I’m an NPR junkie.

It wakes me up in the morning. I get ready while listening to it. I have it on at all times in the car (even listening to it through static while traveling between stations on long road trips), and I’ve even taken to playing it in my office while doing work that welcomes background noise.

One downfall of listening to NPR so constantly is that one story can easily run into another, and at times I find that I’m not really listening at all: instead, I’m simply finding comfort in having now familiar voices accompany me throughout my day.

But yesterday, while driving out to the southeastern edge of Jefferson County to check out a site for the upcoming NNPCW Coordinating Committee meeting (apply now to be on CoCo! www.pcusa.org/nnpcw), a story caught my ear and made me stop and listen. Really listen.

“Hundreds of women banging pots and pans in the streets of Oaxaca, Mexico, took over a local state-run television station earlier this week,” the story began.

It went on to explain that the women—over 500 of them—are supporting Oaxacan teachers, who are on strike to demand better salaries.

I had to stop and listen to this story for two reasons: one, the story was about women; and two, it was about women taking power into their own hands.

Now, I have to confess that everything I know about this situation begins and ends with what I heard on NPR, so I don’t know the extent to which this group of women used their power responsibly, or to what extent they may have abused it. (You can listen to the story yourself on NPR’s website: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5614073). What impressed me, however, was that they acted. They took the tools they had on hand—pots and pans—and they acted to bring about a greater degree of justice for themselves and for their city.

This story was a good reminder of what God calls us to do and to be as Christian women (and men). Through the prophets we are called again and again “to do justice” (Micah 6:8). Jesus proclaims in Luke 4:18 that his ministry here on earth is to “bring good news to the poor” and “to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free.” As his followers, we are called to follow in these footsteps.

The story of the Oaxacan women reminded me that this call to do justice, this call to let the oppressed go free, is not just a call to do for others. Yes, it is our duty to watch out for the “alien” among us, the “other.” God commands us to “love the alien as yourself” (Lev. 19:34) as well as to “love your neighbor as yourself (Matt. 22:39). But as both these verses imply, we are also to love ourselves, especially when it is we who are the alien, we who are the poor, we who are the oppressed.

I’m challenged and inspired by advocates—those who stand up for others. But to me the true heroes of this world are those who dare to stand up for themselves—those who dare to take power for themselves and the great responsibility that goes along with having power—and act.

The women of Oaxaca stand in a long line of witnesses who have done just that. Women (and men) before them have acted so that they (and also we) might have civil rights, voting rights, pay equity, affirmative action, laws condemning domestic violence—the list goes on and on. Their actions put flesh to our Christian calling to love our neighbor as ourselves, to act on our own behalf when justice is not present.

Who are your heroes? Who do you admire among the women who have gone before us who have dared to stand up for themselves, and in doing so, for us?

Several of my favorites are found in scripture, among them the daughters of Zelophehad. These five women (Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah and Tirzah) had no brothers, and as such, they were not legally entitled to inherit any land. But they stood up for themselves, confronted Moses, and demanded land, saying “Why should the name of our father be taken away from his clan because he had no son? Give to us a possession among our father’s brothers” (Numbers 27:4). Moses brought the case before God, whose answer always makes me grin: “The daughters of Zelophehad are right.” The land was granted to them, and the law was changed so that all men without sons would be able to pass their inheritance on to their daughters. (Read the entire story in Numbers 27:1-11.)

The story is less than perfect, I realize, but it is radical nevertheless. So again, who are your heroes? In light of the actions of the women of Oaxaca, let us remember those who have gone before us who have dared to stand up for themselves. And may we be inspired to do the same.

I welcome your comments…

Noelle