The young woman priest had just locked the Church safe. She was delighted with the response to the Christmas bazaar. It was enough to keep the Church solvent. She was content. As she left the building she was seized from behind, threatened, forced to hand over the keys, and relieved of the hard earned money of her faithful congregation .......

This is just one of many ugly and sinful incidents that occur in our society day after day. We know that crime and violence plague the lives of millions of good people; we know how many families break up, causing so much pain; we know there is now much confusion about what is right and wrong. The moral bonds that bind society together have been getting weaker.

Of course, we have much to be thankful for, too. Whatever the problems, ours is, thank God, a basically caring society. Christian principles still run deep. But how can we work from our strengths to be a more compassionate Britain, rolling back the tide of selfishness and wrongdoing?

Let me put it to you in one simple sentence: We must re-learn the message of the Christian faith that it is 'better to give than to receive'.

Many of us know Christina Rossetti's beautiful carol In the bleak midwinter, which finishes like this:

"What can I give him, poor as I am
If I were a shepherd I would bring a lamb
If I were a wise man I would do my part
But what I can I give him, give my heart."

What a wonderful message to take with us into the New Year. Because giving is both our duty and our joy, the most profoundly satisfying core of life itself. Giving ourselves to our loved ones. Giving service to the wider community on which we depend. Giving, not from fear but from love. That is what Christmas is about, and that is what life is about. And as I look back on 1997, I remember three big events which had to do with giving.

The terrible death of Diana, Princess of Wales moved the whole nation and brought us together. She gave so much hope and joy to so many ordinary people, including some of the most wretched and unpopular, like lepers, AIDS sufferers and homeless people. She gave compassion and human warmth. And so many people were moved by her death to give flowers and candles in her memory and honour, and give generously to her Memorial Fund.

Later in the year, we celebrated different kinds of gifts in the Golden Wedding of The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh and of so many other Golden Wedding couples who rejoiced with them. We thanked God for the devoted, selfless service which our Queen has given this nation through good times and bad. We gave thanks for the precious gift of marriage. Marriage always involves sacrifice, patience and, as Prince Philip reminded us, tolerance, because that is how marriages endure for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health. In all the talk about family breakdown, let us celebrate how many marriages still last right through until death, with successive generations bound together through the mutual giving of love, security and support in all the ups and downs of life.

My third example is the General Election. The people gave a convincing mandate to a new Government. And our new Prime Minister has called for "the giving age", where we are all encouraged to give of our best to our families and our country. We all have our different party-political views. But we can all agree on the importance of serving and helping one another and creating a more caring society.

The Bible is quite clear, after all, that if we concentrate on getting more and more things for ourselves, our souls can become corrupted. Many people in our society have more and more things but do not feel happy or satisfied. Our society has become more unequal in recent years, with vast increases of wealth for some people at the top who are already extremely rich, while many poorer people with few resources are barely better off at all. This is not really good for anyone - not for the mega-rich themselves, nor the poor, nor the cohesion and strength of society.

So, yes, let's get back to a proper emphasis on giving. This is what Christmas is all about: the exuberant self-giving of God in the person of Jesus. He identifies with every one of us, not least the poor and the outcast, the lonely and the stranger - and he calls us all to do the same. The wealthy have a special obligation to give generously of their wealth rather than hoard it like Scrooge. But whether we are rich or not, all of us can try to give more to our families, friends and the wider society. That is the key to building a more generous, loving and moral society. And as we give, so we find ourselves being changed by becoming gentler, stronger, caring people. More, in fact, like God himself. Because it is when we "give our heart" that we discover the truth of Christmas, that God has already given us his.

May God bless you all this Christmas-tide with his priceless gift of love. A society where giving comes first - not just at Christmas but all year long - is God's way forward for all of us.