Unrest in Chile arrives at the church’s door

Church responds with the hospitality of Christ

by Kathy Melvin | Presbyterian News Service

First aid responders in Chile wash hands and fill bottles from the hose at Santiago Community Church. (Photo by Fred Milligan)

LOUISVILLE — The Rev. Fred Milligan is the ex-pat pastor of the Santiago Community Church in Santiago, Chile. On Tuesday, October 29, two weeks into the ongoing unrest in Chile sparked by a five-cent increase in the cost of a metro ticket, the pastor arrived at the church and was startled by what he saw.

Scrawled on the low, pale-yellow wall in blood red paint by the sidewalk in front of the church was: “Wake up!” and “Anglican reveal yourself!” (in Spanish, “despierta” and “Anglicano revelate”)

The data confirms the protesters’ claims. About one-half of all working or retired Chileans earn, or receive a social security check for, under $500 U.S.D. a month. The gap between them and the top 20% of salaries is the widest of any nation in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

Milligan said the first of the messages is a reference to “Chile has awoken,” a rallying cry since 1. 5 million people gathered on the anniversary of the uprising on Friday, October 25. The second message is translated as “Anglican, take a stand” or “Anglican, show yourself.”

That’s a bit misleading. The congregation that owns the building is no longer Anglican, becoming an independent, interdenominational church when its membership was merged with a local English language Presbyterian congregation in 1973. The congregation does rent space to a Spanish language Anglican church, so the graffiti was somewhat accurate. With a yellow coat of paint, the caretaker erased the messages and the building returned to normal.

By the third week, however, protests shifted into a new phase.

Daily rallies had mostly centered in Plaza Italia in the old city center, but the new phase brought the protests into the affluent part of the city, “Sanhattan,” known for its modern buildings that house Santiago’s financial district. The district is anchored by Costanera Tower, sitting atop one of the country’s largest shopping malls. Milligan’s Church was constructed in 1947 among the elegant homes of the affluent residential Providencia comuna. Today it sits just two blocks from that tower and all it represents to the economically excluded of the city and the nation.

Milligan has lived in Chile five years, where he serves as this congregation’s pastor in an approved call to “minister outside the bounds” of Presbytery of Philadelphia, where he is an at large member.  Now in his 42^nd year of ordained ministry, he is learning that despite years of experience, his chosen profession is still providing him with new challenges. Because of the graffiti messages and the damage to some businesses and public property, including churches, he was concerned about the possibility of an attack on the church if things spiraled out of control.

“As I prayed and thought about what might await us the next day, I reflected on the messages which had been scrawled on the church’s wall the week before, that we should ‘wake up!’ and ‘show ourselves,’” he said. “Since the beginning of the protests, some of us in the church had been discussing options for how to best represent a Christian witness in this historic moment. Most of us are expatriates and not Chilean citizens, so we are not only ill-equipped culturally to fully understand the dynamics of the situation, but we are in fact prohibited from protesting against governmental policies on threat of expulsion.”

Led by prayer, Milligan awakened on Nov. 6 prepared to respond to the messages of the week before by showing the hospitality of Christ to people on the street that day. “I asked our caretaker and administrator to purchase as many plastic cups as they could find. Then I walked across the street and bought all the small bottles of water they had on hand, about 100,” he said. “I issued an invitation to our church’s young adults to join me. However, only one did, a recent immigrant from Venezuela, Marco Perez, who is still suffering from the trauma of his experiences there. “

Psalm 85:10 is the message a young protester chose to inspire others. (Photo by Fred Milligan)

One of the young people suggested the pastor post a verse of Scripture as a witness for all the passersby. So he created a large poster, with Spanish translation, of Psalm 85:10, “Love and Truth will embrace, Peace and Justice will kiss each other.”

The march began in earnest that afternoon around 2:30, sending people streaming past the church, some with obvious signs of having inhaled teargas. As the group moved away from the tower, other protestors were still moving up the street toward a phalanx of caribinaros (police) at the end of the block. About 500 were stopped directly in front of the church.

As the crowd grew, some protestors began to break down street and parking signs and pile them across the street to create a barricade, which they set on fire. Police responded with teargas to disperse the protesters. But as soon as they would leave, others came and re-established the barricade.

The bottled water was gone quickly so the pastor began filling cups and empty containers carried by the marchers.

“In the midst of all of this chaos there was a surrealistic mixture of emotion and interaction,” Milligan said. “For instance, as I was running away from the teargas, a young man offered me a spray of bicarbonate of soda mixed with water on my shirt and explained to me how I should place it over my mouth and nose to breathe. In another moment, I was washing blood from the arm and leg of one of the protestors who had been shot with plastic bullets. In another moment, one angry young man reached over the low church fence and pushed over the board that held the taped Scripture verse, only to have those around him point to me providing water just a few feet away, then jumping the fence to pick the sign up and apologize for his behavior.”

“All who came past, including members of the press and emergency medical personnel, office workers, police and protesters, were very respectful and most appreciative of our offer of a ‘cup of cold water’ in their moments of distress and anxiety,” he said. “We blessed each one with “Vaya con Dios” (Go with God) and occasionally joked about baptizing those who wanted the hose over their heads to wash away the teargas.” In the end, he noted, there remained only a small amount of graffiti on the bottom part of the wall in front of the manse and nothing along the front of the church.

All that remained of a church bench and a street sign. (Photo by Fred Milligan)

On the fourth week anniversary of the uprising, a group of leaders in the national legislature issued a letter of agreement outlining a process for developing a new constitution to replace the current one originally adopted in 1980 during the presidency of Augosto Pinochet, who led the country for 18 years after the military coup d’etat that overthrew the socialist government of Salvador Allende in 1973. While not all of the demands of the people have to do with the constitution, this is symbolic, as well as structural shift which may lead to some long-needed healing for the nation and a renewed compact for the future.

Milligan says that while daily marches and clashes with police continue to result in damage to property and lives, there seems to be an awareness that there has been a true awakening and a beginning of substantive action on the demands of the protesters.

“Please remember Chile in your prayers, that this current chaotic situation may end soon with greater justice and a greater sense of hope for all the people of Chile,” he said.