Update: The Funeral of the Reverend Father Jeff Engel is at 12 noon on Friday 8 April. All are welcome. It will be livestreamed to facebook.com/prescotparishchurch for those who cannot attend in person.
On the afternoon of Wednesday 9 March, our friend and priest the Reverend Jeff Engel passed away peacefully at his home.
Father Jeff defied expectations by surviving long beyond his initial prognosis some fifteen-or-so years ago, and he always rose to the challenge of ill health with joy and confidence in God.
On his death, the Vicar of Prescot, the Reverend Kim Mannings, wrote: “Although so many hearts break this night, we know that this was not a day that filled Jeff with dread; not at all. Jeff knew where he was going – to meet the God to whom he had given his whole life in service, and whose love Jeff radiated to everyone who was lucky enough to know and be known by him. A living miracle of a man. To sit with Jeff felt so much like sitting with our Lord, in whose arms Jeff sits tonight – in perfect peace and perfect freedom.”
A prayer for Father Jeff, from the Book of Common Prayer:
Depart, O Christian soul, out of this world;
In the name of God the Father Almighty who created you;
In the name of Jesus Christ who redeemed you;
In the name of the Holy Spirit who sanctifies you.
May your rest be this day in peace,
and your dwelling place in the Paradise of God.
Amen.
