Saint Monica's Episcopal Church

Saint Monica's Episcopal Church All are welcome! Are you a neighbor? New to the area? Been away from church for a while? Never been to church before? Then St. Monica's is the church for you!

All are welcome here! The Rev Deacon Rachel Iversen is our clergy. We welcome into Saint Monica’s all people who seek to love God and participate in an open and supportive community based upon the example and teachings of Jesus Christ. That means we respect the dignity of every human being by welcoming and affirming all.

Join us for a delightful evening at the Cantonment Thursday Community Dinner! 🎉 📍 Where: St. Monica’s Church 699 S HWY ...
06/07/2026

Join us for a delightful evening at the Cantonment Thursday Community Dinner! 🎉
📍 Where: St. Monica’s Church
699 S HWY 95A, Cantonment, FL 32533
🕔 When: 5:00 - 6:30 PM
Date: June 11, 2026 5:0PM - 6:30 PM
🍽️ Dinner Menu:
✨ Entree: Red Beans and Rice with Sausage
🌟 Corn Pudding
🥗 Fresh Salad
Desert
🥤 Refreshing Drinks
Hosted by All of Us! Come hungry and bring your friends and family for a night of great food and community! ❤️

06/07/2026

Welcome to Services on the Second Sunday after Pentecost.

Today we gather around a table of grace.In this morning's Gospel, Jesus calls a tax collector, welcomes sinners to dinne...
06/07/2026

Today we gather around a table of grace.

In this morning's Gospel, Jesus calls a tax collector, welcomes sinners to dinner, heals a woman everyone else avoided, and takes a dead girl by the hand. Again and again, we see the same truth:

Mercy moves toward people.

Many of us spend our lives wondering whether we belong, whether we are good enough, whether God could really welcome someone like us.

The good news is that Jesus never waits for people to become perfect before inviting them to follow him. Grace comes first. Transformation follows.

Join us this morning as we discover what it means to become the kind of people Jesus is forming—people of mercy, people of grace, people whose hearts increasingly resemble his own.

Holy Eucharist
10:00 a.m.

St. Monica's Episcopal Church

Come as you are. There is a place for you at the table.

Become Who You Were Meant to Be.

This Sunday we meet a tax collector, a woman who has suffered for twelve years, and a grieving father whose daughter has...
06/06/2026

This Sunday we meet a tax collector, a woman who has suffered for twelve years, and a grieving father whose daughter has died.

Different people.
Different problems.
One Savior.

Again and again, Jesus moves toward the very people others avoid. He calls Matthew from his tax booth. He welcomes sinners to his table. He heals the woman everyone else considered untouchable. He takes a dead girl by the hand and gives her life.

In a world that teaches us to separate, categorize, and keep our distance, Jesus shows us a different way.

Mercy moves toward people.

Join us Sunday as we explore what it means to become the kind of people Jesus is forming—people whose hearts increasingly resemble his own.

Holy Eucharist
Sunday at 10:00 a.m.

St. Monica's Episcopal Church

Become Who You Were Meant to Be.

Sent Into the WorldScripture“And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”— Matthew 28:20 (NRSV)Reflection...
06/05/2026

Sent Into the World

Scripture

“And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
— Matthew 28:20 (NRSV)

Reflection

The final words of Matthew's Gospel are not instructions.

They are a promise.

Jesus sends his disciples into the world, but he does not send them alone.

The same disciples who worshiped and doubted. The same disciples who had failed, stumbled, and hidden in fear. The same disciples who were still becoming who God created them to be.

Jesus sends them.

And then he gives them a promise that has sustained Christians for two thousand years:

"I am with you always."

Not only in worship.

Not only in prayer.

Not only when faith feels strong.

Always.

In ordinary Tuesdays and difficult Thursdays.

In hospital rooms and family dinners.

In moments of courage and moments of uncertainty.

The Christian life is not about trying harder to become someone else. It is about learning to live every part of our lives in the presence of Christ.

That is the great invitation of discipleship.

The goal is not perfection.

The goal is presence.

To walk through the world increasingly aware that Christ is with us.

And as we learn to live in that awareness, something begins to change.

Fear slowly gives way to trust.

Anxiety slowly gives way to peace.

Self-centeredness slowly gives way to love.

Not all at once.

But steadily.

Like apprentices learning from a master.

This week we have returned again and again to the same question:

Who am I becoming?

The Gospel's answer is wonderfully hopeful.

In Christ, you are becoming who you were meant to be.

And you do not walk that road alone.

Practice of Attention

As this day comes to a close, reflect on the week.

Where did you notice Christ's presence?

A conversation.

A moment of peace.

An unexpected kindness.

A prayer.

Give thanks for one specific moment and simply pray:

"Thank you for being with me."

Announcing our summer feeding program. It is for school age children to receive 7 days of breakfast and lunch items ever...
06/04/2026

Announcing our summer feeding program. It is for school age children to receive 7 days of breakfast and lunch items every Friday from 0900-1200 throughout the summer. You can register your children onsite. Distribution will take place at the Quintette Community Center, 2490 Quintette Lane, Cantonment FL 32533. This is a partnership between Feeding the Gulf Coast, Quintette Community Center and St. Monica's Episcopal Church.

Learning a New Way to LiveScripture“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations...”— Matthew 28:19 (NRSV)ReflectionMo...
06/04/2026

Learning a New Way to Live

Scripture

“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations...”
— Matthew 28:19 (NRSV)

Reflection

Most of us wish change happened faster than it does.

We pray for patience and then become frustrated when we are not patient by Tuesday afternoon. We pray for peace and then discover how anxious we really are. We pray to become more loving and suddenly notice all the places where love does not come naturally.

But this is not failure.

This is apprenticeship.

An apprentice does not become a master in a day. A musician learns one note at a time. A craftsman learns one skill at a time. A gardener tends the soil long before the harvest appears.

The same is true in the spiritual life.

Jesus did not tell his followers merely to make believers. He told them to make disciples—people who would learn a new way to live.

That learning takes time.

It happens through prayer. Through worship. Through Scripture. Through acts of forgiveness. Through serving others. Through returning to Christ again and again when we lose our way.

Dallas Willard often taught that grace is not opposed to effort; it is opposed to earning. We do not transform ourselves to gain God's love. We practice the way of Jesus because we already live within God's love.

The good news is that Christ is more patient with our formation than we are.

The disciples on the mountain were not finished.

Neither are we.

And yet Jesus continues to walk with us, teaching us a new way to live.

One small act of faithfulness at a time.

Practice of Attention

Choose one ordinary activity today—driving, washing dishes, taking a walk, answering emails.

As you do it, quietly pray:

"Jesus, teach me how to live this moment."

Notice how apprenticeship begins not in extraordinary moments, but in ordinary ones.

Who Am I Becoming?Scripture“When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted.”— Matthew 28:17 (NRSV)ReflectionOne...
06/03/2026

Who Am I Becoming?

Scripture

“When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted.”
— Matthew 28:17 (NRSV)

Reflection

One of the most surprising details in the Great Commission is that Matthew leaves doubt in the story.

The Gospel could have ended with certainty, confidence, and triumph. Instead, Matthew tells us that as the disciples stood before the risen Jesus, some worshiped and some doubted.

And Jesus commissioned them anyway.

That should change how we think about spiritual growth.

Many people imagine that becoming a mature Christian means eliminating all questions, all uncertainty, all struggle. But Jesus seems far more interested in the direction of our lives than in our ability to project certainty.

The disciples were not finished people. They were becoming people.

And so are we.

Dallas Willard often reminded us that every day, every choice, every habit is shaping us into someone. We are always being formed. The question is not whether we are being formed, but by what.

By fear or faith?

By resentment or forgiveness?

By self-protection or love?

By the noise of the world or the voice of Christ?

The good person, in the Kingdom of God, is not the person who never struggles. The good person is the one who keeps turning toward Jesus, allowing his life to shape theirs.

That is the invitation hidden inside the question:

Who am I becoming?

And perhaps the most hopeful answer is this:

You do not have to become someone else.

In Christ, you are becoming who you were meant to be.

Practice of Attention

At the end of today, spend five quiet minutes reviewing your day.

Ask yourself:

"What shaped me most today?"

Do not judge your answer.

Simply notice.

Then pray:

"Lord Jesus, form me in your likeness."

The Apprenticed LifeScripture“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations...”— Matthew 28:19 (NRSV)ReflectionWhen Jes...
06/02/2026

The Apprenticed Life

Scripture

“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations...”
— Matthew 28:19 (NRSV)

Reflection

When Jesus stood on the mountain in Galilee, he could have told his followers to go and win arguments.

He could have told them to go and gather crowds.

He could have told them to go and build institutions.

Instead, he said:

"Make disciples."

A disciple is more than a believer. A disciple is an apprentice.

An apprentice spends time with the master, learning not only what the master knows, but how the master lives.

The world tells us that the good life is found in achievement, recognition, security, or comfort. Yet many people who have attained those things still find themselves restless.

Jesus offers something deeper.

The blessed life is not found in getting everything we want. It is found in becoming the kind of person who can live joyfully within God's Kingdom.

That is why Dallas Willard often spoke about apprenticeship to Jesus. The goal is not simply to know what Jesus taught. The goal is to learn how to live our lives as Jesus would live them if he were us.

That kind of life unfolds slowly. Day by day. Choice by choice. Prayer by prayer.

And over time we discover something surprising: the happiest people are not necessarily those who possess the most, but those who are becoming more like Christ.

The blessed life is the apprenticed life.

Practice of Attention

Today, before making an ordinary decision—a conversation, an email, a purchase, a response—pause for a moment and ask:

"How would Jesus live this moment if he were me?"

Don't force an answer.

Simply notice what comes to mind.

Scripture“And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”— Matthew 28:20 (NRSV)ReflectionImagine standing on...
06/01/2026

Scripture

“And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
— Matthew 28:20 (NRSV)

Reflection

Imagine standing on that mountain in Galilee.

The risen Jesus stands before the disciples. Some worship. Some doubt. Some probably do both at the same time.

Yet Jesus does not begin with their doubts. He does not begin with their failures. He does not even begin with their mission.

He begins with reality.

"All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me."

In other words, the deepest truth about the world is not fear, chaos, politics, economics, or uncertainty. The deepest truth about reality is that Jesus Christ reigns.

Most of us spend our days reacting to whatever seems most urgent. Headlines. Responsibilities. Worries. Deadlines. We can begin to believe that these things are the center around which life revolves.

But Trinity Sunday invites us to see differently.

At the center of reality is the God who creates, redeems, and sustains. At the center of reality is love. At the center of reality is Christ, who promises, "I am with you always."

Before we ask what we should do, we are invited to remember what is real.

You are not alone.

You are not abandoned.

You are not trying to become who you were meant to be by your own strength.

The One who calls you is already walking beside you.

Practice of Attention

At three different moments today, pause for ten seconds.

Take a slow breath and simply pray:

"Jesus, you are here."

Notice what changes when you remember that reality.

Address

699 S Highway 95A
Cantonment, FL
32533

Telephone

+18509370001

Website

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