God's breath, our air

Worship planners for Earth Day Sunday, April 25, looked to Psalm 104 for inspiration in developing a service that focuses on God's gift of air:

"O Lord, how manifold are your works! In wisdom you have made them all; the earth is full of your creatures. ... When you send forth your breath, they are created; and you renew the face of the ground" (24,30).

The brief liturgy, written by the Eco-Justice Working Group of the National Council of Churches of Christ, is available on the ELCA Web site (www.elca.org/dcs/epr/environment/envindex.html).

Materials available include information about air pollution and strategies to reduce it. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates that an energy-efficiency upgrade of the country's 269,000 houses of worship would prevent 6 million tons of carbon dioxide from being released into the atmosphere. That would also save the congregations more than $500 million.