The Oahu unit of Church Women United — an ecumenical movement that brings together Protestant, Catholic, Orthodox and other Christian women — will mark World Community Day tomorrow with reflections tied to green living.

"It will be a session that will help people appreciate creation and their part in keeping it authentic," said Sister Joan Chatfield, executive director of the Institute for Religion and Social Change and a Maryknoll nun.

The event will get under way at 3:30 p.m. at Holy Trinity Church in Hawaii Kai. The theme for the ecumenical service, which starts at 4 p.m., is "Piecing Earth Together."

More than 1,200 local and state units of Church Women United across the nation will be holding services this weekend following the same environmental theme, which was put together by the organization's national office in New York City. Those organizers are asking participants to sign a "Piecing Earth Back Together" pledge "to reduce, reuse, recycle and make a difference in my use of God's resources." The pledge continues: "I will hold myself accountable for cleaner air, water and land on this earth and encourage others to do the same."

Chatfield said during the event at Holy Trinity, participants will break into small groups to discuss how to step up their own green-living habits. Small steps, such as paying attention to how much electricity you're using at home and avoiding driving extra miles in your car by combining or "multitasking" routine errands can make a difference, Chatfield said.

World Community Day event programs will be accompanied by an illustration of the "creation story from the book of Genesis depicted as a quilt, reminding us of the environment's broken nature, and the need to repair the Earth so that it can once again provide," according to a release issued by the national office.

To that, Chatfield added, "The concept of the quilt is also the weaving together of ideas, because we strengthen each other with our ideas."

Church Women United, which was founded in 1941, last year adopted a quadrennial priority titled: "Building a World Fit for All God's Children." Its "building blocks" include: health, environmental care, peace, and economic justice. The next nationwide events, set for the first Sundays in March and May, will follow themes of peace and friendship, respectively.

On Oahu, Chatfield said, Church Women United is organized as a gathering rather than a membership outfit. So, leadership and events are rotated among dominations and areas of the island, she said.