Events of Sunday, January 23, 2011

                We have not parked before in a public school lot, so we were a little anxious, especially Pam. For the rest of us, the combination of very quiet and very dark led us to deep, undisturbed sleep. I awoke before dawn and walked around this sleepy neighborhood in Decatur (it’s pronounces Deh-KAY-ter).  I awakened the others at 8, so we could eat breakfast and get dressed for church.

                Central Presbyterian Church and The World of Coca-Cola  are both in downtown Atlanta. Since parking for the latter is $25 for RVs, we planned to park near the church and walk. My niece Claudia is taking a confirmation class at Central Presbyterian Church, so we planned to meet up with the Tanseys at the 11:00 service. When we arrived, we did not find them. The ushers led us to “the best seats” in the perpetually vacant second row. The program helped us follow the liturgy, and it informed us through notes in the margin. These side-notes provided background about the program artwork, the custom of bell-ringing, the history of singing psalms, and the specific content of the “Prayers for the People.” There was plenty of music for us. The service was excellently framed by the organ prelude, the Andante Sustenuto from Widor’s Symphonie Gothique, and postlude “Carillon” by Paul Bryan. We sang congregational hymns, and we heard the adult choir and the children’s choir.  

                But the heart of a service is the sermon. For today, we heard Rick Ufford-Chase, a guest speaker. In his message, he strongly supported immigrant rights and strongly opposed the war in Afghanistan. He contrasted Jesus’ “ethical eschatology” with the “apocalyptic-catastrophic eschatology” of John the Baptist. (Under all the vocabulary is the idea that John the Baptist and Jesus had fundamentally different ideas about Jesus’ purpose and destiny.) It was probably the most political sermon I have ever heard. The kids afterward identified that his message correlated poorly with the Scripture he quoted. As we walked back to the van, we saw five or six church folks on the corner holding up placards that promoted healthcare.

                As we ate lunch in the RV, Pam closed the blinds, explaining that, with folks passing by on the sidewalk watching us, she felt like an animal in the zoo. “Hey, look, that one’s eating a sandwich!”

                Downtown Atlanta is a good place to walk. (Driving there, on the other hand, thoroughly frustrated us.) There are plenty of unusual buildings, fountains, and statues. Other than pan-handlers, there were few people on the street on this Sunday afternoon. But that changed when we arrived to The World of Coca-Cola.  Suddenly we were in a multicultural crowd of Coca-Cola fans. Abby has been looking forward to this for days, so her excitement level compensated for my own nonchalance. (You see, I do not prefer to drink sodas, and of the available options, cola is low on my list.) As with any museum, there is plenty to learn: the original inventor (and his lack of business acumen); the evolution from soda machine to bottled beverage (and the beginning of franchising); the wide variety of artwork to sell or celebrate the product; Coca-Cola TV commercials (both famous and obscure); diversification of products (currently over 500 brands); the fiasco of “New Coke”; and Coca-Cola merchandizing. There was also a movie advertised as 4D. So, after the 3D glasses, what could be next? How about shaking seats, gusts of wind, squirts of water in your face, and pokes in the back?! The highlight for most of us was the chance to sample Coca-Cola products from Europe, Asia, Africa, Latin America, and North America. I personally sampled about thirty varieties (most of them better than Coca-Cola in my opinion). We agreed on a few that are absolutely to be avoided, including a clear Italian beverage called Beverly. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beverly_(drink) for some interesting trivia about this one.

                After escaping almost unscathed from the gift shop, we visited the Atlanta Centennial Olympic Park, featuring the watery Fountain of Rings. Pam wanted each of us to go inside a fountain ring for a photo. We all made it out dry except for Ben, who stepped over the water jet at just the wrong time.

                It took longer than we expected to drive back out to Decatur (that blasted Atlanta!). We met the Tanseys for pizza at Mellow Mushroom. We were all wearing our Stanford shirts or sweatshirts, so before saying goodbye we took several photos. We drove to nearby (and nearly empty) Stone Mountain Park where we parked and set up camp for the night.