Normally a funeral is a time to reflect on the life of the deceased as well as one's own mortality. It is a time for family and friends to gather and remember a life for what it was. Yesterday, America experienced one of those funerals that come happen only a few times in a generation.

Coretta Scott King, the widow of civil rights leader Martin Luther King, died last week. Her funeral was yesterday in Atlanta and was attended by more than 15,000 people, including 3 former United States presidents as well as the current. It was not a formal state funeral like the one held nearly two years ago for President Reagan, but it came as close to one as possible for a person who never held an elective office. Mrs. King held a unique place in modern American history, particularly the American civil rights movement.

I watched part of the funeral proceedings and saw parts replayed on the evening news shows. The parts that went beyond a straight-forward eulogy were disappointing. Some leaders, including one former president, chose to use the occasion as an opportunity to take a shot at current policies of the Republican led administration. References were made to the war in Iraq and the controversial wire-tapping program in the war on terror. Bill Clinton, the so-called "first black president", slyly used a moment of his time to highlight his wife Hillary's expected bid for the presidency.

Now there is a time and place for debate about government policy. There is the appropriate moment to get political. But folks, the funeral of anyone, the famous and the not so famous, is not the place for grandstanding and putting the spotlight on oneself. As the British would say, it's bad form. And all the more so when we take in the cause for which Mrs. King and her husband stood for--the basic civil and human rights of blacks and all the oppressed.

Thirty-eight years after the Martin Luther King's death we still see gaping holes in his dream for  equality among the races. Indeed we  look around the world and still see poverty and injustice, a far cry from the Biblical picture of justice running down the mountains which he eloquently spoke of. Politicians and leaders of all forms have yet to find the key to lasting justice and equality.

I was reading this morning in the prophet Zechariah where God told the people they fasted for all the wrong reasons and therefore missed His blessing and suffered deep social problems. "Say to all the people of the land and to the priests: 'When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months during those seventy years, did you really fast for Me--for Me? When you eat and when you drink, do you not eat and drink for yourselves'"? (Zechariah 7:5,6)

Had they used the occasion for mourning properly, that is as God instructs, they would have seen their shortcomings and repented. They would have made the corrections in themselves and their society and not suffered as they did (verse 7).

They would not hear the words of any prophet sent by God to chastise them for societal sins. Notice this. "Thus says the Lord of hosts: 'Execute true justice, show mercy and compassion everyone to his brother. Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the alien or the poor. Let none of you plan evil in his heart against his brother'". (Verse 9, 10)

Then the people "refused to heed, shrugged their shoulders, and stopped their ears so that they could not hear...they made their heart like flint..." (Verse 11, 12) Today, people are no different than these ancient Israelites. They do not want to hear the sound words of scripture that would lead to renewal and permanent change. God's ways are not for the faint hearted, you have to deeply want to make a change for the better. The heart must be softened to acknowledge the need for God's infinite mercy and guidance.

And so a time of mourning sees a missed opportunity. We need look no further than yesterday's funeral to understand why we still see poverty, injustice and oppression in a nation of abundance and plenty. The fault lies in the self-serving vain leadership that will not humble itself before God and lead a true national repentance that acknowledges its sins. When you hear vain speeches at a time of mourning you are witnessing the rotting core  at the center of  a society that still stands but is empty within.

The poor and oppressed, for whom Martin and Coretta King gave their lives, deserve better.