Rugby Baptist Minister whose wife sadly died during lockdown explains why the grieving need justice over Partygate

Rugby Baptist Minister David Fleming issues a heartfelt call for justice in his first column for the Advertiser
Rugby Baptist Church.Rugby Baptist Church.
Rugby Baptist Church.

In 2020, during the first Lockdown, my wife of nearly 40 years caught Covid-19 and died.

I do not say this to raise any sympathy, but to help you to understand that at the moment I am struggling to keep bitterness and anger at bay.

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When she died, I was not able to visit her in her final days in hospital, nor was I able to mourn her as I would have wished. But I was comforted in the knowledge that we were all in it together as a nation, and that the restrictions I lived under were the same as those for everyone else.

So I hope you can understand and forgive my feelings when I discovered that, while my wife was dying, those who set the rules that restricted me were gathering and partying, repeatedly.

You might say that as a Christian minister I should be above such things. And certainly, I know that offering and receiving forgiveness are at the heart of my faith.

At the moment it is a struggle to forgive – but it is a struggle worth engaging in, because I know that it is a short hop from me being a man who feels bitterness to my becoming a bitter man. That is why my Bible advises me not to allow a root of bitterness to spring up in me (Hebrews 12:15).

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At the moment politicians and others with vested interests are urging people like me to ‘move on’ or focus on other things, and the longer Partygate is spun out the louder those voices become.

But as a minister who has counselled many people I know that moving on often requires justice or resolution to happen.

And as one who stands in front of a congregation every week and urges them to live better lives I know that those who make and enforce the rules should, if anything, hold to a higher standard than those who have them placed on them.

My struggle is not alone. I share it with many of you whose stories mirror my own. Remember – we are all in this together. Or at least, some of us.

David Fleming moved to Rugby in 2020 and is a Minister of Rugby Baptist Church. He is a widower with four adult children.

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