“While I was standing in a checkout line in the local Ingles one Sunday morning to get coffee for my wife,

a woman in line noticed my Union Theological Seminary sweatshirt. She then proceeded to grill me about my relationship with Jesus to make sure it was the same relationship as hers,” said Rev. Michael J. S. Carter, who will be the speaker at the Unitarian Universalist (UU) Fellowship service on Sunday, May 20. “After a brief but tense exchange, I left the store thinking about the many interpretations our culture and community have about this man. This sermon is a result of that conversation in the supermarket. The title is taken from a question Jesus posed to his disciples on his way to Jerusalem and his impending death.”
Carter is originally from Baltimore, Md. He moved to New York City in 1980 and lived there for 25 years, working as a professional actor before moving to Asheville, N.C. with his family to serve as a staff chaplain at Mission Hospital. Carter is an ordained Interfaith minister and received his B.A. degree in letters from the College of New Rochelle where he graduated cum laude. He received his master in divinity degree from  Union Theological Seminary in New York City (class of 2000). He has served as a staff chaplain (board certified) at Lenox Hill Hospital, Beth Israel Hospital, Beth Israel Cancer Center, Methodist Hospital, and New York Hospital Queens while residing in New York City.
Carter has just completed a year’s work as the minister for the Black Mountain UU Fellowship, serving that congregation on the second Sunday of every month for a year. While serving various Unitarian Universalist Congregations in New York, Carter was trained as an anti-racism trainer and has been recognized by President Clinton for his efforts. He was also a weekly columnist for the Asheville Citizen Times.
Carter currently serves as the Diversity Officer for Mission Health. He has served as a diversity consultant for The Grove Park Inn, Asheville City School Foundation, The Eaton Corporation, Four Seasons Hospice(where he currently sits on the board), The Employee Assistance Network and The Asheville Buncombe Institute for Parody Achievement (ABIPA).
Carter’s book, “Alien Scriptures: Extraterrestrials in the Holy Bible,” is available at www.amazon.com. The book explores the possibility that extraterrestrial life may have influenced the Judeo/Christian scriptures and what that would mean for the monotheistic religions of our planet. This was Carter’s master’s thesis at Union. Carter has appeared on the History Channel’s “Ancient Aliens” to discuss his ancient astronaut theory. He and his wife, Judy Long, a Unitarian Universalist minister, are both members of the UU Fellowship of Hendersonville. They reside in Arden, N.C. with their 4-year-old daughter Kevyn.
– article submitted by Dan Dworkin