The First Universalist Church of Camp Hill

In the interest of full disclosure, I found this recipe on the web three or four years ago; a search prompted by my inability to find a decent coconut pie anywhere.

Pre-heat over to 350 degrees.

Mix: 3 beaten eggs, 1 1/2 cups sugar, 1/2 cup melted butter, 4 teaspoons fresh lemon juice (about 1/2 a lemon’s worth), 1 teaspoon vanilla, pinch salt.  Then stir in 1 1/3 cups coconut.

Put on a pie crust shield; in other words, take some strips of tin foil wide enough to cover the exposed crust and lightly crimp them over it.

Bake 30 minutes, then remove the shield and bake another 10 to 20 minutes until it sets, i.e., it will no longer jiggle.

Chill thoroughly.

If it seems a bit too sweet that’s because a) it is very sweet or b) you were using sweetened coconut.  Adjust according to taste.  I like to use turbinado sugar, which may make the pie a bit darker and denser, but I like the flavor.  The pie will require a sharp knife, firmly wielded.

If you like coconut and appreciate rich food, then you’ll probably enjoy this pie.

Barry

     Ready or not 2010 is here.  Some of us are glad to see 2009 go and some are not in quite the hurry.  I am looking forward to the time I will have with the First Universalist Church of Camp Hill as your minister, eventhough I only get to spend such a small amount of time with you.  I am also looking forward to “preaching the gospel according to Universalism” in my living room on the evening of the fourth Sunday of each month.  A veritable 2-fer.  2010 is off to a more hopeful start for me personally as I am now a part time, temporary employee of the U.S. Census Bureau.

     My January sermon will consider the concept of church both “C” and “c”.  What does it mean to belong to a specific congregation, to a larger movement, how big can we draw our circle?  One of the texts I am going to use is Paul’s fairly well known metaphor in I Corinthians 12:12-31a.  I invite your Comments here in advance or to my personal e-mail.  I happily anticipate your ideas, thoughts, and feelings.

     Barry, a.k.a. Rev. Whittemore

    I am really missing not being with the First Universalist community from before Thanksgiving to after Christmas. I have been thinking about you all a lot.  Christmas is such a great holiday for Universalists. Luckily I got to preach on three of the four Advent Sundays. The first Sunday I did “Hope” at Our Home Universalist Church in Ellisville, MS, followed by “Peace” in Auburn and “Joy” in Huntsville. Last Sunday, I missed doing “Love” anywhere, so I’ve decided to cheat a little and preach on the subject with y’all on Sunday in Camp Hill.

    Our religious tradition is saturated with the concept of “God Is Love.” In our last denominational confession as Universalists, “…we avow[ed] our faith in God as Eternal and All-Conquering Love…” . The front of the sanctuary at Universalist National Memorial Church in Washington has “God Is Love” literally carved in stone. Our ancestors came to the idea of universal salvation equally from scripture and from reason. What kind of god would decree eternal punishment? Certainly none worthy of worship! The foundational principle of our reasoning was “God Is Love.”

    Therefore, we have seen our great mission in the world to be putting Love into practice in our daily lives; that is, incarnating love. Our job is to understand that we (everybody, really) have direct access to an unlimited source of love, so that we can freely, even recklessly, give it away. What a deal.   

Barry

No, we’re not talking about the fellowship meal. We’ve experienced some problems with comments on our site: we’ve been receiving phony posts that link to disreputable commercial pages.

To prevent this, future comments from first-time posters will be held for approval. Once a visitor has a comment approved, subsequent comments will go directly to publication. This is a compromise between prevention of spam and promotion of a prompt and unfettered dialog.

While The First Universalist Church of Camp Hill was celebrating homecoming Sunday, Oct. 25, B.J. and others in the Taylor family were bringing Barbara Taylor home from Birmingham, where she had undergone open-heart surgery the previous Tuesday. On that day, doctors performed a triple bypass operation to relieve arterial blockage, and her recovery is proceeding as anticipated.

Barbara’s doctors in Alexander City recommended the procedure after a heart catherization revealed significant Continue reading →

October means Homecoming for friends and members of The First Universalist Church of Camp Hill. Homecoming, 2009, will be Sunday, Oct. 25. Service begins at 11 a.m. and will be followed by the traditional “dinner on the grounds.”

We are anticipating Continue reading →

Rep. Claude Pepper (D-FL)

The First Universalist Church of Camp Hill is located on Sen. Claude Pepper Drive. Claude Pepper (1900-1989), a progressive lion of the United States Congress, was born in a sharecropper’s shack north of Camp Hill and was raised in the area. He would go on to serve the State of Florida in both the Senate and the House of Representatives.

First elected to the U.S. Senate in 1938, Sen. Pepper was a staunch ally of Franklin Roosevelt and his New Deal reforms. He championed working people and the poor, Continue reading →

This blog site is intended to serve the congregation of The First Universalist Church as a source of information, communication and entertainment. It also is to introduce the wider community to our fellowship, and vice versa. Many of you are well acquainted with “blogging,” but for those who aren’t the blogging platform enables visitors to participate in discussions by posting “comments.” To read the comments of others and to leave your comment, simply click on the grey link that mentions “comments” under the title of each article, or “post.” That’s the hard part. From there on, it’s easy!

This site is just beginning; it will build and become more useful with time, cooperation and participation. The 21st Century is our third. Let’s make the most of it!