Author Archives: Martha Tatarnic
About Martha Tatarnic
The Reverend Martha Tatarnic serves as the rector of St. George’s Anglican Church in St. Catharines. Previously, she has served in congregations in Orillia and Oakville. Her focus in congregational leadership has been in empowering justice initiatives and outreach in the small church, starting a new service, the possibilities and potentials of Anglican-Lutheran partnership, and forming disciples through the power of music. As a young mother navigating family life through the continually changing waters of modern-day life, she is passionate about connecting the dots between faith – worship - Scripture, and exploring the concerns, joys, questions, stresses, worries, celebrations, of Right Here, Right Now.OJ Simpson an the power of the witness
My husband Dan and I have joined the masses these past few months in our tv obsession with The People vs. OJ Simpson. It’s a strange, and at times enlightening ride back over twenty years ago to “the trial of the century.” Continue reading
All dogs go to heaven?
Our dog died last month. I am not tempted in his death to gloss over his faults and claim he was a better dog than he was. His faults made him real. We loved him as the strange and unique and challenging dog that he was. Each one of Cliff Barnes’ eccentricities, each of the funny and lovely and obnoxious ways he had of being in this world, thunders its absence in our lives now that he is gone. He wasn’t some platonic ideal of a dog. He was very specifically our dog. And his specificity demanded that we encounter him and love him, not our idea of him. Continue reading
The Gospel according to Disney
I felt rejuvenated and refreshed by Disney. But where was prayer, and where was encounter, in my vacation? How very secular to claim renewal after a week of privileged consumerist pleasure. What is our responsibility as Christians living in and with the Empire anyway? Continue reading
Unprovoked act of kindness
Last week, I was on the receiving end of an act of unprovoked kindness. It made me uncomfortable. We count ourselves fundamentally unworthy. It is the basic state of affairs for the modern individual: to pride ourselves on being self-made… and to deep down consider ourselves fundamentally inadequate. Continue reading
Nail it to the cross
It is a terribly clichéd Christian statement, touted out as a quick and easy response to human suffering, or sometimes as a humorous barb at someone who is being too melodramatic about their difficulties. And yet… Continue reading
Confessions from a guilty working mother (and finding the grace to push back)
These cultural narratives touch me and worry me. I count my two children as the greatest blessings of my life. I desperately want to raise them to know generous and unconditional and ever-present love. I worry that I work too much, that I’m distracted too often, that I get too caught up in the busyness of life and responsibilities and that I am failing them as their mother. I am a guilty working mother. Continue reading
Becoming Real
What does it look like when the church embraces this version of baptismal life that takes us into the muck? When we are offered, not purity, but truth as the way to lift the burdens of guilt that we so naturally carry? Continue reading
In the beginning, the Spirit moved upon the waters
I hope that our federal government will invest in much-needed infrastructure so that all of our brothers and sisters might drink clean water NOW. I hope that it won’t take 40 Advent seasons for Pikangikum to be equipped with water, let alone the other 100+ communities in our country who have severe water needs. I hope that our federal government will invest in much-needed infrastructure so that all of our brothers and sisters might drink clean water NOW. I hope that it won’t take 40 Advent seasons for Pikangikum to be equipped with water, let alone the other 100+ communities in our country who have severe water needs. And I hope the Spirit isn’t done with us yet. Continue reading
Zumba
If we can carve out time for Zumba, surely carving out time for church is also possible? We haven’t figured out what commitment looks like without either persecution or Christendom. Continue reading
God is a Blue Jays’ fan, right?
“…. and thank you for letting the Blue Jays win tonight,” my daughter Cecilia prayed at bedtime after the Jays won Game Five of the American League Division Series to advance to the Championships… In the end, what I Lift Up is laughter. God is a Jays’ Fan in the same way that God is a Martha Fan. Continue reading
