Your sports rival is a good team to root for

September 5, 2019EtcMatt Maldre

Hatred for your sports rivals just spreads more hate. Thus, I will not continue this practice. Both the Bears and the Packers are fine teams to root for. The Cubs, White Sox, Brewers, and Cardinals are all fine teams to root for.… Read the rest

Searching Lutheran podcasts for episodes about Baptism

May 20, 2019EtcMatt Maldre

It would be really cool if there was an online searchable archive of all the podcasts from Issues Etc, 1517 and Lutheran Hour Ministries. e.g. I would like to search “baptism” and come up with all the relevant episodes. But sine there isn’t a master search, here’s what you can do with each individual site.… Read the rest

Bible verse references in Formula of Concord

May 17, 2019Bible studyMatt Maldre

I love books with a ton of Bible verse references. The more verse references, the better. While listening to the Thinking Fellows podcast episode, “The Reformation: Conclusions“, they touched on how Lutherans are great for basing their doctrine on Scripture alone.… Read the rest

Bible lectionary bookmarks for Lutheran and Roman Catholic church

January 14, 2019Bible studyMatt Maldre

Yesterday I finished my 2018-2019 lectionary bookmarks. I have five bookmarks; one for each of the readings: 1st reading, Psalm, Epistle, and Gospel reading (and one for the Alleluia). Whenever my daughter and I have breakfast, I like to read to her the Bible verses for the upcoming Sunday.… Read the rest

Weightless or grounded?

March 22, 2018EtcMatt Maldre

An uplifting song on Spotify:?Weightless by Natasha Bedingfield The sky is the limit And I just wanna float Free as a spirit on a journey of hope Cut the strings and let me go I’m weightless, I’m weightless Millions of balloons tethered to the ground Weight of the world tries to hold us down Cut the strings and let me go I’m weightless, I’m weightless, I’m weightless, I’m weightless… I love the positivity in this song, and the undertones of not worrying.… Read the rest

I pity the…

December 5, 2017Bible studyMatt Maldre

Just for kicks, one of these days I want to do a deep study on the word “pity” in the Bible. Just for Mr. T’s sake. For now, here is the frequency at which the word “pity” appears in various translations of the Bible: 30 times: KJV 33 times: NKVJ 43 times: NIV 41 times: ESV 28 times: NASB… Read the rest

Free PDF download of Advent devotion book for Christmas

December 4, 2017EtcMatt Maldre

It’s December! Do you have any Advent devotional booklets? Many churches hand them out during this time of a year. Advent devotions are a great way to remind yourself about what Christmas is really about–the birth of our Savior! At my wife’s Catholic church in Oak Park, they hand out Advent devotion booklets every year.… Read the rest

Mr. T on prayers

November 9, 2017Bible studyMatt Maldre

His thoughts in text form: Have you ever noticed that phrase people often say after disasters, “Our thoughts and prayers are with you?? I wonder sometimes what really are their Thoughts? And why don’t they pray? Maybe they don’t have Enough Time?… Read the rest

Joy comes from repentance

January 23, 2017Bible studyJoyMatt Maldre

Joy is one of my favorite things. In fact, I’m a little overjoyed at how many blog posts on spudart.org I’ve written about joy! What brings you joy The simple joys of public art Time shouts for joy The meaning of joy And so on (all the joy posts on spudart.org) If you also like joy, then how about an entire book explaining all the ins and outs of joy.… Read the rest

Goals for 2017

January 22, 2017Bible studyMatt Maldre

At the start of every?year, each person in my Bible study group sets goals for the year. We use the Personal Growth Plan (pdf) provided by Park Community Church’s small groups curriculum. Spiritual goals are an odd thing for me. I’ve blogged about my struggle with the concept at length a few years ago.… Read the rest

Christian notebook

Thoughts on God from a Missouri Synod Lutheran artist