I was thinking this morning about a friend, John Houghton, a lovely man whom it is a privilege to know. Then I became utterly pissed off with the Church of England. That needs a bit more explanation.

John, Sir John, to be more precise, might conceivably be a way out hippy dressed in weird clothes whom the Church of England might ignore. Actually, he is a past Oxford Professor of Atmospheric Physics, head of the Met Office, lead editor of the first three reports on Global Warming produced by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the author of the standard text on “Global Warming” published by Cambridge University Press, usually dressed in a suit and tie. The first edition came out in 1994. In other words, it was probably true that John knew what he was talking about more than anybody on the subject and has for three decades, nearly half a lifetime. In fact, he has argued the case meticulously and carefully on the evidence, and convinced people from Margaret Thatcher onwards, backed by thousands of scientific papers.

Move closer to the present, and the last Synod the Church of England produced a slightly radical motion on addressing climate change. Of course, everybody else has been doing the same thing, and now the Church of England is plonking along behind and has clambered on board the bus with a resolution. Meanwhile it has spent decades discussing whether women can wear robes and pointy hats in its own hierarchy. It has taken thirty years to wake up to climate change.

We can bring Jesus into the discussion by pointing out that Jesus warned about straining at gnats and swallowing camels. Preachers explain, in case you did not get it, that that means that you concentrate on trivia while accepting important things as of no importance. You may already be there direct from Jesus. The Church of England has largely ignored Sir John Houghton, a Christian speaking from a long rigorous understanding of the stewardship of God’s creation, while it decides what sex is and discusses intincturing. John was down the line prophetic and never made it to a Synod agenda. Of course, others deliberately turned the other way because global warming could be bad for business, but the Church of England was probably looking for and discussing gnats on the menu.

Of course, you will detect a slight edge in this rhetoric, and will realise, as I did, that there is personal investment in these tart words. John was right. George Monbiot was right on global warming. It was not difficult to understand even back then. You stood on the bridge over the motorway in the rush hour and could see it happening, or you believed Nigel Lawson. So, the question was what should we do about it?

With a little bit of thought, one answer was clear at least twenty years ago. We need to disarm the world. Making weapons, running the military, planes, aircraft carriers, missiles, wars, bombs, clearing the mess up afterwards, rebuilding, is one of the biggest generators of CO2 on the planet – somewhere between 5-10% of total world CO2 output. And it is unnecessary, merely there for the arms companies. So, you listen to John, do a bit of homework, and realise that world disarmament is practical if Christians will back it.

But then there is the Church of England. Now the Church of England is supposed to listen to Jesus. That is in the writing on the tin. And Jesus said, “Those who take the sword will perish by the sword.” As preachers explain, this is not a statement about sword swallowing, but about the way the military system is self-destructive, or, at least, I hope they do. Jesus also said a lot about making peace, and the Old Testament, which Church of England people are also supposed to read, says a lot about de-weaponizing. Jesus also seems more committed to loving enemies than nuking them. So, you would think the Church of England would be interested in disarming the world when it listens to Jesus. Actually, it ignores it, and concentrates on blessing the UK continuous at sea nuclear deterrent in Westminster Abbey. There is no evidence that the Anglican blessing of nuclear submarines does anything, or indeed, that the very costly deterrent has deterred anything, but the Church of England remains the servile pawn of the military establishment like the Vicar of Bray and nothing happens, less than nothing.

Of course, my investment in this issue is of no consequence, as is John’s far greater one in addressing global warming. It was not even remotely about him. My being pissed off with the Church of England does not matter a jot, but the possibility that the Anglican Church is a beached whale incapable of movement by faith on any big issue, does. The Church of England can wake up to global warming, to disarming the world and a range of other real life issues, if it wakes up. But it is inert. It does not see camels, or elephants in rooms, or big picture Christianity. The issue may be what is right in God’s great scheme of things not what we might give up this year for lent.

It is amazing that Jesus is so ignored. He covered it all. You see, but don’t understand. He insisted we would not get it, so that we will. Well, if Christian education, discipleship, is just reciting liturgy in the Church of England perhaps we will be slow to get it. Further, Jesus insisted just prior to his death and resurrection that his disciples should be ready, prepared, read events like we read the weather, and not miss the boat or be late for the wedding. Strangely the Church of England manages to be behind the times, often spectacularly so. It has just allowed women bishops nearly five hundred years after Elizabeth I was head of the Church of England. It is 30 years late on global warming despite John Houghton.

But it can be on time for world disarmament, or rather, it can learn from its mistakes. It tried quite hard in the 1932 Geneva Disarmament Conference. Disarmament then, which nearly happened, would have stopped Hitler coming to power. But the Church of England, and others, were not on top of another of Jesus’ bits of advice. Be as innocent as doves and as wise as serpents. Serpents choose when to strike. The question is whether the Church of England can DO anything decisive. Disarming the world would be doing global warming big. It must be done. Snore on or wake up.