When did it become a problem to be small? Why does our society condemn the small things and praise the large? Why should the rich get richer and the poor poorer? Why is a church or parish of a thousand more important than one of ten? Or for that matter of two or three? What does God think?

Have you ever thought about the process through which we obtain our value system. No, I am not talking about Bible Study and the consequential moral and ethical framework that this gives, for even this takes place with in a broader context. I am speaking about our culture and the all-pervasive education system, which creates the framework in which we evaluate all other things. These are not necessarily spoken or written down, but they are the cultural worldview that is absorbed by each and everyone of us from the cradle to the grave.

For example, take the Americans who have doctrinally the position that All men are created equal in their Bill of Rights, but who have practiced in the past and still do, an alarming prejudice against the Negro especially in the south.

This is dualism where there are two sets of rules in operation. Those which are the words, actions and attitudes that we think are correct, and our own underlying feelings or thought patterns, often unspoken and unrecognised, but demonstrated through the decisions that we make and our dealings with the world. We deceive ourselves into believing that we are controlled by the first, when in reality, we are controlled by the second set of options.

I believe that living with this dualism is the cause of a lot of the problems that people have with coping both with life and with living as couples and families. As a priest I am aware that when a couple stand before me for a wedding, there are six people there - who he is, who he thinks he is and who she thinks he is, who she is, who she thinks she is and who he thinks she is. It is the failure to deal with this and bring these images together that causes the unravelling of relationships that in another era would not have broken down. The epidemic of marriage breakdown is evidence that we are not doing this well.

All of us here have been educated in a system that is basically godless. We tend to accept the theory of evolution without question, but do we recognise that it has been taught without reference to God? No, I am not a creationist. I believe in evolution, but that is the hand of God at work on our world and not some random statistical event.

You see this theory has shaped our thinking beyond the explanation for the origin of the species. We have tended to take on an evolutionary understanding of the world. Our economic system is predicated on growth or development.

Evolution itself presupposes casualties. Survival of the fittest means that the fattest will fall by the wayside. No longer is it acceptable to charge a fair and reasonable return for labour or goods based on the cost of manufacture. Rather the expectation is to charge as much as the market can stand. Market forces are all very well on a level playing field but when one or two buy from many and then sell to many, are market forces truly in action.

This economic thinking is a direct consequence of this evolutionary thought pattern and it pervades all our social structures. The church on the other hand proclaims the value in the uniqueness of each and every individual. But do we really? Do we actually take seriously what this means?

To support Helping Hand or the Christmas Bowl is one thing, but where is our commitment to destroy the systems that make these organisations necessary. One of the Brazilin Catholic Bishops commented - "When I feed the poor the call me a saint, but when I ask why they are poor, they call me a communist." This dualism pervades the church as well. You see like the American tolerance of racism, we tolerate injustice while on the surface proclaim the importance of our faith in our lives.

I do not blame Christians, but rather the religious systems that we have inherited. Seeking to intellectualise the faith we focused of Christian Education rather than Christian experience. . Indeed the great church divisions have all been over doctrine and so we have made it the most important issue. We focus on doctrine and orthodoxy and assume that once we have addressed these, all is well. Many Christians spend their lives in the hunt for the perfect church. That is a church, which proclaims their own doctrine, their own theology and affirms their own prejudices rather than dealing with the culture underneath?

No, I am not abdicating the abandonment of doctrine, but unless it is being put into practice in our parish family, we are short-changing those who come to join us. Is it important that we offer as well as a good Christian Education, a special understanding of Christianity that comes through experiencing the love of God in community.

All too often we focus on the words and the externals, and forget about dealing with the sub-culture. Christian conversion is about choosing to go on in God's way, but sanctification or holiness in an ongoing process as we become who God would have us be. There are great dangers for the church if we fail to address the issues of the sub-culture; if we deal with form rather than substance. We should be agents of change in the lives of individuals, preparing them for heaven.

Each of us carries not only the influence of a semi-compatible education system, but also the end products of the sum total of our experiences good and bad that have shaped "who we are" and "how we think". It is not enough to rattle of the Creed and think we are right with God. The imperative is to become Christ-like and this is a process that comes through our engagement with God and his people.

Faith then is not so much the accumulation of knowledge, but of the journey of self-discovery as we draw closer to God. It is the process by which we bring it unison the dualism, between who we really are and what it is that God wants us to be. If we let him, God the Holy Spirit will show us the parts of our life that still fall short of God's plan. Advent is the season of anticipation. Its traditional colour of violet is the reminder that it is a time of reflection to better prepare ourselves to meet our Lord.

Tonight, as our celebrations focus on the joy of the Nativity, let us ask God for clear vision as to our response to the baby.

In our worldview, where small is despised, what better answer from God is there than that of a baby. And who was first to acknowledge our saviour - John the Baptist while still within his mother's womb. God, the almighty is found in the small. Remember Jesus said - Do not despise these little ones, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.