St. James’~Rosemount United Church

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Supper    6:00 PM
Movie & Discussion to follow

When his son Rowan was diagnosed with autism, Rupert Isaacson was devastated, afraid he might never be able to communicate with his child. But when Isaacson, a lifelong horseman, rode their neighbor’s horse with Rowan, the boy improved immeasurably. Isaacson was struck with a crazy idea: why not take Rowan to Mongolia, the one place in the world where horses and shamanic healing intersected?
THE HORSE BOY is the dramatic and heartwarming story of that impossible adventure. This is a deeply moving, one-of-a-kind story of a family willing to go to the ends of the earth to help their son, and of a boy learning to connect with the world for the first time.

Please let us know you will be joining us by SIGNING UP

Sunday, September 12, 2010

Bring a bag lunch and join us in the parlour after Gather ‘n Gab (coffee time) to discuss our latest selection. Everyone is welcome to join us, whether you’ve only just started reading the book, or finished it some time ago.
Do you have a friend or neighbour who loves to read? maybe someone who worships at another church? Bring them along, or have them meet us at noon at SJR – there’s always room in our discussion circle for at least one more!

About this book:

For Katherine Givens and the four women about to become her best friends, the adventure begins with a UPS package. Inside is a pair of red sneakers filled with ashes and a note that will forever change their lives. Katherine’s oldest and dearest friend, the irrepressible Annie Freeman, left one final request–a traveling funeral–and she wants the most important women in her life as “pallbearers.”
From Sonoma to Manhattan, Katherine, Laura, Rebecca, Jill, and Marie will carry Annie’s ashes to the special places in her life. At every stop there’s a surprise encounter and a small miracle waiting, and as they whoop it up across the country, attracting interest wherever they go, they share their deepest secrets–tales of broken hearts and second chances, missed opportunities and new beginnings. And as they grieve over what they’ve lost, they discover how much is still possible if only they can unravel the secret Annie left them….

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Dinner 6:00 pm
Movie & discussion will follow

Our “host” for the evening is SJR’s Hong Seang. This movie is difficult to watch …but imagine how difficult it was to live. Our post-movie discussion will be enriched as Hong shares some of his personal experiences growing up in, and eventually escaping from, Cambodia.

About the movie:
Roland Joffé’s unflinching drama recounts the true story of New York Times journalist Sidney Schanberg (Sam Waterston) and Cambodian journalist and translator Dith Pran (Haing S. Ngor), who found themselves trapped in the nightmare of the Khmer Rouge revolution in Cambodia. While stationed in Phnom Penh in the early 1970s, Schanberg and Pran become close friends and confidants, negotiating and writing many groundbreaking stories. When the ruling Lon Nol government is overthrown by the Khmer Rouge, the country is turned upside down–killing is common in the streets, and children become gun-toting informants. Schanberg is forced to flee the country, with his fellow American photographer Al Rockoff (John Malkovich) and British journalist Jon Swain (Julian Sands). Despite their exhaustive efforts to free Pran, they have no choice but to leave him behind. Pran is forced to endure excruciating agony at the Pol Pot death camps, where any shred of individuality or dissent is beaten out of the prisoners. After years of brutal torture, Pran manages to escape and begins a long odyssey to Thailand and the border refugee camps. As Pran struggles to stay alive, Schanberg endures life in New York wracked with guilt over the loss of his good friend, desperately attempting to locate him. This haunting drama is epic in its portrayal of a war-torn country devastated by mass genocide. Images of both great horror and beauty resonate with awesome power and honesty.

Please let us know you are coming! Sign up online today. Sign up sheets will be available in the Narthex in September.

Sunday, October 31, 2010

Bring a bag lunch and join us in the parlour after Gather ‘n Gab (coffee time) to discuss our latest selection. Everyone is welcome to join us, whether you’ve only just started reading the book, or finished it some time ago.
Do you have a friend or neighbour who loves to read? maybe someone who worships at another church? Bring them along, or have them meet us at noon at SJR – there’s always room in our discussion circle for at least one more!

About this book:

We have a problem with Stuff. In the U.S. alone, 5 percent of the world’s population is consuming 30 percent of the world’s resources and creating 30 percent of the world’s waste. If everyone consumed at this rate, we would need three to five planets!
Leonard’s message is startlingly clear: we have too much Stuff, and too much of it is toxic. Outlining the five stages of our consumption-driven economy — from extraction through production, distribution, consumption, and disposal — she vividly illuminates its frightening repercussions.
With staggering revelations about the economy, the environment, and cultures around the world, alongside stories from her own life and work, Leonard demonstrates that the drive for a “growth at all costs” economy fuels a cycle of production, consumption, and disposal that is killing us. It is a system in crisis, but Annie Leonard shows us that this is not the way things have to be. It’s within our power to stop the environmental damage, social injustice, and health hazards caused by polluting production and excessive consumption, and Leonard shows us how.
Expansive, galvanizing, and sobering yet optimistic, The Story of Stuff transforms how we think about our lives and our relationship to the planet.

JEREMIAH – not the bull frog but the prophet. Join us on Wednesday nights from seven till nine beginning April 14th for five weeks as we take a look at the Book of Jeremiah. History, poetry and biography – an interesting look at an interesting time in the Old Testament. Please sign the sheet on the Narthex table if you plan to attend. Books will be available for this study.

Sunday, May 30, 2010

Bring a bag lunch and join us in the parlour after Gather ‘n Gab (coffee time) to discuss our latest selection. Everyone is welcome to join us, whether you’ve only just started reading the book, or finished it some time ago.

“The Bishop’s Man centres on a sensitive topic — the sexual abuses perpetrated by Catholic priests on the innocent children in their care. Father Duncan, the first person narrator, has been his bishop’s dutiful enforcer, employed to check the excesses of priests and, crucially, to suppress the evidence. But as events veer out of control, he is forced into painful self-knowledge as family, community and friendship are torn apart under the strain of suspicion, obsession and guilt. A brave novel, conceived and written with impressive delicacy and understanding.”  – Statement by Jury, the Scotiabank Giller Prize, 2009

Monday, April 19, 2010

Join us for supper from 5:30pm to 6:00pm, followed by the movie “The Blind Side” starring Sandra Bullock – the heartwarming, fun and emotional story of Michael Oher, a homeless and traumatized boy who became an All American football player and first round NFL draft pick with the help of a caring woman and her family. Discussion will follow.

Please let us know you are coming – sign up here, or on the sheet in the Narthex.

Sunday, April 11, 2010

Bring a bag lunch and join us in the parlour after Gather ‘n Gab (coffee time) to discuss our latest selection. Everyone is welcome to join us, whether you’ve only just started reading the book, or finished it some time ago.

About the book:
The inspiring account of one man’s campaign to build schools in the most dangerous, remote, and anti-American reaches of Asia.
In 1993 Greg Mortenson was the exhausted survivor of a failed attempt to ascend K2, an American climbing bum wandering emaciated and lost through Pakistan’s Karakoram Himalaya. After he was taken in and nursed back to health by the people of an impoverished Pakistani village, Mortenson promised to return one day and build them a school. From that rash, earnest promise grew one of the most incredible humanitarian campaigns of our time—Greg Mortenson’s one-man mission to counteract extremism by building schools, especially for girls, throughout the breeding ground of the Taliban.
Award-winning journalist David Oliver Relin has collaborated on this spellbinding account of Mortenson’s incredible accomplishments in a region where Americans are often feared and hated. In pursuit of his goal, Mortenson has survived kidnapping, fatwas issued by enraged mullahs, repeated death threats, and wrenching separations from his wife and children. But his success speaks for itself. At last count, his Central Asia Institute had built fifty-five schools. Three Cups of Tea is at once an unforgettable adventure and the inspiring true story of how one man really is changing the world—one school at a time.