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In many ways, the funeral for Treva Claudette Burroughs-White was a traditional Christian service, with beautiful music and a sermon that had them yelling "Amen!" across the sanctuary.

But when a speaker used "brothers and sisters" in addressing the hundreds who gathered at Mount Zion Baptist Church on Friday, it would have truly made Burroughs-White smile.

The whites, blacks, Asians, Muslims, Christians, Jews and others from all categories in between who gathered for this last goodbye were drawn here by her devotion to removing the barriers that separate people.

Especially faith.

Burroughs-White, 67, died Sunday after a bout with cancer. She was the District 2 city councilwoman from 1994 to 2005, when she decided not to run again.

Next month, Burroughs-White was to receive the National Conference for Community and Justice's 2007 Brotherhood/Sisterhood Citation award.

Though the list of her accomplishments is long and impressive — from being among the early leaders of the sit-ins to providing vision for the Community Foundation of Greensboro — what it all said in the end was that she had the ability to organize, motivate and inspire. And she also had a big heart.

Long, too, is the list of politicians, community leaders and others who filled Mount Zion, chosen because her home church, Laughlin Memorial United Methodist Church, wouldn't hold the expected crowd.

"What a precious find is a woman of valor," Rabbi Eliezer Havivi of Beth David Synagogue, one of two Jewish clergy participating in the service, read from the book of Proverbs in his tribute to Burroughs-White. She had traveled with him on several interfaith trips to Israel.

"She gives generously to the poor, her hands are outstretched to the needy ... her mouth is full of wisdom," Havivi continued, reading behind a lectern overlooking a maplewood casket covered in yellow roses. "... A God-fearing woman is much to be praised."

The Rev. Howard Chubbs of Providence Baptist Church, who baptized Burroughs-White in the Jordan River on one of those interfaith trips to Israel, gave the eulogy. He referred to her as a woman of great character.

"Her word was her bond," Chubbs said. "If she said it, you could count on it. If she said it, she wouldn't change her mind."

In the sermon, Chubbs referred to the last chapter of Deuteronomy, which chronicles the last days of Moses.

"There is a scripture that says, 'Moses, my servant, is dead,'" Chubbs said, referring to the verses where God pronounces the death. The important part, the use of the word "servant," reflected God's pleasure with Moses, Chubbs said.

The Bible gave no list of survivors and relationships. No list of accomplishments.

"Not, 'Moses, who history will record as the greatest leader of enslaved people,'" Chubbs said. "The Lord simply said, 'Moses, my servant, is dead.'"

It is an appropriate scripture for Burroughs-White, too, who was driven by her faith as she worked for social justice and respect for all the people of her community and beyond, Chubbs said.

"There was a conviction on the inside of Claudette that she was God's child, and she trusted God to lead her and direct her," Chubbs said. "God's announcement of (Claudette's) death was no different than that of Moses' — 'Claudette, my servant, is dead, now open the gates and let her in.'"

Contact Nancy H. McLaughlin at 373-7049 or nmclaughlin@news-record.com