Sermon Title: Monumental Decisions

Join us on Sunday, December 6th at 11am as we are visited by Reverend Michael Carter

Much has been made of what America must do in order to make amends for her "original sin" of slavery. Part of any type of reconciliation is being able to admit when something has gone wrong or when something needs to be made right. James Baldwin once said that "not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced." This Sunday, we will consider what the United States can learn from Germany regarding monuments here in this country celebrating White Supremacy and coming to grips with the legacy of slavery.

Reverend Michael J Carter is originally from Baltimore, Maryland. He moved to New York City in 1980 and lived there for 25 years, working as a professional actor before moving to Asheville with his family. Michael is an ordained Inter-faith minister and received his BA degree in Letters from the College of New Rochelle where he graduated cum laude. He received his Masters in Divinity Degree from Union Theological Seminary in New York City (class of 2000). While serving various Unitarian Universalist congregations in New York, Michael was trained as an anti-racism trainer by the UUA and has been recognized by President Clinton for his efforts. Micahel is an adjunct professor at Western Carolina University as a diversity consultant and has worked with UNCA and carious businesses in the area to assist them in enhancing their anti-racism and diversity agendas. Michael served at Mission Health System as a chaplain and diversity officer. He has also been a columnist for the Asheville Citizen Times. Reverend Carter now serves as the minister for Unitarian Universalist Congregation of the Swannanoa Valley, in the beautiful mountains of Western North Carolina.

Speaker: Michael Carter

Service Leader: Mike Holland

Special Musician:

Media: Gene Brown and Mike Holland