Inspirational Talks

Presented at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Glens Falls, New York, on June 29, 2025 for the annual flower communion Sunday. This service ends the congregational year. The flower communion ceremony is meant to highlight the beauty of diversity within the community. I look around at you holding flowers and see not just the beauty of the flowers but of…

This short talk, presented on May 4, 2025 to the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Glens Falls, was part of a service co-lead by me and two other One Spirit Interfaith Seminary graduates in which we shared our journeys to, through, and after seminary. I was raised on the south shore of Long Island, by parents who only felt obligated to…

Presented at the Virtual Symposium of Pagan Thought and Practice on March 29, 2025. The symposium is an offering of Commons of Modern Pagans and Spiritual Seekers (COMPASS). Let’s take a deep breath together and let all that settle. Hi, I’m Debbie, she/her pronouns, and I’m joining from the Adirondack mountains in northeastern New York, land that was once hunting…

Presented January 12, 2025, at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Glens Falls in Queensbury, New York, the weekend after I received my basic venomous snake handling certification. The talk was inspired by rattlesnakes, snapping turtles, opossums, and love. I wasn’t here last Sunday. Instead, I was in Atlanta, putting snakes into bags, then into buckets. You may have just said…

Presented at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Glens Falls in Queensbury, New York, on October 27, 2024. This Halloween-themed talk was inspired by morning fog that rolled in while I was on my paddleboard. At summer’s end, I was out on the lake on my paddle board early one morning, when a thick fog rolled in. My vision was limited…

Presented at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Glens Falls in Queensbury, New York, on August 18, 2024. This Lughnasadh-themed talk follows the reading of "John Barleycorn Must Die" by Scottish poet Robert Burns, written in 1782. It is just one version of a folk song with English origins. You’ve probably figured out by now that the character, John Barleycorn, represents…

This talk was presented on September 10, 2023 as part of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Glens Falls annual ingathering and water communion service which marks the return to the regular church schedule after summer. I started thinking about what to say today the same way I prepare all of my talks – by asking myself some questions. The first…

Presented on April 21, 2024 at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Glens Falls in Queensbury, New York, for Earth Day. The talk's theme was provided by the UU Ministry for Earth. A love letter to the Earth - how to begin? Dear Sir or Madam? Wait, is Earth a sir or a madam? Dear Sir AND Madam? Thich Nhat Hahn…

Originally written in 2022 for my seminary capstone project, this talk was first presented in public to the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Glens Falls in Queensbury, New York, on August 13, 2023. Not long ago I watched a grey squirrel perched high on what seemed like a way-too-thin branch. The way it was bouncing and waving around made me nervous…

Presented on April 15, 2023 at a conference of the Interfaith Center for Action and Healing in Aurora, New York, themed "Faith, Spirituality, and Religion: How do they inform our care of creation?" The Dancing Turtle Rescue ambassador turtles accompanied me. I’d like to start with a story that isn’t about me, though, the story of Grey Owl. If you’ve…