03 > 0:15:07For you, is Pentecost about the spirit of inclusivity?
0:15:07 > 0:15:09Absolutely.
0:15:09 > 0:15:13I mean, if you look at the story, when the apostles came out,
0:15:13 > 0:15:15the disciples came out, filled with the Holy Spirit,
0:15:15 > 0:15:18they started speaking in all sorts of different languages.
0:15:18 > 0:15:21And people are going, hang on, he's speaking my language.
0:15:21 > 0:15:25He's speaking to me and I'm from, you know, this distant place over here.
0:15:25 > 0:15:29Or this backwater over here. It clearly is the message of the Gospel.
0:15:29 > 0:15:32And the message of Pentecost is actually,
0:15:32 > 0:15:35everyone is to hear this because there's something for everyone.
0:15:35 > 0:15:37Everyone can be included in this.
0:15:37 > 0:15:42This is the amazing, radical, wonderful,
0:15:42 > 0:15:46sometimes uncomfortable nature of the Good News of Christ.
0:15:46 > 0:15:50# Come, all you vagabonds, come all you don't belongs
0:15:50 > 0:15:53# Winners and losers, come, people like me
0:15:55 > 0:15:57# Come all you travellers
0:15:57 > 0:16:00# Tired from the journey, come wait a while, stay a while
0:16:00 > 0:16:01# Welcomed you'll be
0:16:05 > 0:16:08# Come all you questioners looking for answers
0:16:08 > 0:16:12# And searching for reasons and sense in it all
0:16:12 > 0:16:16# Come all you fallen, and come all you broken
0:16:16 > 0:16:20# Find strength for your body and food for your soul
0:16:20 > 0:16:23# Come to the feast, there is room at the table
0:16:23 > 0:16:26# Come let us meet in this place
0:16:26 > 0:16:30# With the King of all kindness who welcomes us in
0:16:30 > 0:16:34# With the wonder of love, and the power of grace
0:16:34 > 0:16:37# The wonder of the love, and the power of grace
0:16:54 > 0:16:57# Come those who worry 'bout houses and money
0:16:57 > 0:17:01# And all those who don't have a care in the world
0:17:01 > 0:17:05# From every station and orientation
0:17:05 > 0:17:09# The helpless, the hopeless, the young and the old
0:17:09 > 0:17:12# Come to the feast, there is room at the table
0:17:12 > 0:17:15# Come let us meet in this place
0:17:15 > 0:17:19# With the King of all kindness who welcomes us in
0:17:19 > 0:17:23# With the wonder of love, and the power of grace
0:17:23 > 0:17:26# The wonder of the love, and the power of grace
0:18:02 > 0:18:06# Come all believers and dreamers and schemers
0:18:06 > 0:18:09# And come all you restless just searching for home
0:18:11 > 0:18:15# Movers and shakers and givers and takers
0:18:15 > 0:18:19# The happy, the sad, the lost and alone
0:18:21 > 0:18:24# Come self-sufficient with wearied ambition
0:18:24 > 0:18:28# And come those who feel at the end of the road
0:18:31 > 0:18:34# Fiery debaters and religion haters
0:18:34 > 0:18:38# Accusers, abusers, the hurt and ignored
0:18:38 > 0:18:41# Come to the feast, there is room at the table
0:18:41 > 0:18:44# Come let us meet in this place
0:18:44 > 0:18:48# With the King of all kindness who welcomes us in
0:18:48 > 0:18:52# With the wonder of love, and the power of grace
0:18:52 > 0:18:56# The wonder of the love, and the power of grace
0:18:56 > 0:19:01# The wonder of the love, and the power of grace. #
0:19:16 > 0:19:20For most of us, getting up and out in the morning is noisy,
0:19:20 > 0:19:22chaotic and stressful.
0:19:23 > 0:19:25But things are very different here.
0:19:25 > 0:19:29Each day begins with two hours of prayer.
0:19:32 > 0:19:34This is the Wellspring Community.
0:19:34 > 0:19:38They are trying to fuse modern life with that of a Benedictine monastery.
0:19:40 > 0:19:43They pray morning, noon and night individually
0:19:43 > 0:19:45and as a community for up to five hours a day.
0:19:45 > 0:19:49# Oh, God, come to our aid
0:19:49 > 0:19:54# Oh, Lord, make haste to help us... #
0:19:54 > 0:19:59We were very powerfully inspired by that vision of community,
0:19:59 > 0:20:02of communion found in the Acts Of The Apostles,
0:20:02 > 0:20:05where it describes that early Christian community in Jerusalem.
0:20:05 > 0:20:07The early church.
0:20:07 > 0:20:11And the way in which people lived a common life with common prayer,
0:20:11 > 0:20:15sharing all of their resources, pooling their incomes,
0:20:15 > 0:20:17sharing their food, gladly and generously.
0:20:17 > 0:20:22How long do you see yourself being here? Or living this lifestyle?
0:20:22 > 0:20:26I would imagine that my commitment to this path, to this vocation,
0:20:26 > 0:20:28is really for life.
0:20:28 > 0:20:31I feel that God has called me to give myself to Him,
0:20:31 > 0:20:34through a community life, rooted in prayer.
0:20:34 > 0:20:38# Cry out with joy to the Lord, all the earth... #
0:20:38 > 0:20:41'Jess and Anna share the house with Jo,
0:20:41 > 0:20:43'but are only planning to stay for about a year.'
0:20:43 > 0:20:46Have you found the prayer routine hard?
0:20:46 > 0:20:49Yes, because I really like to sleep.
0:20:49 > 0:20:54And it's early mornings. That was quite difficult.
0:20:54 > 0:20:59But it has been really fruitful and I know that it's something that
0:20:59 > 0:21:02I will take away with me from my time here.
0:21:02 > 0:21:05For you, Jess, how has living here changed you?
0:21:05 > 0:21:10I think it's helping to get my priorities in life sorted.
0:21:10 > 0:21:14Putting God and your faith as top priority and in one sense
0:21:14 > 0:21:18everything else kind of slots in, to some extent, after.
0:21:18 > 0:21:21# My soul glorifies the Lord... #
0:21:21 > 0:21:25In the evening, the girls usually join other community members
0:21:25 > 0:21:27at the local church.
0:21:27 > 0:21:28Ben and Katy were recently married
0:21:28 > 0:21:32and now incorporate prayer into their relationship.
0:21:32 > 0:21:35I think the three different types of prayer - prayer alone,
0:21:35 > 0:21:38prayer together and prayer community take very different shapes.
0:21:38 > 0:21:42And they have very different purposes, as well.
0:21:42 > 0:21:45# Hallowed be thy name... #
0:21:45 > 0:21:49Praying as a couple, because we have committed our lives to each other,
0:21:49 > 0:21:52there's a greater intimacy. In the prayer, we are
0:21:52 > 0:21:58able to share on a much deeper level than we would with other people
0:21:58 > 0:22:01in community, because we are living together on a day to day basis
0:22:01 > 0:22:04in, you know, every moment of our life.
0:22:04 > 0:22:09# Christ the Lord was tempted and suffered for us... #
0:22:09 > 0:22:12I think Pentecost is enormously important to us
0:22:12 > 0:22:16because it is that founding moment of humanity being able to come
0:22:16 > 0:22:18together in communion.
0:22:18 > 0:22:22Through the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles
0:22:22 > 0:22:24gathered together in the upper room,
0:22:24 > 0:22:28all that division of inhumanity through sin
0:22:28 > 0:22:32and through pride was overcome by the Holy Spirit and they were able then
0:22:32 > 0:22:37to be able to live a common life, to be united in one heart and one mind.
0:26:42 > 0:26:45Heavenly Father, we celebrate the Holy Spirit
0:26:45 > 0:26:48Who inspires us and fills us with desire
0:26:48 > 0:26:50To show your love to the world
0:26:52 > 0:26:54Through music, we can talk to all people,
0:26:54 > 0:26:57regardless of language, age or gender
0:26:58 > 0:27:01In prayer, draw us to yourself
0:27:01 > 0:27:04That we may live from you
0:27:04 > 0:27:05Amen.
0:29:51 > 0:29:54Pentecost is the birthday of the church
0:29:54 > 0:29:57and so it is quite rightly a time of celebration.
0:29:57 > 0:29:59But it's also a time of reflection.
0:29:59 > 0:30:02All the people I've met today have shown the impact the
0:30:02 > 0:30:05Holy Spirit has had on their lives
0:30:05 > 0:30:07through art or song or prayer.
0:30:07 > 0:30:11Our last piece of music exuberantly expresses
0:30:11 > 0:30:13the joy that the Holy Spirit brings.
0:33:21 > 0:33:25Next week, Eamonn is on the road in County Fermanagh with the ambulance
0:33:25 > 0:33:29technician whose drive to care for others has transformed her life.
0:33:29 > 0:33:33And the Irish dancers who are sharing their faith.
0:33:33 > 0:33:36There's music from Clannad's Moya Brennan
0:33:36 > 0:33:39and hymns from the combined choirs and congregations of Enniskillen.
0:33:54 > 0:33:57Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd