One thing living simply does is lead to thievery.  That was my solution to the office chair dilemma.  I stole.  Really, it was not so irreprehensible as that.  I resorted to resourcefulness.  I simply went across the street to another building of the church and took an old office chair out of a storage closet.  Although it’s not as comfortable as a new office chair with multiple points of articulation, a rollerball massage and three heat settings it does the trick.  As for the art, I’m still on the look out because multiple people have commented on my barren walls though it seems to me that they would be happy that I didn’t spend money on decorative frivolity such as mass produced office art.
As for beer, the Gingerman has obtained one of the twenty barrels of Kentucky Bourbon cask conditioned winter warmers produced by Rahr Brewery and I was invited by one of my friends to come and partake.  He even offered to buy out of respect to my Lenten resolution.  This would indeed make enjoying this exclusive beer perfectly legitimate to the letter of the law but I would still be participating in consumerism by purchasing and consuming, though indirectly, a product which certainly falls out of the sphere of necessity.  And maybe it is out of a nagging sense of guilt from “consuming” only two days ago (though in my mind it was perfectly acceptable under the circumstances), or maybe it is because I have already made plans to attend the Metro-Board dinner, a dinner celebrating the many missions of the Church in the Metroplex, but I will not be consuming this “incredibly limited supply, once in a lifetime” beer.