Before I Write About Peace and Spiritual Formation, You Should Know This

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Dear Human Is a Verb Community—

In the coming months, I’ll be sharing the fruits of my Ph.D. journey — insights from my research on Contemplative Peace Leadership. Through weekly letters, you’ll receive deeper reflections and stories that explore how we cultivate peace in our inner lives and relationships. In the Substack Notes (Substack’s social media feed), I’ll offer bite-sized gleanings from my dissertation and real life.

We are living in a time that aches for peace, right!? We need peace in our homes, our communities, and our souls. I want to share what I’ve learned about how peace is formed, practiced, and sustained from the inside out.

This is a journey I hope you’ll join. If it resonates, invite others into the conversation too. The more people who engage, the more this space becomes a living community of practice.

💬 Feel free to leave a comment, share your thoughts, or simply say hi. I’d love to know you’re here.

Let’s grow this together!

The Church Full of Bones

In April 2007, I sat on a short bench in a wooden church in the small village of Ntarama in Rwanda's Bugesera District. Clothes hung from the rafters. Shelves lined with human skulls stretched from floor to ceiling. I was sitting in a church, but it had become a tomb.

In June of 1994, the pastor of this church negotiated with the perpetrators of the genocide to spare his own family. Hundreds of women, men, and children who had sought refuge inside were slaughtered. The church, now a memorial, still bears witness to their absence. A musky smell permeated the air. The cracked skulls, the blood-stained walls, and the silence all testified to brutality.

I had read about the genocide. I say Hotel Rwanda. I had studied the horrors. But nothing prepared me to sit inside that place of death and realize it was once called sanctuary. I sat there, a Christian minister myself, wrestling with disbelief. Rwanda, in 1994, was considered the most Christian nation in Africa.

I grieved for humanity. I grieved for my religious tradition, which had not always lived up to its mission to build peace. And in that wooden church, something in me shifted.

I walked away, knowing that my life and my faith had to be shaped by one thing: a deep call for the church to become an agent of reconciliation.

Peace and Reconciliation in Christian Tradition

Rwanda is not an isolated story.

Throughout history, societies shaped by Christianity have often fallen short of its radical call. From the Crusades to colonialism, from slavery to antisemitism, from racial segregation to Christian nationalism — the faith I love has been co-opted to justify harm.

Some Christians, believing they were doing right, enslaved others to "save" their souls. Others used Scripture to defend conquest and genocide. Today, the lines between faith and political power often blur and sometimes do so dangerously.

But that is not the whole story.

At the heart of Christian Scripture is a vision of shalom — a Hebrew word meaning not just peace but wholeness. Shalom speaks of justice, healing, restoration, and right relationships.

"Shalom means at one and the same time — relief from oppression and suffering, overflowing life... and smiling relationships between people within community."

— Rynne, 2014

This is why many theologians translate shalom as just peace.

And for Christians, that peace has a name: Jesus.

Jesus didn't avoid conflict. He entered into it with love and truth. He touched wounded bodies, dignified the excluded, overturned exploitative systems, and called people back to God's dream for creation. His resurrection wasn't an escape from pain. It was the beginning of a new world rooted in justice, healing, and reconciliation.

To follow Christ is to human in his way, not as passive believers but as participants in a movement of healing.

This is the heart of Human Is a Verb.

Being human, for me, is not a fixed identity. It is a sacred practice. A verb. A becoming.

It is a choice to move through this fractured world with courage, humility, and love.

Reconciliation As Journey And Goal

In Christian theology, reconciliation is not a vague aspiration. It is a calling. It is the healing of bodies, souls, and systems shattered by injustice.

And it is messy.

Can we reconcile if injustices remain unaddressed?

Can we restore what was never just in the first place?

Some theologians say reconciliation comes first. Others argue justice must lead the way. I believe the two are inseparable.

"Reconciliation challenges all oppressive, dehumanizing systems — not merely restoring a former order, but rebalancing the old so that a new heaven and earth can begin."

— Emilie Townes

That line still echoes in me.

Why I Write

That day in Ntarama was not the end of a trip. It was the beginning of a lifelong pilgrimage.

Since then, I have devoted my life — my teaching, ministry, and leadership — to the work of peace. Not peace as politeness. Not peace as avoidance. But peace rooted in truth, dignity, healing, and transformation.

I write this newsletter because our world is aching for that kind of peace.

Societal peace starts in the soul. Our personal soul. Our collective Soul.

This isn't abstract. I am in it with you.

Currently, I am navigating a personal season of upheaval. I recently lost my job as a professor when my college closed. I am grieving the loss of that vocation. I am listening for what's next.

Even my marriage is a space of practice. I am a Protestant married to a Catholic. Every day, we learn how to honor our differences while nurturing deep connections.

Peace, for me, is personal. It is the sacred, imperfect work of choosing presence, curiosity, and love — again and again.

What You'll Find Here

Human Is a Verb is where I share what I am learning. It is a space for:

• Stories and soul reflections

• Practices that strengthen your inner life

• Conversations about justice, reconciliation, and peace

• Scripture and contemplative wisdom

• Honest wrestling with faith, power, and what it means to be human

If you are tired of shallow faith and hungry for wholeness, welcome.

If you are not sure what you believe but want to live with more intention and peace, welcome.

If you are curious, hurting, hopeful, or seeking, this space is for you.

Pathways To Peace (4-Week Workshop)

My husband, Steve Tumolo, and I occasionally offer a four-week online experience called Pathways to Peace. It is a guided journey to grow your inner resilience and deepen your capacity for peacemaking in the relationships and communities you care about most. If you are interested, feel free to get on our waiting list. You can go to www.everydaypeacemaking.org to get on the list.