It’s time to ‘open up’ now – the place where we trade stories from our life’s wealth of experiences, highlights and challenges.

Today I want to find out about how the experiences of your childhood have made you the person you are today.

We heard from David Busseau – and how growing up as an orphan spurred him into becoming an entrepreneur, firstly in the construction industry, but then ultimately to help others through his inventive micro-finance scheme.

We’ll be speaking to Graham Clarke in a few weeks’ time – his father was deaf, but Graham went on to invent the cochlear implant to make listening for deaf people – including his father - possible.

Speaking from my own life, I know that the involvement of my parents in one of the world’s better known cults – has made me seek after the truth and constantly challenge what I believe and why.

What are the childhood experiences that have made you the adult you are today?

What are the defining circumstances of your childhood - that influenced what you went on to do with your life?/still influence what you do today?

What experience in your life that’s changed the way you see the world – or see your life?

NASA astronaut Jeff Williams says seeing the earth from space changed his view on the world and gave some passages in the Bible new meaning.

Chances are you haven't been to space, but what situations have caused you to examine life - or the world - from a new perspective?

Maybe witnessing poverty in another country made you appreciate what we have here in Australia.

Maybe you met someone who challenged you about something in your life that you’d never thought of before.

Maybe a book, a film or a play stirred your imagination and made you think twice about something, that you normally wouldn’t have thought about even once.

Maybe church – or faith – has changed your perspective on the world – or life in general.

What experience has caused you to step ‘outside the box’ and gain a new perspective on yourslef or the world in general?

Did you watch the apology to the stolen generations on Wednesday morning?

Maybe you were in Canberra for the event – or saw it on a big screen in your own town or city.

Maybe you were at school and watched it as a real live history lesson….?

What did you make of it?

Were you touched? Did it make you feel proud to be Australian?

Are you hopeful that relations between indigenous and non indigenous Australia will be improved?

Are you hopeful that the ‘gap’ will be closed – in terms of life expectancy, health, education and job opportunities?

Or are you waiting for the symbolism of the apology to be followed through with action?

‘Who do people say I am?’ It’s the famous question asked by Jesus of his disciples. Back then the popular answers were that he was John the Baptist, Elijah or one of the ancient prophets returned from the dead. ‘What about you,’ Jesus then says to his followers. ‘Who do you say I am?’

It’s an ancient question with contemporary relevance. Everyone has a view of Jesus! Scholars, historians, mothers, businessmen. The great religious traditions all have a view about Jesus. So I thought tonight would be as good a time as any to Open Up discussion on your view of Jesus.

What are the popular answers today?

• Some see Jesus as a Jewish mystic, proclaiming a message of universal love and peace.
• Some see him as a political revolutionary, who was killed for challenging the system.
• Islam sees Jesus as a prophet, later superseded by Mohammed.
• Buddhism sees him as a wise man, an enlightened being.
• Jehovah’s Witnesses see him as the archangel Michael in bodily form.
• Some see Jesus as the Son of God, God-in-the-flesh, who came to die for our sins.

So, who do you say Jesus is? Put it into your own words and tell me. 

If you’ve been with us for a while you’ll know that Open House explores life, faith and culture from a Christian perspective. If you’ve been with us for a while I hope you’ll also have recognised that we talk to anyone irrespective of beliefs. I’d also be interested to know if your view has changed over time too.

Who is Jesus to you?

Talking to Professor Graeme Clark this week, inventor of the bionic ear, got me thinking about restoration, and what it would mean to have something as significant as hearing restored in your life. Just imagine what it would be like to be deaf one day, and then able to hear the sounds that most of us take for granted, the next.

Has there been an invention, a breakthrough, or just something outside of yourself that’s assisted you in restoring something that wasn’t quite complete in your life?

• Maybe you’re the recipient of an artificial limb that’s allowed you to walk again
• Maybe attending counselling of some sort has allowed you to restore a broken marriage/or relationship
• Maybe taking up exercise allowed you to get your weight under control and restore parts of your life that were otherwise left unfulfilled.

Tell me what you had lost, how it was restored, and how you felt the day you got it back.

Have you ever had your beliefs about something or someone smashed by reality? When has a stereotype in your mind been smashed an encounter with the real thing?

This week we spoke to Donald Kraybill, author of Amish Grace. The Amish are often the subjects of ridicule, stereotyped as those 'funny people' who get around on horse and buggy, wear 17th-century clothing and isolate themselves from the world. Yet, as Donald described, the Amish do use technology, love humour, have friendships with the community, and extended radical grace to the killer who took ten of the children's lives back in October 2006 becasue of their Christian faith. 

I want to hear about a time when your mind has been changed about something or someone through a personal encounter.

• Maybe you used to think church was boring and daggy…until you actually decided to visit one day
• Maybe you’ve made judgements about cultural groups that you now realize were wrong
• Maybe an encounter with a public figure changed your mind about them
• Maybe you’ve always associated particular qualities with people who work in particular professions…for example the ‘boring accountant’ stereotype….maybe that changed the day you went skydiving with one..! hmm…

Tell us about a cliché that got challenged and a stereotype that got smashed after an encounter with the real thing.

Father’s Day – it’s that time when ‘Happy Families’ sit down to big 3 course lunches and celebrate the joy of being together.  Is that how Father’s Day was for you?  (I don’t think I’ve ever had a Father’s Day like that!) 

For many of us, our relationships with our Fathers are somewhat more complex than the Greeting Card Slogans they churn out for Hallmark Holidays like Father’s Day.  I don’t know about you, but I’ve never had that kind of matey, mythologised Father and Son relationship where we go camping together, or spend the afternoon fishing and talking about the meaning of life. My relationship with my Dad is good, but it hasn’t been like that.

What was your relationship with your father like when you were young?  How has it changed over time?

Perhaps your relationship with your father has improved and mellowed with age, like a good wine.  (A friend was telling me that their stoic, authoritarian father has become more ‘huggy’ and affectionate as time has gone on.) Or perhaps you’ve grown apart.  Maybe there was a dramatic turning point in your relationship, brought on by tragedy or illness or the birth of a child. 

How has your relationship with your Father changed over the years?

It’s been interesting to hear Simon Holt’s ideas about what it means to be a good neighbour.  Do you know your neighbours?  If so, what kind of relationship do you have?

There’s a few different categories of neighbours, aren’t there?

• The Silent Neighbour – the ones you just wave at across the street, or you nod to each other as you walk past, but you don’t really chat.
• There’s the three sentence weather report neighbour: “Beautiful Day.” / “Sure is.” / “Could do with some rain though.”
• There’s the “Over the Fence Neighbours” that you only chat with when you’re both in the backyard.
• There’s the Neighbourly Neighbours – those people in the street that always host the Christmas party or the New Years’ Drinks.
• Then there’s always the “Part of the furniture” neighbours, the old lady that has been there longer than anyone can remember – she’s the one who knows everything that’s going on in the street.
• (There’s also the Body Corporate Nazi who gives everybody grief about their renovations, or their washing line or their parking space, but we don't have to talk about them :-)

Have you ever become lifelong friends with your neighbours?  If so, how did it happen?

How does it work in your street, or unit block?

And does the street party still exist, where the whole street comes together for a BBQ?