Special Delivery

It is hard for people of Scotch-Irish or other penny pinching like-minded heritage which prides itself on being skin-flint tightwads frugal with one's hard earned moolah money to pony up and buy crap we don't need something that we already have in one form, even if the form we currently own is perfectly good so why bother buying a new one #@*$&^!?!?! inefficient.

Such was the case with my God's gift to Christian liturgy Book of Common Prayer. I had inherited a common pew edition BCP before I went off to seminary. It was perfectly fine, just a little ratty broken in good. Everyone while I was in seminary kept trying to talk me into buying one of those new fangled BCP/Hymnal combinations.

I always put off buying one because I had assumed that for at least one my ordinations (deacon or priest), someone would buy me one as an ordination present. "So," I asked, "Why buy something someone is going to get me anyway?" In any event, I cringed at the idea of paying $98 for a new one, especially since they are made (like most fancy leather bibles) with that irritatingly fragile cigarette paper. Why, Oh Lord, can your children not print bibles or BCP/Hymnal combos with real paper?

Both ordinations came and went, and I ended up with nary a BCP/Hymnal Combination to show for it. In fact, my diocese was so cheap, when it came to the part in the ordination where my bishop hands me a bible, I had to reuse the same Bible they gave me for my diaconal ordination. In other words, they recycled the bible they had already given me. I think there is an old fashioned term for that that involves Native Americans and charity.

In any event, after my first mass where I showed solidarity with my parishioners and was juggling books at the prayer desk, I decided I had to bite the bullet and break down and buy myself a new BCP/Hymnal combo. I must say it irritated the bejeepers out of me to no end when we have a full church full of perfectly good hymnals and BCPs. But in the interest of being trendy in a weird priestly sort of way professional looking, I succumbed to holy peer pressure and ordered one.

My inner cheapskate thriftiness would not go down without a fight, so I haggled. I found one at Amazon.com which was on sale, and I applied a coupon discount and a giftcard I had been hoarding, so I ended up paying only 40 dollars for it. Of course, since it was over $25, there was free shipping.

I must say, it is certainly nice.

And you know what? It's tax deductible since it's a business expense.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Thoughts on the 'Connecticut 6'

For some weeks, I have had several friends (mostly non-Episcopalians surprisingly) wanting me to voice an opinion on this Connecticut 6 (sounds like a fleabag motel) business. If you are unfamiliar with this fiasco, for lack of a better term, let me describe it as best as I understand it. There is so much spin going on (from both sides I might add) that I have been having trouble discerning fact from fiction. As I understand the situation, the Rt. Rev. Andrew Smith is the Bishop of Connecticut. Well, at least he has a pointy hat, I do not think he is particularly acting like one. Likewise, as I understand, there are Six rectors of churches (at least they have collars, but likewise are not acting like it) that have applied for DEPO oversight (i.e. another Bishop to oversee them.) The best way I know how to describe the hoohah is as follows: The Feloniously Rev. Smith is trying to defrock the Superciliously Reverend Rectors. Darth Smith claims they have abandoned communion and has shadil...
Read more

My board gaming journey, pt. I

Image
     Something a bit different today than my normal reflections. I thought I would delve a little bit more into a topic that is not necessarily theological in nature. I am a real person, and not some ethereal doctor in an ivory tower who gets to smoke a pipe and contemplate the infinite mysteries all day. So, today, I thought I would delve into one of my personal hobbies: board gaming.      Now, do not tune me out because you hear "board gaming" and immediately default in your brain to your brother overturning a table with Monopoly money flying everywhere because the game has gone on for hours and overturning the table was the only option left other than murder. Most people, including myself at one time, thought of board games as those boring or frustrating games that seem stuck in 1952. You know the usual suspects: Clue!, Monopoly, Scrabble, Chess, maybe even more saccharine games like Life or Candy Land, i.e. those games that everyone owned at some p...
Read more

The History of the Football helmet

Image
NCAA.com put out an interesting editorial about the evolution of the football helmet that can be found here . This is in part due in my estimation to the current buzz (one might go so far as to describe it as hysteria) about concussions in contact sports, particularly football. I have always found this an interesting evolution. Long gone are the days of strapping on your leather helmet: In the 50's and 60's, the helmet evolved into, basically becoming a metal then hard plastic version of the leather helmet with the addition of a rudimentary face mask (which was really just a bar at first): Gradually, the helmet's face mask itself began to evolve: Combines with new space age style lightweight plastics and foams, the helmet mask ultimately became a type of full, goalie style face mask (This little number costs just under $1000 to purchase new): Ironically, being a military history major, the football helmet evolution followed the pattern of design that helmets worn...
Read more