Remembering Sacred Moments - A Holy Week Spiritual Practice from Rev. Dale Suggs

“Remembering Sacred Moments” is a practice drawn from the larger integrated discipline called the Compassion Practice. Our community has found this practice foundational to strengthening our connection with God and giving God space to touch and transform our lives. I have found the practice to be key to spiritual direction and pastoral care.

I am presenting “Remembering Sacred Moments” as a 10-step journaling practice. It also is available as a guided audio practice. If you would like to engage this practice over time, BELOVED Way (DOC) invites you to participate in “50 Days with the Risen Christ.” Members and friends of our community will “practice the practice” every day (or as best as we can) from Easter to Pentecost. An opt-in page for participants can be found at bit.ly/risenchrist50.

Remembering Sacred Moments

(A 10-Step Journaling Practice)

1. Get Grounded. Sit down at a comfortable place where you can write, open your journal, and place a pen or pencil next to it. Feel the four corners of your feet as they connect with the ground. Close your eyes and, in your mind, count 10 slow, deep breaths. Then allow a rhythm of breathing to take hold that nurtures an inner settling.

2. Remember Moments from Your Life. As you continue to breathe, use your imagination to scroll through your life as if thumbing through the pages of a photo album. Notice different moments that feel sacred or expansive to you…moments of heightened presence, deep peace, connection, or vitality.  

   
   

   As you continue to breathe, write down a list of these moments. Do not include details about these moments in your list. Just write one to three words that identify these experiences in some way. This is not meant to be an exhaustive list. One or two moments is sufficient. Four or five moments is more than enough.  

3. Focus on One Moment. Of the various moments you have listed, allow one to emerge as the focus for the rest of this practice.

4. Remember and Re-enter the Moment. Using a sentence or two for each query, write down:

5. Where were you?

6. Who were you with?

7. What were a few of the circumstances of your life at the time?

   
   

8. Deepen Your Connection. Engage your five senses and using a sentence or two for each query, write down concrete details of the experience:

9. What sights were present?

10. What sounds were present?

11. What smells were present?

12. What tastes were present?

13. What sensations could you feel on your skin?

6. Soak in the Sweet Spot. Again, become aware of your breathing, and count 5 slow, deep breaths.

   
   

   Then, writing in a stream of consciousness without concern for grammar or spelling, describe the “sweet spot” of what felt sacred about this moment.

7. Welcome a Sacred Presence. Again, become aware of your breathing, and count 5 slow, deep breaths.

   
   

   Then, allow your memory of this moment to be an icon or portal through which the Sacred Presence you know might flow in and be with you here and now — as a healing light, a divine figure, a sacred symbol, a beloved ancestor, a color, a sound, or a felt sense.  

   
   

   Again, writing in a stream of consciousness without concern for grammar or spelling, describe the feelings, thoughts, or impulses that being in Sacred Presence surfaces within you.  

8. Breathe Sacred Care. Notice the care and compassion with which the Sacred holds you. Count 10 slow, deep breaths, and with each in-breath, breathe in Sacred Care. With each out-breath, let Sacred Care flow throughout your body into every tissue of your being.

9. Consider a Concrete Response. Before concluding your practice, sense any invitation for one concrete act you might do in the hours ahead that helps you remember and sustains your connection with the grace of this moment. Record that invitation and commit to acting on it sometime in the next 24 hours.

   
   

10. Give Thanks. End your practice with a sentence or two of thanksgiving for whatever has taken place. Then close your journal and return to your day.

“Remembering Sacred Moments” is a practice drawn from the larger integrated discipline called the Compassion Practice. Our community has found this practice foundational to strengthening our connection with God and giving God space to touch and transform our lives. I have found the practice to be key to spiritual direction and pastoral care.

I am presenting “Remembering Sacred Moments” as a 10-step journaling practice. It also is available as a guided audio practice. If you would like to engage this practice over time, BELOVED Way (DOC) invites you to participate in “50 Days with the Risen Christ.” Members and friends of our community will “practice the practice” every day (or as best as we can) from Easter to Pentecost. An opt-in page for participants can be found at bit.ly/risenchrist50.

Remembering Sacred Moments

(A 10-Step Journaling Practice)

1. Get Grounded. Sit down at a comfortable place where you can write, open your journal, and place a pen or pencil next to it. Feel the four corners of your feet as they connect with the ground. Close your eyes and, in your mind, count 10 slow, deep breaths. Then allow a rhythm of breathing to take hold that nurtures an inner settling.

2. Remember Moments from Your Life. As you continue to breathe, use your imagination to scroll through your life as if thumbing through the pages of a photo album. Notice different moments that feel sacred or expansive to you…moments of heightened presence, deep peace, connection, or vitality.  

   
   

   As you continue to breathe, write down a list of these moments. Do not include details about these moments in your list. Just write one to three words that identify these experiences in some way. This is not meant to be an exhaustive list. One or two moments is sufficient. Four or five moments is more than enough.  

3. Focus on One Moment. Of the various moments you have listed, allow one to emerge as the focus for the rest of this practice.

4. Remember and Re-enter the Moment. Using a sentence or two for each query, write down:

5. Where were you?

6. Who were you with?

7. What were a few of the circumstances of your life at the time?

   
   

8. Deepen Your Connection. Engage your five senses and using a sentence or two for each query, write down concrete details of the experience:

9. What sights were present?

10. What sounds were present?

11. What smells were present?

12. What tastes were present?

13. What sensations could you feel on your skin?

6. Soak in the Sweet Spot. Again, become aware of your breathing, and count 5 slow, deep breaths.

   
   

   Then, writing in a stream of consciousness without concern for grammar or spelling, describe the “sweet spot” of what felt sacred about this moment.

7. Welcome a Sacred Presence. Again, become aware of your breathing, and count 5 slow, deep breaths.

   
   

   Then, allow your memory of this moment to be an icon or portal through which the Sacred Presence you know might flow in and be with you here and now — as a healing light, a divine figure, a sacred symbol, a beloved ancestor, a color, a sound, or a felt sense.  

   
   

   Again, writing in a stream of consciousness without concern for grammar or spelling, describe the feelings, thoughts, or impulses that being in Sacred Presence surfaces within you.  

8. Breathe Sacred Care. Notice the care and compassion with which the Sacred holds you. Count 10 slow, deep breaths, and with each in-breath, breathe in Sacred Care. With each out-breath, let Sacred Care flow throughout your body into every tissue of your being.

9. Consider a Concrete Response. Before concluding your practice, sense any invitation for one concrete act you might do in the hours ahead that helps you remember and sustains your connection with the grace of this moment. Record that invitation and commit to acting on it sometime in the next 24 hours.

   
   

10. Give Thanks. End your practice with a sentence or two of thanksgiving for whatever has taken place. Then close your journal and return to your day.

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Rev. Dale Suggs is a graduate of Texas Christian University (1983) and Brite Divinity School (1987). He also holds graduate certificates in Ecumenical Studies (University of Geneva, 1988) and Spiritual Direction (University of San Diego, 2007). Dale is an ordained minister in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and has served as a Youth Minister, Senior Minister, Interim Minister, and Hospice Chaplain.  

Currently, Dale is the Co-Founding Pastor of BELOVED Way (DOC), a “micro church” organized around spiritual practice. He also serves as the Co-Founder & Director of the educational nonprofit “BELOVED Compassion Network.” Dale is sought out as a teacher, keynote speaker, and retreat leader, as well as a pastoral and congregational consultant. A resident of San Diego, Dale has been married to Shelly Jones Suggs for 42 years. They have four adult daughters and four beautiful girls who call Dale “Granddad!”